Wolftooth Roadlink

[mwynne]

Slightly odd train of thought, but bear with me?

I have a persistent issue where the upper portion of my rear derailleur cage will occasionally brush the spokes when in the innermost gear, mostly under hard effort. I've spaced the cassette outboard as far as I can. Hanger alignment has been checked, and yes there is some play in the derailleur knuckle, but I don't think that's the main culprit here.

It's a Record 10 derailleur, Chris King Classic hub and a 12-26 SRAM cassette. Not an ideal setup, I know.

For the sake of argument, I'm not going to replace the hub at the moment.

So with that setup, would it make any sense whatsoever to try using the Roadlink (http://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/roadlink), or something similar, to get the derailleur a little bit away from the centerline of the wheel (ie: lower), and maybe gain some extra clearance between the upper portion of the cage and the spokes.

Yes, I know this is a convoluted solution. But if it doesn't sound immediately insane to anyone else, I may give it a short for the $22 it would cost.

[CMiller]

I think it might just be enough to get it out the way. You sure the derailleur is straight? I've definitely bent a derailleur cage before when the bike falls on the drive side. Either way, make sure you don't ignore this problem - anything popping into the spokes ends badly!

[mwynne]

I think it might just be enough to get it out the way. You sure the derailleur is straight? I've definitely bent a derailleur cage before when the bike falls on the drive side. Either way, make sure you don't ignore this problem - anything popping into the spokes ends badly!

Actually, derailleur alignment may be one thing I haven't tried to confirm.

[cachagua]

Unless you've got zero room already at the outboard side, I'd try putting a spacer behind the cassette. Even an extremely thin one could do the job, since it's such a small interference you're talking about.

I take it you've tried a sixteenth-turn at the lower limit screw? If you can get the drlr out of the spokes that way and still get good shifting, of course that's the simplest of all.

[mwynne]

Unless you've got zero room already at the outboard side, I'd try putting a spacer behind the cassette. Even an extremely thin one could do the job, since it's such a small interference you're talking about.

I take it you've tried a sixteenth-turn at the lower limit screw? If you can get the drlr out of the spokes that way and still get good shifting, of course that's the simplest of all.

Already have the cassette spaced outboard as much as I'm comfortable (limited mostly by lockring thread engagement). Lower limit is both as far outboard as possible, and provides good shifting. I really can't see being able to move the whole system outboard any further, hence looking at getting the derailleur lower.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[mwynne]

Short update.
I ordered up a Roadlink (just arrived, speedy shipping!) because hey for $20, I'll give it a go and might not be a bad spare part to have anyway.

Short answer: yes, it does seem to shift the derailleur far enough out from the center of the wheel to give a few mm more spoke clearance.

Interestingly, it has also introduced quite a bit of extra chain sag into the drivetrain (just a quick eyeball, and it does look like the derailleur does sit further forward than before). So I do need to shorten the chain if I'm going to use this.
Related observation, when the derailleur is under more tension, it is fine spoke clearance-wise, but when it is slackened, it is the action of the cage kicking back and *up* that was contributing to my issue (I think). Perhaps I need to revisit my chain length on my usual setup.

(Also, I just got in a Chorus rear derailleur that I'm going to pull the medium cage off and swap to a record derailleur on the new bike. Maybe I should try tossing that derailleur with the short cage on this bike to see if it does anything different - I think it's MUCH less used than the record I have on currently)