Submitted by
Jason
a Cross Country Rider
from Akeley, MN, USA
Date Reviewed: September 7, 2011
Strengths: replaceable cam for cable. The old SRAM had it molded as part of the body and cracked. This new design also allows for straighter/shorter cable routing.
Weaknesses: Older SRAM had screws rather than rivets in its construction. Fine with me though, since it seems less likely to fail and probably is lighter.
Bottom Line:
Seems very precise except in the very roughest of conditions. As I mentioned above, it appears the cam section (plastic) that the cable rests in, may be replaceable. I'm not sure if parts are available though. The mostly aluminum construction looks much nicer than the older style carbon SRAM derailleur. Easy to adjust. The cage was slighlty larger by about 1/4",
Similar Products Used: Shimano, SRAM ESP, SRAM Carbon
Bike Setup: Sachs front derailleur
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
greenblur
a Weekend Warrior
from Austin, TX
Date Reviewed: September 3, 2011
Strengths: This is a good derailleur for where I am at as a rider. I don't race and I don't slam through the gears. The shifts on my 2x10 version are smooth and it has stayed in tune since I've had it.
Weaknesses: Not as flashy a the XO and XX groups but it gets the job done.
Bottom Line:
Its not XO or XX or XTR. Its an everyman's group that does nothing but work.
Bike Setup: Salsa Spearfish - Reba RL, X7/X9 shifters/derailleurs, RaceFace Atlas AM crank, Kenda Slant Six tires, ODB lock ons, Fizik seat
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
longlongpelaman
a Weekend Warrior
from Twin Falls, ID, United States
Date Reviewed: July 26, 2011
Strengths: It was very nice at first. Shifted well, provided good chain tension and looked very nice.
Weaknesses: I replaced my X7 with the X9 because it out quickly and the shifting went to crap. I wanted something durable. I got the X9, paid good money for it and it is going to crap just as fast.
Bottom Line:
I was expecting to get a better quality derailleur and the X9 disappoints. I had a shimano deore derailleur that was better.
Submitted by
freshandfly101
a Weekend Warrior
from Los Angeles, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: July 21, 2011
Strengths: 2010 3x9 review..... This derailleur is probably the best I've ever ridden on, from xx-xtr-x0-xt. Its smooth, swift, no hassle shifting paired up the x9 shifters. They shift so smoothly and perfect, you barely feel it, but you get a confident click from the shifter, which by the way is amazing and buttery smooth. You could tell by it's construction that it is definitely built to last. I couldn't be more satisfied.
Weaknesses: NONE AT ALL!!! Just one tiny thing: in 2-9, there is a minimal amount of noise, but that's normal, so NO SWEAT.
Bottom Line:
Absolutely amazing!!!! There is not one problem with them. They work like butter and will last long even under freeride/DH use
Similar Products Used: x7, acera, alivio, deore, xt, xtr, xx
Bike Setup: Gary fisher 29er w/ 63mm RST Neon (surprisingly amazing for RST) X9 shifters/derailleurs, 980 cassette, 991 chain, truvativ stylo crank, bb7 w/ speed dial 7, bontrager ranger wheelset w/ bonty xr1 team issue tires bonty SSR cockpit, crank bros. sc pedals
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
davidking20007
a Cross Country Rider
from Washington, DC
Date Reviewed: July 21, 2011
Strengths: It was new, so it was clean.
Weaknesses: Set up.
Bottom Line:
Here's the rub. This is a new version, but they screwed up the cable routing. Previously the cable and set bolt were on the outer side of the body. They now route the cable and the set bolt behind the parallelogram. This makes it much harder to route the cable and properly set it. This set up also causes on my bike the last section of cable leading up to the derailleur to stick out in a way it didn't do previously, leading to a whole new potential for grabbing sticks and branches.
Go for X9 - just avoid the new version. I loved the old one which is why I didn't give a second thought in buying a new one. OOPS!
