Are these two different solutions to the same problem? If so, which works best?

Fundamentally yes both are trying to move the top jockey wheel a bit further back and down, clear so it doesn’t clash with a bigger 40/42t sprocket…

All things being equal the cheaper simpler goatlink makes more sense IMO. But I haven’t tried either so it’s merely conjecture…

I haven’t seen that before. I wonder if that would cure people’s zee woes.

I find it slightly funny in a way, the “evolution” of the shadow mechs originally introduced at the tail end of their 9speed groups as a slimmer profile derailleur to help avoid clattering rocks (which apparently plagued some people at the time) shimano bump up the cassette range by four teeth with 10speed and then after a couple of years the users started modifying the danglers to sit lower, or extend the cage, leaving the thing closer closer to all those deadly, deadly rocks… The customer is always right of course…

Got a RAD cage, works fine just need to be careful when you have the clutch mechanism apart but can be fitted in about 15 mins.

Shadow mech’s were about how far the parallelogram stuck out of the line of the frame into the way of rocks and stuff though, not about how far the jockey wheels dangled off the dropout.

And it actually worked for me. The number of times I twatted an X0 mech on a new bike after having a Shadow XT on the old one was unreal, until I learned to leave a little more room

Had a Goat Link for a few weeks now. No noticable difference in shifting, but visually, there’s definitely more wrap-around.

That’s on a Zee mech with 11-36 cassette w/40T-Rex and 32t ring up front. It cleared the large cog before, but I was just interested to try one anyway.

I do like the goat link idea…..

But radr is usefulwhen you can get a cheap long xtr mech as that makes it play nicely..

I’d be surprised if it wouldn’t sort out zee problems…

IMHO it’s the extreme angles on the mech forced on it to get the jockey not to hit the extender cog which loses some of the wrappyness of the chain which leads to niggling issues…. Mr goat puts it into a happier position..

I’ve had setup on 1×10 without radr but it’s very fiddly whereas radr made it a no brainer..

the beauty of the RADr is that the top jockey stays close to most of the sprockets and only rotates forward (and thus downwards) when you get to the really big ones, like 40t+. That way shifting stays crisp on all the sprockets.

The goat link looks simpler (I’ve not used one) but won’t it move the jockey further away from all the sprockets, thereby making shifting less snappy across the range?

Has anyone tried both? At the same time?

I haven’t tried both , mainly as the rad cage I’ve got is so good really.

I have a goat link and rad cage.

On my setup, the goat link improved chain wrap but didn’t really help with shifting. The rad cage improves wrap and shifting.

what’s chain wrap?

The number of times I twatted an X0 mech on a new bike after having a Shadow XT on the old one was unreal, until I learned to leave a little more room

What and how are you twatting it given your pedal sticks out more than your mech?

Pedals go up and down jy

Thanks for that insight

So what is he hitting it on seeing it “sticks out” more? I assume this means sideways? What is he leaving room from?

It does not stick out more than a pedal, is it hitting the floor then ?
Again HOW?

I really dont get the post or what it means

You know how when you go round a corner, and because of maths and geometry and stuff the rear wheel takes a tighter course than the front/middle of the bike? That.

Plus, with the inside pedal up, it’s a fair bit higher than the rear mech, (as Northwind pointed out)

According to Lindarets the Goatlink is nearly as good as the Rad cage with a 40, the gap widens when you go to 42t. They reckon it’s also more of a budget thing, if you want to go the whole hog with XTR he says the Goatlink isn’t as good, if you just want to try and improve things with an SLX mech it’s worth using the goat.

I’ve just fitted a 40t to my xt cassette/ Zee mech and without the Goatlink I would have needed a few turns of the B screw to get clearance, I installed it and it’s back to where I started. I had to tighten the cable a a few clicks but shifting is good except down the bottom of the cassette where the 15t was removed.

My other bike I’ll convert to One Up 42t with a Radr cage.

Thanks for the explanation Having just checked with my bike but both the bars [ I still run standard and narrow ish] and my pedals are on the floor [ even when up]and the mech is still clear of the ground when in the lowest cog.
Shall I add something patronising about geometry and physics as I feel it will be a great help here? No offence I am not trolling but I did not realise folk could lean over that far they could hit a mech on the ground and I have never seen it happen.

Actually never seen a rock strike on a mech [ nor been on a ride where it happened] either but i accept they happen.

It was a genuine question

Sorry, It was a bit sarcastic. Needed a 😀 or something.

Anyhow, I got pay-it-forward karma for being rude, ‘cos it was a Commencal Super 4 frame, and the frame failed before the derailleur or hanger did.

@Junkyard I think the rock strikes folk are referring to happen on passing boulders, not on the floor. I wrote off 4 mechs in 2014 doing this :(, usually passing through a narrow slot with the back tire (Lake District boulder fields). Laying the bike Leftward is my usual tactic to reduce the chance of clipping the mech in a slot, but I’ve totalled the rear disc doing this too!
Normally the parallelogram casting breaks up on impact, or the lowest jockey shatters, or the whole shebang bends inward (and mech hanger distorts/snaps).

Shadow mechs do have a lower profile…but if you don’t leave enough room it’ll still get minced. First ride out on my XT shadow + clipped a boulder…bent parallelogram. Very expensive first ride and stuck in single gear far from home.

Sorry, It was a bit sarcastic.

I reap what I sow 😳

I get the hitting things with it but never broke one that way – shattered an xo on a road section ..No idea how

Snapped one at the very top of the high street as the “carbon” broke and i had to descend with no chain

ta

@Junkyard At low speed, climbing in the biggest sprocket, I’ve had a rock nudge a rear mech into the spokes and trash it as I squeezed the bike through a tight spot. I often raise a pedal to get the bike past something, and while I’ve only trashed that one mech in my life, it’s really easy to hit them on stuff. I descend using the smallest cog, and while I’ve never smashed a mech going down, I’ve sometimes noticed the indexing suddenly go awry, or fresh scratches on the cage.

Some 11 speed cassettes dish the largest sprocket toward the spokes, putting that mech in just a bit more danger.

Every time I’ve got the wheel out of a bike in the garage, I like to check the mech hanger straightness and apart from ones where it’s a massive lump of metal, it’s basically always bent. Could be from clipping a rock, or some sort of chain jamming thing, or a wee crash (that’s how I usually do it) but whatever the reason it doens’t help shifting much.

Ages since I’ve actually killed a mech though, it’s not just the low profile, XTs are pretty dang tough- the one on the main bike looks like it’s been chewed by a big stone dog.