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Will a short cage mech make a big difference on the amount of chain slack I have?
I have a 2010 X7 medium cage mech, will going to a short cage version drastically reduce my chain slack?
It's either brand new X7 or 2nd hand saint.
It will make things tighter as you can shorten the change but a short cage mech won't work with a full 3 x 9 set of gears. What are you running?
Surely a short cage mech will increase your chain slack, as there is less cage to take the slack up with.
If going from a med to short cage mech, then taking a couple of links out should be ok. Just remember that extreme gear combinations i.e. big ring / big sprocket will possibly stretch the mech too far and small / small will be slacker because the mech cant take up as much slack.
Im running 1X9
The saint one will require new shifters
If you're only 1x9 sounds like either your chain is too long, or the mech spring is shot - I'd check chain length first
if you go from x7 to saint you'll need new shifters won't you ?
^Yep, saint, new shifter and mech.
Chain is as short as poss, spring is still fine.
Just looking for as much tension as possible really and asking if a short cage mech will help with that.
I replaced an XT with a Saint recently - the saint is really short and has a much stronger spring which keeps the chain in tension much better. Note - this will only work with a single ring as it won't take up much chain slack (I run a Hammerschmiccle with an 11-34... not the ultra fashionable 1x9 or 1x10 🙄 )
No IMO (esp if your current one is medium anyway) - I reckon a BB mounted guide would do better if you're trying to keep the chain on, or else an inner tube round the chainstay if you're avoiding chips..drastically reduce my chain slack?
^i have a chain device.
Im not trying to avoid chips, just trying to stop my chain bouncing around as much as possible.
A short cage mech will help but it wont "drastically reduce your chain slack"
I have a short cage SRAM mech at the moment and its ok, I found the best mechs are short cage shimano road mechs, you can usually get them cheap 2nd hand. I think they have a stiffer spring in them though. But you would need a new shifter. And they only really work with cassettes upto 28tooth
I used to run 1x9 without a chain guide; it worked very well with a long cage mech but came off more often using a short cage mech. The shorter mech had the capacity to take up all the spare chain but I suspect that the lower leverage of the shorter cage made it weaker and slower to do so, resulting in it falling off more often over bumpy stuff.
I run a new Saint SS Short cage mech and have had no problems at all with it, previously had a Deore fitted which was pants. Hardly any chain slap even with enough chain to run a 2x9 setup, except in the extremes on the smaller chainring, which don't get used. But as mentioned above you will need a Shimano shifter or Shimano ratio SRAM shifter.