# Snapped derailleur. Why, and now what?



## drastic. (Nov 22, 2010)

Went for a session today, and had a blast. On the final run, right off the first jump, when I landed the rear rim just completely locked up.

Got off the bike and checked, and saw my derailleur snapped and got sucked into my spokes, bending a few spokes, and my chain. The chain got dropped behind the cassette. Once I figure out how to upload pics from my droid, I will do so.

X-5 rear derailleur...about 20-25hrs on it. What would cause it to break, and how can i prevent it from happening again?

Stock length chain, no links removed.

What performance value does a higher end derailleur such as a saint have over a lower end model, and how much is really necessary? Can't afford to drop 200+ on an X0, and even $150 is pushing it.

Additionally, I have an 8-spd cassette, will I have issues using a derailleur intended for 9/10?

And for the hell of it, a clip of one of the trails we rode today. Can't edit for s***, so just uploaded straight to YT.

boyscout cleaned - YouTube


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## drastic. (Nov 22, 2010)

just going to go ahead and order a saint M810-SS rear derailleur mech and a gold KMC x9sl chain to replace the original equip.


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## cm374 (Dec 19, 2008)

What type of gearing are you running? You could check out an x9 medium cage if your gearing allows for it (single ring setup), they are just slightly heavier than x0 and can be had for ~$75. It's possible that the derailleur wasn't set up perfectly. The chain getting mashed behind the cassette sounds like it could be a limit issue? Or maybe you accidently hit it without realizing it, or maybe your hanger was fatigued and failed upon impact. Either way, you'll probably also need to track down a replacement hanger along with the mech/chain.

edit: almost forgot, yes a 9 speed will work, but a 10 will not (as far as I know, someone can correct that if I'm mistaken)


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## drastic. (Nov 22, 2010)

It's a 1x8 setup. PG-830 cassette, w/ a 11-32 spread and a 32T front ring.

No limit issue in terms of if you click the trigger...it won't try to skip up/over the last ring. I was in one of the lowest sprockets anyways now that I think about it. Probably skipped over the cassette as a result of the derailleur breaking. 

Didn't consider needing a new hanger. I'll have to really take a look at it later, and see what the damage is. Where can I get a hanger from? Whichever company I order a rear mech from (sram/shim)?


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## cm374 (Dec 19, 2008)

Cool, with that setup you'd probably benefit from a medium cage derailleur. It will allow you to run a slightly shorter chain and improve shifting. If you threw your mech through your wheel it's almost 100% certain your hanger needs replacing. You can find replacements for most of the larger bike manufactures with a quick google search, if your bike is made by a smaller company you may have to contact them directy


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## chauzie (Mar 8, 2010)

check ebay. You can get the Saint M810 or Sram XO for a lot cheaper than retail. I would get Saint, not XO though. XO is fragile and is for more AM/XC.

One possible reason why your broke is because it's just fatigued. When jumping, these derailleurs do get abused big time! The more travel the bike has, the bigger the abuse these derailleurs get. There's a reason why dirt jumpers prefer simple BMX or DJ bikes. Another reason why it broke is because the cable is too tight. A long travel bike need some slack in the derailleur cable or else when the bike squishes down to max travel, it'll pull hard on the cable and bam! snap the derailleur.

And it's not unheard of that a chain skip over the top of the cassette either, even with a properly working derailleur. The top chain guide upfront on the ring would help here. Also, I find the round plastic guard they put between the cassette and the wheel to be helpful too (lots of people remove it because it looks cheezy though).


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## alex55 (Jul 29, 2007)

I'm kinda surprised no one has brought it up.Shimano rear derailleurs isn't compatible with a sram shifters and vice versa. That kinda limits you to sram derailleurs unless you get a new shifter.


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## David C (May 25, 2011)

alex55 said:


> I'm kinda surprised no one has brought it up.Shimano rear derailleurs isn't compatible with a sram shifters and vice versa. That kinda limits you to sram derailleurs unless you get a new shifter.


It's the first thing that came up to my mind.

Now, I had the same issue, but with a 2x8 setup, with X-5 rear der and same thing happen... Why ? Because a chain tensioner/chain guide is always needed to help relieve the stress on the rd when taking hits and therefore prevent it from swinging all over the place and fatigue the hanger... I then ordered a x-7 with a new hanger, but will probably get a x-9 with mid cage (not enough money for a x-9 plus a hanger at that time). Then I also got a chain guide.

Yep. About $120 later, back on track.


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## delirian (Jan 1, 2009)

did you derailieur deffinatly snap,,,, could it have fallen apart.
earlier this year my brother built up his new bike, santacruz butcher, he had a brand new 10 speed carbon sram x9 long cage. we built the bike up the week before we flew to whistler in may. the bike was not rode til we got to whistler apart from a quick test in the street to see if the gears were indexing properly. (which they were) all limit screws were set up correctly, on our first day in whistler we did a lap of lost lake as we got to the top near why johnny cant read col dissapeard on us, after a short wait he came round the corner pushing his bike, his derailieur was hanging off,
he assumed that he had clipped a rock and snapped it, but on closer inspection it wasnt damaged it had simply fallen apart, the c clip that hold the spring in place had come off and the spring had fired off and the mech fell apart.
we went back down to trail and collected all the pieces and took it to fanatyk for the guys to look at. all the mechanics checked it out and every one of them said it looks like a manufacturing fault, there is no sign of damage to it. we eneded up having to buy a new mech as we still had 2 weeks of our vacation left. but when we returned back to the uk we returned the faulty mech to the shop and got a warranty replacement.
so are you sure that the mech broke could it have fallen apart like my brothers did, if so then you may beable to get it warrantied


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## highdelll (Oct 3, 2008)

drastic. said:


> ... now that I think about it. Probably skipped over the cassette as a result of the derailleur breaking.



