Rear Derailleur Life?
 

My LBS was surprised/impressed when I said I'm still running my original rear derailleur on my 2009 Kona Dew Drop. I've tracked roughly 15,000 miles on this bike over the years, and those aren't easy miles either... I ride gravel centuries, CX, single-track, commute in all weather .... so this derailleur has see a little bit of everything.

What do you consider the lifespan of a derailleur?

For reference, I believe this is the Shimano Deore 2203:

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=527728

The life span of a (any) derailleur will be determined in large part by the conditions under which it has been ridden and by how well it has been maintained. I've seen some high milage well worn rental mountain bikes with Shimano Altus equipment that shifted just fine.

In general if you keep derailleurs lubed and reasonably clean and protect them from road rash they should last for a very long time.

Despite the harsh conditions and miles, I do keep the bike clean and it lives indoors when it's not on the road/trail. It seems that a bike stored outdoors will wear out components faster.

Day, month, year, forever, depends on so may factors, as long as you don't bash it, you can replace the jockey wheels as they wear, and the body should last as long as the bike.

I consider derailleurs to have nearly infinite life.
I remove and overhaul the pulleys occasionally (clean and regrease), and I'll replace the pulleys if they get really nasty.
I replace the derailleur when the spring breaks.
I've also broken a couple derailleurs in falls and chain jams.

Physical damage is the only reason I ever had to replace one.

-SP

My 2006 Campy Record Rear derailleur has over 55,000 miles on it. Of course, the pulleys have been changed.

I just retired a 2002-ish Deore rear derailleur. It started on my first MTB, and spent a while on my commute bike. It got battered, and even now it works well enough but the worn pivots were affecting shifting. It probably could have lasted a lot longer if I knew what I was doing with bike cleaning and maintenance from the start ;-)

Thanks for the feedback!

The pulleys on the Kona are getting very 'shark-toothed'; so I'll replace those when I get the new cassette and chain. Otherwise, I'll keep running the original derailleur.

I have destroyed derailleurs; my Campy got a twig in the cage and turned itself inside-out:

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=527736

Believer it or not, this one survived and is still rolling 5 years later - Lisa's Marin with out-of-focus twig still in the cage:

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=527734

"Dork discs" are not so Dorky after all , they save wheels and RDs if shifted into the spokes .

My Mid 70's Campag Rally is still perfectly Functional..

Break away RD hangers :thumb:

The adjusting screw in my Campagnolo Veloce RD just broke off last week. It was probably 8 years old or so. Fortunately, I still had the derailer it had replaced (fell over, main body cracked), so I was able to swap the part out and keep rolling.

Other than corrosion, breaking, or wear, there's no reason to change a derailer. Just like a bike (or its rider!).

Neither were over-shifting, both were twigs getting thrown into the cage and jamming the pulleys. Dork disc wouldn't have saved these derailleurs. A close look at the red bike and you can see the twig in the cage (out of focus).

The red bike did OK, replaced hanger (great improvement in bike design!) and trued the cage, back on the road without issue.

The green bike took a bigger hit, a dork disc *might* have saved the rim, but this bike needed new wheels... so I'm not too upset. The LBS has able to get the hanger bent back in place. The Campy derailleur was wreck, happily I found a NOS replacement. Chain was also wrecked. The most upsetting part is the damage to the paint.

I get the dork disc, I'm just not a fan. I'm attentive to the derailleur stop screws so overshifting isn't an issue. On the rare occasion when a twig gets into the cage... well that's just bad luck and things are going to get messed up with or without the disc.

The pivots can get sloppy as they wear, so even if the RD doesn't break, indexed shifting performance may degrade if things get really bad. Of course, you can run a friction-shifted RD into the ground. :D

HA! Truth!