# Zee vs Saint rear derailleur?



## meSSican (Aug 8, 2010)

Anyone have some insight between the two? Looking to swap out my x9 setup for Shimano and wanted some feedback. I don't mind spending the extra for the Saint as I found it for $106 (vs $67 for the Zee) if it will be better. I plan on running the Saint shifter either way. Thanks guys!


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## pinkrobe (Jan 30, 2004)

Shifting precision is in the shifter more so than the derailleur. The main advantage of the Saint over Zee is that it can be converted from narrow to wide gear range. With Zee, it's got a 28(?) OR 36 max rear cog limit, while Saint can handle either.


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## kenbentit (Jan 2, 2003)

Yeah, Zee is great if you don't have any need to swap cassettes between 28 & 36t. I've run both Saint and Zee and they both work great (Zee is WAY less money tho!). The Zee isn't quite as burly as Saint and doesn't get the integrated rubber bumper but I haven't noticed any downside.


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## meSSican (Aug 8, 2010)

Thanks for the replies guys! I think I may just go with the Zee as I don't see much improvement for the $$ and won't need to swap cassette sizes. I haven't broken a rear derailleur on my dh bike yet but at $66 vs $110 it will hurt less.


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## ungod (Apr 16, 2011)

I went with the Zee derailleur and Saint shifter, it's a great combination. Weight is pretty much the same too.


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## jurichar (Aug 19, 2009)

i went through 2 zee derailleurs switched over to saint and haven't had a problem since. IMO get the saint. All my failures were with the pin holding the parallelogram, seems to be burlier on the saint


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## kenbentit (Jan 2, 2003)

I just had that happen to mine! Must be the weak point in the design...


jurichar said:


> i went through 2 zee derailleurs switched over to saint and haven't had a problem since. IMO get the saint. All my failures were with the pin holding the parallelogram, seems to be burlier on the saint


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## meSSican (Aug 8, 2010)

kenbentit said:


> I just had that happen to mine! Must be the weak point in the design...


Bummer, I had already ordered the Zee. Well luckily Shimano has a great warrantee department. Thanks for the feedback guys.


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## kenbentit (Jan 2, 2003)

Mine was an easy fix, just pressed the pin back into the hole (i caught it before it fell out completely). The pin just has a knurled end, no clip or set screw to keep it in place. Cost saver...


meSSican said:


> Bummer, I had already ordered the Zee. Well luckily Shimano has a great warrantee department. Thanks for the feedback guys.


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## jurichar (Aug 19, 2009)

haha, i did this no less than 6 times over 10 days in Whistler to avoid buying a new derailleur. I even tried epoxy to hold the pin in. Its a wierd failure, doesn't so much break as is just falls apart. The issue is that its a bit catastrophic when it comes apart and locks up the chain, sometimes into the spokes of the rear wheel. For me...not worth the PIA and crash risk. I will say i got a solid 20 to 25 riding day before it failed and it shifted awesome and took beatings the whole time.


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## kenbentit (Jan 2, 2003)

Mine was loose again after riding this weekend. This time I used a shop vise to flatten the end of the pin slightly, pushed it in fully with a punch, then used that same punch to kinda mar up the edges of the pin hole so it can't work it's way back out. That should do it!


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## jurichar (Aug 19, 2009)

kenbentit 1 - zee 0

haha, hopefully it holds man!


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## meSSican (Aug 8, 2010)

Well I think I will be getting a saint and keeping the Zee for backup.


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## {|xDi|} (Dec 2, 2020)

I wanted to revisit this thread. I picked up a Zee RD & was wondering what to look out for. There seems to be a few people that have had issues with the "pin holding the parallelogram" anyone else have any input about this? Is there a fix for it? Should i consider returning the zee? It gets tons of positive reviews almost 5 stars.


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