Customer Reviews

SRAM X.4 Rear Derailleur (Black, Long Cage)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

SRAM has come a long way in the last 10 years and their bike components are top notch. I run nothing but SRAM drivetrain now (X.5, X.7, and X.4 on my sons bike) and love that I can adjust and forget! Even though this is the bottom of the product line rear derailleur is it reliable and strong.

Just an FYI for the reviewer above and for anyone reading. SRAM's rear 1:1 derailleurs DO NOT have a rear cable adjuster like Shimano. SRAM 1:1 derailleurs only work with SRAM 1:1 shifters, the cable adjust is at the shifter end.

I bought this to replace an old Shimano Alivio rear derailleur.

I'm sure this rear derailleur works fine on many different bikes. SRAM makes good stuff. Funny thing is it would not fit on my bike. I had a 1999 Trek 800 sport which is a totally typical, bone stock, CrMo tube, hardtail mountain bike. Sure it bolted up OK, but when I tried to adjust the limit screws so it would travel across the whole cassette, I could not get it to reach the large cog (lowest gear). Thinking maybe the cable was interfering with the travel I even disconnected the shifter cable at the derailleur - no luck, there just wasn't enough travel in the derailleur itself! Then I discovered the travel on the high gear side was massive, I could easily adjust it to pull the chain off the high gear and into the dropouts.

It's as if SRAM designed this for a different dimension between the dropout surface and center of the cassette. The derailleur in fact had plenty of range, just the range was shifted about 6mm too far to the outside of the bike. But I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so off to the LBS I go. The bike mechanics couldn't get it to work either. Oh well, Thank you Amazon for your excellent return policy.

In case you're wondering what happened...I ended up keeping the stock Shimano rear derailleur and instead upgraded the shifters to get better, crisper shifting. What a difference! Turns out the shifters are the brains of the operation, the rear derailleur is just following instructions. If you want to improve the shifting of your bike and your existing derailleur is serviceable, I'd recommend upgrading the shifters first. I bought new Shimano LX 3x9 trigger shifters, and they worked flawlessly and never needed tweaking or adjusting after first install and tuning. The bike shifted thru gears quickly, assuredly and without error for many hundreds of miles.

this item is great, but when/if you need to change the hardware contact sram any other bolts will strip the holes on the derailleur

My previous rear derailleur broke and I had to switch. Even when it was installed "professionally" in the store, it still jumps and the chain doesn't stay in the higher gears correctly. I have to play with the screws more. It is really annoying, specially when going uphill and the chain jumps inadvertently to a lower gear.

The only reason i'm giving this a 4-star rating instead of 5, is more of a design issue than anything with the seller. There is no cable adjuster on this derailleur. I would have had to get a cable stop anyway with my cable routing, but it just seems a little odd. however, i do like the bare cable routing to the cable stop, that is a nice design.