It appears my clutch mech has lost some of its tension… Anyone else experienced this? It is a SLX – can I tighten it in the same way that an XTR can be tightened?

Advice greatly appreciated.

Yup.

Tech: How to Adjust the Shimano Shadow Plus Rear Derailleur Clutch

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/trail-tech-how-to-adjust-a-shimano-shadow-plus-rear-derailleur-36461/

Cheers

Easy to tighten up the clutch, but I have now had 3 Zee clutch mechs fail beyond repair due to wear as opposed to impact. I am not impressed. The clutch wears out too easily and is not sturdy.

My actual Zee mech seems ok, a bit of slop in it now it is nine months old. The major problem is that the clutch lever has been removed by some trail shrapnel!

Glasgowdan

Interesting… I think that might be the case with mine. I’ll give the tighten a shot and if not may replace with a standard mech. TBH I’m generally a XC rider and have not really witnessed any great benefit from the clutch.

How did you know the mech was knackered as opposed to needing tightened?

Because tightening them enough to hold the arm still when engaged would also prevent the arm becoming free when the lever was disengaged, or on another one the metal clip around the paddle had snapped inside hence the lever wouldn’t engage any force on the clutch. Plus one mech simply exploded as a small twig went through the chain.

I might try saint if I feel flush and see, but I’mm tempted to switch to SRAM.

its a terrible design imo. Mine broke after 4 months and there are lots of other reports:

http://forums.mtbr.com/drivetrain-shifters-derailleurs-cranks/clutch-broken-xt-shadow-plus-859272.html

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/clutch-mech-problems

Plenty more if you search around…

Cheers all

I lost all tension in mine at the Gisburn Enduro, resulting in a baggy chain but due to the Hope thick/thin ring the chain didn’t fall off. Maybe we don’t need clutch mechs?

My clutch didn’t break but the ferrule that sits in the shifter had broken so may have been my problem. I’ve replaced the potentially dodgy one with a new one and so far so good…

I might try saint if I feel flush and see, but I’mm tempted to switch to SRAM.

i wouldnt bother my x7 lost tension after a couple of months,needed retightening every 20 hours or so of riding, 9 months in it had loads of play in every pivot, planned to take it on for warranty, but went for 1 more ride and smashed it on a rock

anyway, just switched to zee to see if its any tougher

The clutch in my xt mech disintegrated by itself recently. After a number of rides, i still haven’t dropped a chain (hope wide/narrow up front) so can’t decide whether to replace it or not.
It’s a great design in principle, but deff needs to be strenghthened, the parts behind the cover are feeble.

I preordered my Zee from the first batch to arrive in the German stores, so it’s a little over 2yrs old (right?). It’s worked flawlessly since then, shrugging off plenty of abuse. I’ve tightened it once, but that was only because I opened it up to tinker within the first couple of weeks. I do wonder if people expect a bit much from them. The idea is not to tighten it

enough to hold the arm still when engaged

cos that’s not the point. It dampens movement, nothing more, and it does it very well.

I had the same problem as the MBR link on a fairly new xt mech the other week. It had only about five 15 mile xc rides then, after 3 days in the alps, the clutch stopped working. I did manage to smash the mech up the next day anyway so it didn’t really matter in the end! In all seriousness though, I wasn’t impressed and hope Shimano sort it out soon (although it is a warranty issue at least).

Warpcow…you’re missing the point. The cage IS supposed to be held firmly, and if the mech ends up running like a normal mech then it has failed.

Well done on getting 2 years out of yours though, you must feel special. That doesn’t mean that mine didn’t fail though.

The cage IS supposed to be held firmly, and if the mech ends up running like a normal mech then it has failed.

That’s not quite what you said before though. I agree that it should be firmer with the clutch on, mine is noticably so. If your’s didn’t do that then there’s obviously something wrong, but it shouldn’t lock into position as you seem to expect it to. It has to run “like a normal mech” to do the job of a mech. The clutch just dampens the movement the mech has to do to work properly. If you’ve tightened the clutch to even close to the point where the arm is locked, and especially if it’s on an FS with a reasonable amount of chain-growth, or if you spend a lot of time at the top end of the cassette, then there’s a good chance it’s going to tear itself to pieces.

Stating the obvious. Cheers. I know what I’m doing. Do I really have to put into so many words that tightening a slack clutch means nipling it up such that the cage behaves like a clutch mech rather than a normal one, I.e. is held under the usual clutch tension and releases when the lever is off?

Not sure the point of your post.

Think you’ll find there is supposed to be some form of warranty on these, Scienceofficer sent his back to crc with a failed clutch and they exchanged

I found the SRAM ones even more brittle than the shimano to be honest-they certainly aren’t as durable with te extra complication of a clutch, but they certainly work so I am sticking with my SLX-my last one lasted a couple of years then just turned into a normal (none clutch) mech so I have it as a spare.