[letsgoride]

I took my 2005 Reign 1 on a nasty trail this weekend, and holy crap the rear derailleur was LOUD. I had to look back to make sure that it was still attached. How many of you have switched out Shimano XT rear derailleur, and what did you replace it with? Do Reign's come with a long cage derailleur, would switching it out with a medium or short change shimano help? Would moving to SRAM be the way to go? I don't have experience with SRAM, so would I have to buy new shifters as well?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[LyNx]

Rear derailer/chain slap on the Maestro bikes is pretty bad, that's for sure. Switching to a medium cage RD and shortening the chain will help a good bit (that's what I did on my Trance). As for going to SRAM their RD's are 'sposed to not move as much and hance keep chain tension better (but I have no experience with them, only sen a vid) and YES you would have to buy new shifters if you made the switch to SRAM RD.

 

[Clutchman83]

I'm thinking the same thing, I still have my XT but every time I ride it it pops and cracks, jumps gears no matter how I or my LBS adjusts it. I'm gonna look into a upgrade and probably a medium cage.

 

[Pitto]

At time of purchase i bought a SRAM X9 RD and shifter set and got them to swap it over before i picked up the bike. I had a SRAM x7 on my first bike and it was bulletproof.

Just wish SRAM would pick up their act and get a front derailer that we can use on the Reign.

 

[dumper]

I swapped the stock rapid-rise, or

whatever its called derailler with the regular rise LX off my old bike, removed a couple of links in the chain, and run a 36/22 2x9 drivetrain, and don't seem to have the racket you guys describe. Either that, or I just ride like a girl...

 

[mavrim]

I'm thinking the same thing, I still have my XT but every time I ride it it pops and cracks, jumps gears no matter how I or my LBS adjusts it. I'm gonna look into a upgrade and probably a medium cage.

I transferred my sram X.0 rear derailleur from my 2003 nrs to my 2006 trance and I don't have any noise issues, sounds the same as on the nrs. As for shifting problems, do you think you are getting phantom shifting? If so, you may have the cable housing too short and it is affected by the suspension movement? When I installed my new chain I mistakenly cut off the wrong link end and had to cut another off in order to fit the whipperman quick link. Guess it was good that I went one link shorter, hugh?

Edit: I have been noticing that in the 4th cog I sometimes need to switch up or down one cog to make the 4th cog run smoothly without chattering. I figured since I transferred the derailleur from the nrs without readjusting the end points, it may need some fine tuning. Is that the noise you are reffering too? If so, it is not very noisy in my opinion.

 

[letsgoride]

Edit: I have been noticing that in the 4th cog I sometimes need to switch up or down one cog to make the 4th cog run smoothly without chattering. I figured since I transferred the derailleur from the nrs without readjusting the end points, it may need some fine tuning. Is that the noise you are reffering too? If so, it is not very noisy in my opinion.

No that is a different issue, I'm referring to when the chain slaps against the frame due to play in the derailleur. Turn your bike upside down and look at the rear swingarm, you will see chips of paint that have been removed because of this.

 

[mavrim]

I have a chainstay guard wrapped along the lower portion. Is it necessary to cover the top bar as well like I see others do? To me this sound is normal, the nrs had chain slap, especially since I was using the longer rocker arms and the suspension was softer.

My bad, I am talking about my trance and this is a reign thread - whoops!

 

[mavrim]

I'm referring to when the chain slaps against the frame due to play in the derailleur.

When installing a new chain you should place the chain over the largest cog in the rear and the largest ring up front and then add 2 links. Others have mentioned removing a link or two to make the chain tighter. I accidentally went one link shorter and all was fine. Maybe between the sram X.0 and the slightly shorter chain I get less slapback?

Can you post a pic of your derailleur/chain line?

 

[Haggis]

When installing a new chain you should place the chain over the largest cog in the rear and the largest ring up front and then add 2 links. Others have mentioned removing a link or two to make the chain tighter. I accidentally went one link shorter and all was fine. Maybe between the sram X.0 and the slightly shorter chain I get less slapback?

Can you post a pic of your derailleur/chain line?

Beware this method doesn't account for chain growth which the Reign has in spades. My first X9 ended up in the spokes after landing a jump with the chain on the big ring. Deflate & compress the shock and THEN add two links to be safe.

 

[letsgoride]

When installing a new chain you should place the chain over the largest cog in the rear and the largest ring up front and then add 2 links. Others have mentioned removing a link or two to make the chain tighter. I accidentally went one link shorter and all was fine. Maybe between the sram X.0 and the slightly shorter chain I get less slapback?

Can you post a pic of your derailleur/chain line?

I wasn't able to take a pic (my digital camera took a dump), but I still tried putting my chain in the two largest gears to see the derailleur placement. I would say that my derailleur was at a 45 degree angle towards the front of the bike from the ground. So about 1/2 way between straight down and horizontal to the ground.

On another note, I found a XT medium cage derailleur. Approximately how many links should I remove from the chain when installing a shorter cage or should I use the method described by mavrim & Haggis?