So the derailleur just snapped in mid-flight?

OR...


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## DustyBones (Jun 23, 2010)

drastic. said:


> It's a 1x8 setup. PG-830 cassette, w/ a 11-32 spread and a 32T front ring.
> 
> No limit issue in terms of if you click the trigger...it won't try to skip up/over the last ring. I was in one of the lowest sprockets anyways now that I think about it. Probably skipped over the cassette as a result of the derailleur breaking.
> 
> Didn't consider needing a new hanger. I'll have to really take a look at it later, and see what the damage is. Where can I get a hanger from? Whichever company I order a rear mech from (sram/shim)?


:thumbsup:
Here ya go
www.bicyclederailleurhangers.com


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## drastic. (Nov 22, 2010)

delirian said:


> did you derailieur deffinatly snap,,,, could it have fallen apart.
> earlier this year my brother built up his new bike, santacruz butcher, he had a brand new 10 speed carbon sram x9 long cage. we built the bike up the week before we flew to whistler in may. the bike was not rode til we got to whistler apart from a quick test in the street to see if the gears were indexing properly. (which they were) all limit screws were set up correctly, on our first day in whistler we did a lap of lost lake as we got to the top near why johnny cant read col dissapeard on us, after a short wait he came round the corner pushing his bike, his derailieur was hanging off,
> he assumed that he had clipped a rock and snapped it, but on closer inspection it wasnt damaged it had simply fallen apart, the c clip that hold the spring in place had come off and the spring had fired off and the mech fell apart.
> we went back down to trail and collected all the pieces and took it to fanatyk for the guys to look at. all the mechanics checked it out and every one of them said it looks like a manufacturing fault, there is no sign of damage to it. we eneded up having to buy a new mech as we still had 2 weeks of our vacation left. but when we returned back to the uk we returned the faulty mech to the shop and got a warranty replacement.
> *so are you sure that the mech broke could it have fallen apart* like my brothers did, if so then you may beable to get it warrantied


definately snapped.


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## drastic. (Nov 22, 2010)

highdelll said:


> So the derailleur just snapped in mid-flight?
> 
> OR...


Snapped exactly when I landed. I was in around 6th gear, so I definitely wasn't on one of the larger sprockets, where for whatever odd reason would skip over the cassette.

I'm chalking it up as chain growth combined w/ cheap material construction/strength on the x-5.

Here's the vid clip. right off the first jump, she locks up. I don't know how to embed, so here's the link.

snapped derailleur - YouTube


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## highdelll (Oct 3, 2008)

weird


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## David C (May 25, 2011)

Simply like this :



> < iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5jNmj_3ZEto?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>


Just remove the space between the < and iframe and you are good to go. Just go on the youtube page of the video and click on embed and you have option to choose size of the video, and other feature and it give you a code like this one and you simply paste it there.


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## Whumpus (Aug 2, 2011)

Pretty much what my X-7 looked like, nice. Last jump even, had to walk 23 miles home. I was able to get a complete new derailleur and hanger, it was all bent and broken. Same series, X7.Now? No problems. I also tried to tighten all the tensioners almost to the max, but it just seems like the fatigue thing is kicking in. All good tips guys, helping me as well as drastic. THANKS.


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## R2ana (Dec 24, 2010)

This has happened to me before. I landed from my drop, derailleur sheared off. Upon closer inspection it was a combination of gearing, and chainlength. When I landed the suspension compressed causing the improper length chain and long derailleur combo to go slack. This was just enough to get the chain inplace for the major chainsuck that would soon happen. The suspension decompressed from the hit, pulling the chain inbetween the spokes and cassette, instantly locking my rear tire and embedding the chain impossibly deep into my spokes behind the cassette. 

I've since fixed the problem by going with a med cage der. and a proper length chain. And making sure I'm in the right gear for bigger hits.


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## drastic. (Nov 22, 2010)

rear rim is at the lbs getting the bent spokes replaced, and retrued.

i want to order a derailleur...since the shimano rear mech wont work w/ a sram trigger, i want to just order a X9. for $70, it's probably the best deal.

I have an x4 trigger, which is an 8spd. I noticed in some descriptions for the x9 (mainly the '10 model, idk if the '11 had changes?) that it was 8 and 9spd compatible.

can anyone confirm that, and if so, do i need to make sure i do anything to ensure i dont have problems w/ the x9 being utilized w/ the x4 trigger?


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## highdelll (Oct 3, 2008)

^^^ it will work just fine


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