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Submitted by
Pentimento
a Weekend Warrior
from USA
Date Reviewed: September 4, 2009 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Bottom Line: | Outfitted to Porsche Mountain Bike. Second time riding, through a slightly hilly neighborhood, and he Sachs Plasma exploded into five pieces and bent horribly. Plastic is a bad idea for this part. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Adam
a
from Northampton
Date Reviewed: August 22, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Mt. Tom | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$10.00 | | Purchased At: | eBay | | Strengths: | Very light, Shimano Compatible, unusual. | | Weaknesses: | As it it were designed to break. | | Similar Products Used: | Many, many Shimano derailures. From LX to XTR model years 1990 to '04 | | Bike Setup: | Jamis Dakar XTish build up. | | Bottom Line: | It's interesting and proably more at home on a road bike where I would not heasitate to use it. Shifts very good both up and down and some hard power shifts. Not up to real mountian biking.
You can buy these now cheap on eBay and if you use your bike mostly on the road that's fine.
I was riding my usual trail the third or 4th time out and didn't even realize I hit anything. The cage that hold the pulleys twisted and broke and the derailure came apart at the piviot screw. It was totally destroyed. I am sure that a rock getting kicked up did this. No Shimano derailure would have broken simularly. You could smash this thing right off and not even tweek the hanger.
Interesting but not for MTBs. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
American_Lesion
a Cross Country Rider
from Bradford, PA USA
Date Reviewed: September 20, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Oil Creek, Allegheny, & Sugar Creek Trails | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$40.00 | | Purchased At: | Cambria Bike Outfitter | | Strengths: | Smooth shifter, inexpensive, direct cable routing | | Weaknesses: | Plastic construction (I guess), no longer made, no barrel adjuster | | Similar Products Used: | Suntour A-5000, XCE-4050, XC-9010, Shimano Acera X, Alivio, Altus A-30,Exage M350 Trail, Deore, Deore LX, Deore XT, Sunrace M50 and M60 | | Bike Setup: | Fuji Cadenza 1988 Cromo Ishiwata Quad-butted frame, Diatech U-brake, Promax V-brake, Nashbar-branded dual position brake levers, Exage M350 crankset, Hatta Vesta BB, Syncros outer, LX middle, and Specialized inner chainrings, KMC Z-chain, SRAM MRX shifters, Flat silver alloy bars, Nashbar stem, Judy TT fork, Weinmann rims, DT spokes/nipples, Acera-X hubs, Falcon freewheel, Kalloy seatost, SDG saddle, Profile Tomac bar ends w/ lizard skins covers, Schwinn grips, Kenda urban slick tires, Exage M350 front derailleur, and Nashbar special clipless pedals | | Bottom Line: | Shifts better than an XT unit with the same shifters. It is partailly plastic, so its probably not a good choice for freeriders, trials guys, or DH nuts. The thing is very light. No replaceable parts...no barrel adjuster. Does hold its adjustment quite well. Quiet. Reasonably inexpensive. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott
a Racer
from Falmouth, MA
Date Reviewed: June 16, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Purchased At: | Corner Cycle (Local LBS) | | Strengths: | Light
Shifts well and smooth
Cable routing through derailleur makes shifting effortless | | Weaknesses: | fragile | | Similar Products Used: | XTR, XT, LX, 9.0, X.O. and everything else ever made even a crazy white industry linear sliding derailluer thingy | | Bike Setup: | Tomac 98 Special, Mars super, sram X.0., avid disc, hugi 240 hubs | | Bottom Line: | shifts great
one hit on a rock and see ya later
i got this for free, dont waste your money on it get 9.0sl | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Hardcore
a Downhiller
from Germany
Date Reviewed: January 20, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Die Rinne | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$65.00 | | Strengths: | light
different design | | Weaknesses: | bends
breaks
can't hold the chain in its cage | | Similar Products Used: | GS 200, Exage, Deore, DX, LX, XT, XTR, Plasma | | Bike Setup: | GT ZASKAR with cool costume stuff!
very hot! | | Bottom Line: | I had two of them. Firt one was the original Sachs Di.R.T. Plasma.
It broke! Second one was the SRAM thing and guess what happened.
