What does a new zee derailleur look like after 3 PNW shuttle days?

[blackohio]

I'll be taking this into the shop I bought it at so I shouldn't expect much of a hassle with warranty/exchange as they (Universal Cycles) are all good people. This guy might be 30-45 days old at most. I absolutely loved the derailleur up until this last ride when **** got real wonky on the last run. Im guessing the clutch mechanism puts alot of stress on the cages body/assembly. The locked out vibrations have to go somewhere. If you've bought a saint/xtr/zee keep an eye on the body twisting and then snapping where mine did.


First photo. There is no impact damage what-so-ever to the cage yet its totally tweaked.

















Here's another interesting photo. See the high set screw, it's totally bent.

[Da Peach]

That screw just bent without an impact ?

[blackohio]

I havent hit anything, not that I can recall or nothing notable. I think I just got one with a weak body. The cage I have no idea how it got all weird. The crazy part is the lower cog is straight. The upper is the one thats twisted. When attached to the frame is rolls fine off the lower and hangs/skips on the upper.

I think the screws bent from the crack in the body there, once it split on the last run or second to last and the cage was bouncing around in hammered the screw crooked.

Heres some better pics of the cage's lower portion showing no noticeable impact damage.



-Some slight scratches here to the outer cage portion, in scratches on the inner are where the chain passes through with the tweaked body.

[tacubaya]

Need more pics for further evaluation.

[Uncle Cliffy]

[dhbrigade]

Looks like a hit to me. The screw limiting the lever movement getting bent and the casting finally cracks.

"Week body" and "Hammering the screw"

I forgot: Needs some force to bend a cage this way. How would the cage bend? Even with this crack the cage should stay somehow in line as without the crack!!!

[no skid marks]

Light, durable, and works well. Pick two.

[Vrock]

Meanwhile in the bike industry....... Nobody gives a **** about Gearboxes anymore, developing a carbon frame is much much much more important.

[StyledAirtime]

Zerode care.

[motomike]

The clutch doesn't add more tension, it adds more friction to the system. Did you possibly do a run or two in your big(easy) gear and the chain put the stress on your drivetrain when the suspension compressed?

[Huck Banzai]

The clutch doesn't add more tension, it adds more friction to the system. Did you possibly do a run or two in your big(easy) gear and the chain put the stress on your drivetrain when the suspension compressed?

^^That^^

[William42]

The clutch doesn't add more tension, it adds more friction to the system. Did you possibly do a run or two in your big(easy) gear and the chain put the stress on your drivetrain when the suspension compressed?

honest question:

you mean with the new clutch system its possible that you no longer have access to certain gears while riding? because if so, this clutch thing suddenly sounds way less cool.

[dan-o]

[QUOTE=blackohio;3823140]I havent hit anything, not that I can recall or nothing notable.

[motomike]

honest question:

you mean with the new clutch system its possible that you no longer have access to certain gears while riding? because if so, this clutch thing suddenly sounds way less cool.

What I was implying was that its possible that his chain could have been a link too short, and when its in the biggest cog and the suspension compresses(unless you have a perfectly verticle axlepath), it would strain the drivetrain because there would be no more room for the derailleur to stretch. Nothing to do with the clutch really. The clutch just adds friction to the cage, calming down movement over rough terrain, it doesn't add any extra tension like a lot of people think.

[blackohio]

however even looking at the video Neil lays it down derailleur side up. But the derailleur ran perfect all day yesterday and finally shat the bed last run. Not saying it wasnt possibly bent prior to that run just that it failed massively after that. Don't get me wrong here I think the derailleur is fantastic, just never seen one snap like that, I ran my previous saint for 2 years HARD.

I havent done any big gear runs, in-fact I set the limit in 2 gears and have enough chain so it's not overly tight.

Also im not some whiny kid complaining about Shimano sucking, if I go back to the shop and they say oh no its bent and that caused it to break, so be it. end of story, i buy a new one. Just found the crack really strange, and i couldn't recall any impacts or crashes that effected the derailleur usage. Post Neils crash I had a full day on the bike with perfect drivetrain action, then finally last run it went to hell right out of the corner. Literally in a split second boom. Could the cage have been tweaked prior and not given me any problems sure, the fact that the screw is bent leads me to believe that the cage had been or developed the crack before and that open area where the screw past through simply deformed more as the screw bent.