A mate’s son’s bike has broken – ancient bike and the rear mech has snapped. It’s a long story but looking to replace rather than buy a new bike.

Will a standard SRAM X3 work?

That mech looks ancient which I think means it probably predates the 1:1 cable actuation thing that SRAM brought in (IIRC this was around 2006, at least on the higher end SRAM stuff).

My guess is that your X3 mech will be 1:1 so it won’t work, unfortunately.

EDIT: if all else fails, you should be able to get a mech + shifter in a more modern flavour.

Thanks. I wasn’t quite expecting a museum piece when he called and asked me to have a look.

I was thinking that might the old SRAM stuff might be pre-1to1. Hmmm… might check out the charity bike shop round the corner.