I would recomend Shimano even if they are monopolistic people.
But their stuff mostly works. Take XTR or Deore. Forget LX and XT! | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris Brattle
a Downhiller
from Birmingham, England
Date Reviewed: May 5, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Woburn Sands | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$110.00 | | Purchased At: | Mountain Mania (Brilliant Shop, plug plug!) | | Strengths: | Light, works well and carries on working.
Best Mech is you like it muddy
Unfussy Warranty
Very Different
Not Shimano | | Weaknesses: | Twat it hard and it breaks (Duh!)
Hard To set up initially | | Similar Products Used: | Every Shimano, Most SRAM | | Bike Setup: | San Andreas DHS, MX6's Hope DH4's etc etc. | | Bottom Line: | I have had the same rear mech for three years, it has outlasted several frames! once you get past the initial stress of setting it up and paying for the damn thing it reaslly just sits there letting you forget about it, wanna shift up a whole block on one wrench whilst pedaling full out, this drailler will do it, through rain or snow, this is why I hsve the oldest, most battered drivetrain of anyone I know, which still out performs XTR straight from the box, O.K I have broken ione but the warranty replaced it almost immediately without quibble, and the second has lasted forever, beautifully made, brilliantly designed, works above and beyond the call of duty, at this rate I'll be leaving it in my will! | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
tom tomskins
a Weekend Warrior
from usa
Date Reviewed: February 15, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$70.00 | | Strengths: | tougth and durabale, top of the range sachs shiffting
reliable.perfornace is top wack. will make u smile.
compatibale with any groups sets | | Weaknesses: | plastic not very atractive looking u will need a sachs chain 2 go with it. pricey for a bit of plastic | | Similar Products Used: | xtr | | Bike Setup: | trek oclv 2000 team | | Bottom Line: | want 1 of the best performers out there then give this a good a bit steep in the pice tag but worth the extra dollars. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
andy da-costa
a
from London greenford
Date Reviewed: April 12, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | the look out | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | super light and shifts like you expeect it too. | | Weaknesses: | very expensive retails at £80. | | Similar Products Used: | xtr the same but is hevier | | Bike Setup: | s works m2 team edition judy dh 97 mavic cross links esp front mech plasma shifters,xt caset,avid flak jaket cables
the boom like set up for x-country and dh riding | | Bottom Line: | do not under estimate the power of this rear dirilier it may look britill but its stronger than your leg.down side its pricy . | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jason
a Racer
from Cincinnati
Date Reviewed: March 2, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Tower Park/Fort Thomas | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Superlight-compared to anything, shifts when ESP or XT would lock up (dusty conditions, muddy conditions). Works with 7,8 or 9 speeds. | | Weaknesses: | THE CABLE HOUSING ABSOLUTELY MUST BE THE CORRECT LENGTH. There is a chart in the box, and in the manual. It shows the special cable housing lengths. If you don't cut within 20mm, the derailluer will not work right. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano 97LX, 95DX, 94XT, 95XT, 98XTR. Sram 97ESP 9.0, 98ESP 9.0SL Sachs/Sram Quartz | | Bike Setup: | Bontrager RaceLite OR, 9 Speed XT all around, Rolf Propel Pro wheelset. | | Bottom Line: | It works well if you have the cable housing cut correctly. The Quartz works very well also, has many of the same features, and costs about half as much. The only derailluer that competes with this is the 98+ XTR. As bad as it sounds, I'd rather be sending my money to the Frenchies.(Although Sachs is owned by SRAM Chicago) | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
M.R. O.
