hi all . i bought a good sram x5 rear mech for my bike , only thing is it seems to be , poss a medium cage , can i fit it to my bike , as i had a long cage before, will i have to take any links out of the chain.cant take it back as shop soiled , paid next to nowt for it , cheers

should be fine, chain length is usually measured around big front, big rear plus extra link but not through the mech cage but if its loose you can try removing a pair of links-only danger is the big big combination may not work and could snap mech off

What fallguy said, med cages are usually for when running just a double up front, it will work , but you will lose the full range of gears, which in turn should make you use your gears efficiently if you don’t all ready..

Just don’t expect to be able to use much else if you in the big ring..

You shouldn’t ride big ring to big ring anyway. Use sensible gear selections and you’ll be fine.

..

many thanks all , some good advise there, thats a problem when you only have one bike , however i now have A bike just for work, again thanks.