SRAM Rocket shifters - questions

[d_douglas]

I am trying to put together a junker city bike and a NOS set of these has popped up locally. I know these are 8 speed SRAM twist shifters designed to pull Shimano derailleurs.

a) are they any good? I Googled them and the reports say they work great. True?
b) will they pull any ol Shimano derailleur? If I buy a used 10spd SLX one (or similar), would this be adequate?

Thanks for any replies,

Darren

[eddief]

they were just fine. There were Rocket and Attack models. Ones with longer twist grips and ones with shorter. My recollection is they were nicely clicky and worked great. Pretty they will work with any Shimano up to 9 speed but of course no friction so you gotta match the right model with the right derailleurs.

[CunegoFan]

I had the nine speed version of Rocket mated to XTR rear and front derailleurs. It worked well, was very light, dead reliable, and less susceptible to crash damage.

That said SRAM had problems with Shimano reducing the spring tension of its rear derailleurs. The excuse was lighter action but the intent seemed to be causing problems for SRAM. There were a couple of solutions, like the Bass Worm, that purportedly made up for Shimano's changes. I never had to resort to those, so I don't know first hand how well they worked but I heard mixed opinions. It may be that Shimano's changes led to SRAM developing X0, which would be rather ironic given how SRAM has taken over the top end of the MTB market.

As above the shifters are specific to the number of cogs.

[cmbicycles]

As mentioned, they will work with 8 & 9 speed shimano mountain rear derailleurs, as long as the number of speeds matches the number of gears on the cassette. 10s mountain from shimano is a different pull ratio and won't work with these shifters. They would also work with 7-10s road rear derailleurs.
I still have gripshift on my mountain bike, although it is the 1:1 ratio sram which I think works better as the clicks aren't so close as the shimano equivalent, but that's a preference thing.

[gdw]

The Attack, Plasma, and Rocket shifters all work really well with Shimano rear derailleurs with the exception of the first generation , m739, 8 speed XT rears. That model had the weak spring CunegoFan referenced and only worked well if it was modified by trimming a couple coils or used with a bassworm.

[d_douglas]

So, to clarify then, what is the ideal Cheap Shimano derailleur to search for? No XTR...

[gdw]

The XT m750 9 speed rears work really well. The 9 speed LX models probably are good too but I have no experience with them.

[oldpotatoe]

So, to clarify then, what is the ideal Cheap Shimano derailleur to search for? No XTR...

Any 8 or 9s shimano rear der..like Deore, LX..XT..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Shimano-Deore-XT-RD-M739-8-speed-Rear-Derailleur/273865362941?epid=1501035597&hash=item3fc3a5cdfd:g:qCkAAOSwv-Bc7H1A

Messed with more than a couple of these shifters..remember the 'snoopy' in the shifter? Some had way easy cable replace and some were hoobooy, a genuine PITA...

[icepick_trotsky]

Any 7, 8, 9 or 10 speed road rear derailleur (except 7 and 8 speed Dura Ace) will work.

Any 7, 8, or 9 speed mountain rear derailleur will work.

You do not need to match the speeds of the shifter to the speeds of the derailleur for this. These RDs all have the same cable pull, so it doesn't matter how many speeds the shifter is. Just match the shifter to the cassette and go.