My split at a casting causing quite abit of damage. Another rider said his went at the same point as did his mates. A design flaw? Should it last long than two years? Any liability if it is a flaw?

User error.

Which casting? Zee is a parts bin special, I don’t think there’s any significant unique parts in it (some are tweaked, frinstance the cage is an old Saint model with some hardware differences) so it’s not likely to hav e aunique fault. But it does suffer a bit because there’s a mix of stong and weak parts, which can overstress the weak bits.

2 years isn’t a bad go for a mech on a mountain bike that’s getting used properly tbh, they have a hard life.

*bookmarked*

Did it die from lack of use.
Alloy can often do that if it comes into contact with a weter and is then left unused for a while.

Had two go like that a few years ago

I blamed it on chain growth and on using a 40t one-up cog. Still shouldn’t have split on me tho – think I still have it if you wanna compare it

Think I’ve seen more broken Zees than any other type of mech. Do think they’re a bit iffy.

That said… two years isn’t a bad life

I think you’re going to have to pay for a new mech. And that you probably shouldn’t buy zee mechs again.

The original ones were troubled with silly clutch / chain growth issues. Is there some issue with them being a sort of side project, that they don’t get enough testing? Shimano products have always been bombproof but Zee mechs have had lots of issues.

TBH I don’t think they have a chain growth issue- mostly they’re just a short cage mech that people keep trying to fit to setups that need a medium cage mech. They have a 25T capacity, ie 11-36 max, but if you’ve got a particularily stretchy bike you need to take that into account too. It’s the same with Saint (except if you have a too-short saint, it’s tough enough to handle it for a while without breaking, and just ****s up your suspension travel instead)

My first Zee broke on one of its first rides (possibly the first?) Just snapped and imploded whilst pedalling along – replaced under warranty. My second one has done a couple of thousand miles on my hardtails. My third one didn’t like the chain growth on my Spitfire when running 11-36 and got a bit chewed up – replaced it with an SLX medium cage.

2 years is good? I got near on 10years out of my old XTR before it died.

I’ll take a pic of the place where it snapped but a trail rescuer said “I bet I know where it snapped” then “yep that’s where mine went”.

I run mine on a standard 36T cassette, 30T NW and a proper length chain. As per my 10yr old XTR mech, I don’t kill mechs usually so I’m curious about the possible shonky issues

hora – Member
2 years is good? I got near on 10years out of my old XTR before it died.

Good for a Zee, I mean.

I wonder if it is primarily a full suss/ chain capacity issue – I’ve had mine since not long after they came out, on a 456, my race bike and now the cross bike. It wouldnt work on my meta thanks to chain growth, so never been on a full suss. Always 11-36. It has a few scuffs and scrapes but has never missed a beat and has probably been the least finicky of any of the mechs I’ve had in that time.

Obviously one example doesnt buck the trend but I’d be interested to see if there was a correlation between broken zees and full suss use

Swanny the meta, which one? Mine was on my V4

I’m running one quite happily on an 11-42 cassette. Didn’t think it would work but it’s all I had in the spares box.

I think you are on borrowed time, when mine went luckily I was climbing as the damage was minimal but my rear wheel did lockup -..on a descent?

It’s been fine for about 400 miles on this bike, about 500 on the bike before that.

Maybe yours was poorly installed. 😉

Been running mine for 2 years with 1142, but that’s with a rad cage and medium outer plate, that includes a couple of EWS rounds and other DH and Enduro racers -and plenty of chain growth on Process at full travel

Much tougher than the flappy floppy SRAM one it replaced

…plenty of chain growth on Process at full travel

I’m pretty certain the Process 153 (like all the Process frames) has very low chain growth as it has minimal anti-squat and kickback.

I’ve got one from the first batch that’s still going strong. Only on HTs, though. Tried it on a Meta V3 and it was clearly at its limit so I took it off. On the HT it works no bother with a 42t expander.

the meta, which one? Mine was on my V4

V3 29. If the chain was long enough for chain growth i had slack in top gear.

I’m using a zee on one of bikes, been fine for a few years but the quality is less than an xt but nothing has broken. I use it with a saint shifter and I find it needs a lot more force to shift than my st mech and xt shifter, is this normal? I have a radr cage waiting to go on thiat to use with a sun race 11/42

Pondy check your outer (internal) routing?

I’m pretty certain the Process 153 (like all the Process frames) has very low chain growth as it has minimal anti-squat and kickback.

Maybe its chain shrinkage? I might do a vid as I need to do my pivot bearings, if I get the chance tonight, is why I need a chain guide as it can cause the chain to come off the smallest sprocket

jam bo – Member
I’m running one quite happily on an 11-42 cassette. Didn’t think it would work but it’s all I had in the spares box.

Me too, on a Yeti 575 so also dealing with chain growth. It’s been fine for at least a couple of years.

Perhaps the constant fit/remove/fit/remove/fit/remove/fit etc etc on different frames has fatigued it??

😀