Here goes nuthin’ . In the process of isolating another annoying creak on my Process ( natch ) . Seems on the drivetrain ( TBF naff all left to check ) my mate suggested swapping the rear mech . I’ve already put new jockey wheels on and a new chain , but he said look how stiff the cage is when you push it forward even with the clutch turned off compared with the non clutch type on my other bike . I reckon that’s ” normal” on a clutch mech even with it turned off , bound to be some resistance . So who’s right ? Indexing and changing fine btw .

You can adjust the tension. Might be worth a try.

Will that make it free-er then ?

Bump

You can adjust the tension on a Sram mech, just take the cover off there’s a big torx screw which you can increase or decrease the tension. Have had mine in bits to clean it all out/service it. Don’t think the Shimano is the same though, had an Xtr mech and think you adjust the tension via the spring position internally. Not sure if you can decrease it Tbf.

Shimano works by increasing friction on a one way bearing. The friction is applied via the lever. When the lever is off, a cam opens and removes tension from the band, so in theory it’s all free to move. There may be a bit of drag from the band. Tension can be adjusted, remove the side cover and adjust the small hex head. XTR even comes with a tiny spanner inside the housing!

If the creak is from the mech clutch it’ll be from suspension movement, if you bounce without pedalling and there’s no creak it’s unlikely to be the mech.

I had a creak that was caused by an XT clutch mech.
It was creaking on the pivot bolt that holds the cage on.
Just remove the cage, clean up the pivot bolt, grease and rebuild the mech.
Simple video of how to do it here.
(Obvs you’re not fitting a RAD Cage but it shows you how to dissasamble/reassemble the mech)

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65WG6hkj5lY[/video]

Cheers all will pop cage off tbh didn’t know you could thought it was riveted ?