a Cross Country Rider
from Montreal, Quebec
Date Reviewed: February 17, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Le p'tit train du Nord trails, Prévost | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | Very light,very good design (direct pull), very good shifting | | Weaknesses: | Built with extremely cheap plastic, very prone to breakage. Only good for the city in my opinion. | | Similar Products Used: | Acera x, STX, STX RC, XTR | | Bike Setup: | Upgraded Klein Hardtail. | | Bottom Line: | I was very enthousiastic about this derailleur for two or three weeks. It was working very well until I started to bike in a nasty singletrack; I am not sure exactly what happened but the Plasma shattered in three pieces where the plastic parts are the thinnest. My master mechanics had warned me about the drabacks of this derailleur. He was right. Anyways, I did not want to waste any more time so instead of a replacement I got myself an XTR, a much tougher derailleur. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Marcel Frenk
a Cross Country Rider
from Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Date Reviewed: February 10, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | the forests around Nijmegen | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | With the Sachs grip-shifters this is by far the fastest shifting deraileur, and the most precise too. When not worn around its pivot-points, no ghostshifts at all. Way better than Shimano XT and XTR (who work fine with shimano shifters though, but still ghostshift on my fully) | | Weaknesses: | Very weak chainwheels (or pullywheels, whatever you call `m in english), they wear out fast, or their bearings fail, and when they fail, the bottom one unscrews itself (indicating a stupid construction, lost a lot of parts in the forrest because of that, causing an unwelcome singlespeed experience ). The pivot points wear out to fast (within nine month`s or so), when worn the derailleur starts to ghost-shift etc. And although they are sold as being servicable, in NL no importer service is available, nor are replacement parts. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XT, Sachs Quartz (the metal one, horrible!) | | Bike Setup: | `94 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR, changed the brakes to Magura, the shifters to SACHS Plasma gripshifters
| | Bottom Line: | I used two of these during the last 20 months, because they worked the best with the Sachs Plasma gripshifters I bought. Way better than Shimano XT and Sachs Quartz alu. Supershifts are possible, but the derailleur has some weaknesses SRAM should learn from. With a good cable setup it`s not too sensitive to mud, so that`s OK in my experience. But the chainwheels wear out too fast, and their bearings are prone to jamming themselves. When this happens (during a muddy ride, during which you endure so much rolling resistance and chain noise that the protesting chainwheels get unnoticed) the lower chainwheel unscrews itself out of the derailleur cage, and suddenly all is lost! Stupid construction detail! The pivot points wear out fast, and since these are metal parts mounted into a composite material, in theorie it`s possible to repair the derailleur. Unfortunately SRAM NL (or Koch Kleeberg) supplies no spare parts, nor offers a rebuild service. Which means you can throw away a Fl. 200,- (guilders, not dollars) derailleur every ten months... Went back to Shimano XT, reluctantly accepting a lesser shifting performance and some ghostshifts on heavy bumps.
If anyone of SRAM reads this, I appreciate any comments you have on this. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Hoss
a Cross Country Rider
from Ohio
Date Reviewed: January 20, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Light, smooooth, warranty | | Weaknesses: | Weak plastic, price | | Similar Products Used: | LX & XT | | Bike Setup: | Bontrager Race, Superfly, Valiant wheel set | | Bottom Line: | I just broke my second Plasma inside of 12 months. The first one lasted about 8 months and the plastic side of the cage broke. Sent it to my dealer, Bikeworks in Toledo (fantastic service), and they hooked my up with a new one. Used the second one twice and POW, the knuckle broke while I was climbing a hill. It was about 20 degrees outside when this happened and I am not sure if that caused the plastic to become brittle. Anyhow, I will give the Plasma one more shot because it shifted so nice. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Eric
a racer
from Newtown CT, USA
Date Reviewed: January 1, 1999 | | Bottom Line: |
This is the best rear-derailleur, i started out with an STX and got an XT, but the damn thing fell apart, the Sealed Bearings are crap, they fill with mud and stop turning, and then it just acts like a bushing. My Friend has had an Alivio, an LX, an XT and both the XTR normal and Rapid-Rise, he hated his XT, it fell apart, so far the XTR(the normal one, he returned the Rapid-Rise because it worked backwards) derailleur is working great. I thought it was cool for a while, but different things about it got more annoying and when the bottom pulley shot off and chased me down the road one day I decided to try the Plasma. True, the Plasma cost 3 times as much, but doesnt a BMW cost 3 times as much as a Toyota?(and im not dissin Japanese car companies, they make THE MOST RELIABLE cars in the world.) But if you want performance and engineering you need Sachs. The XTR and Plasma both have real engineering and quality and real CARTRIDGE BEARINGS, A MUST HAVE IN ANY COMPONENT! If you dont mind the price get a Plasma, and if you want almost as good without the German twist get an XTR.
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