Similar Products Used: Previous versions of X9, Shimano XT
Bike Setup: 2005 Yeti 575
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Submitted by
DennisK
a Cross Country Rider
from Athens, Attica, GR
Date Reviewed: May 5, 2011
Strengths: I've had this fitted on my 'Dale Caffeine for two years and 11k+ KMs. I ride aggressive cross country and some AM. I only had to adjust it once. All it has asked for is a cleaning now and then and it keeps performing flawlessly. It's smooth, quiet and totally reliable.
Similar Products Used: SRAM X7, Shimano XT, Shimano Deore
Bike Setup: It's a bike. It's got a SRAM X9 rear der on it.
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
ridex
a Downhiller
from Vancouver,B.C., Canada
Date Reviewed: April 3, 2011
Strengths: This derailleur has a simple design. It is a budget version of the X0 and is half of the price. I haven't given it a hard crash though but it has a solid/sturdy build.
Weaknesses: There is absolutely no room to put the access cable. When i took it back home, after a quick spin around, I found that the cable got caught in the cassette and ultimately frayed.
It is also awkward to adjust because of the positioning of the tension screw. Installing took a bit longer that usual.
Bottom Line:
Not the best derailleur in the world but i could be too critical. It, in my opinion, the engineers at Sram could have thought it through a bit better to incorporate the problems of the consumer.
Favorite Trail: any where with big jumps and dirty trails
Duration Product Used: 1 Year
Price Paid:
$49.00
Purchased At: ace cycles
Similar Products Used: the old x9
Bike Setup: diamond back compresion 1 comp modded
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Submitted by
Rutherknox
a Cross Country Rider
from
Date Reviewed: September 23, 2010
Strengths: clean shifting, sensible adjustment, simple and completely effective
Weaknesses: yet to find one
Bottom Line:
So far I would have to say that Shimano have wooped Sram in impressing my eye for engineering, except with the X9. Shimano's jockey wheel adjustment does not seem logical to me. The alivio adjustment I have most recently looked at, adjusts the jockey wheel to limit how far the jockey wheel can travel away from the cassette, whilst allowing the jockey wheel to collapse onto the cassette at any time. Sram's method adjusts the jockey wheel to guide the chains roller pin to the cassette without catching on teeth during changes. This also makes the X9 the quietest derailleur I have used. It may be a patent issue that see's Sram genuinely beat Shimano out for design on this one.
Bike Setup: Shimano m93 chain, shimano m770 cassette
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Submitted by
dirtdober
a Cross Country Rider
from V-town, TX
Date Reviewed: September 16, 2010
Strengths: Reliabilty, I have never had to adjust it in a year of riding. No ghost shifting that is common on most Shimano. Most dependable derailleur I've ever owned.
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
This came on my GF HiFi and I considered switching it out before I left the shop because of my fondness for XT's. But you never come out even with those tradeouts with your bike purchase so I keep them. So glad I did. These don't have the smoothness that Shimano shifters have, in fact they have a very mechanical feel to them. But not having to adjust them for a year is something special.
I truely don't know how easy or hard they are to work on because I've never done it.
Similar Products Used: Shimano XT, LX, Alivio and some others that I don't remember to model name.
Bike Setup: G.F. HiFi Deluxe
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Submitted by
Bigf00t
a Cross Country Rider
from Long Island, NY, USA
Date Reviewed: September 3, 2010
Strengths: Quick and precise gear changes.
Weaknesses: Quality control, or more accurately, the lack thereof. First X9 lasted 5 years and 10k miles. 2nd was on less than a month before it decided to go into the spokes. 3rd is just in the installation phase and I can not adjust it to drop into the smallest cog even with zero cable tension. I thought it was just my lack of skill installing the product but my LBO can't get in done either. Someone mentioned a weak spring might be the problem. Anyway, I'm glad to know I'm not alone with this problem. Especially, after having such good experience with the earlier unit.
Bottom Line:
Will see if a spacer can force the adjustment. If not, I can live without the high gear for now but the short life span of more recently manufactured X9's has got me thinking about changing out the SRAM system for the very expensive but super reliable Rohloff hub the next time the RD fails.
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