[J]

So I have to choose- XO or Saint rear derailleur and shifter?

I'm getting a new session which comes with X0 but I can swap out for Saint group if I want. (The Saint brakes over the Elixir Mags is a no brainer).

How well does the Saint shift? I've never run one before and have heard mixed reviews. I know the XO will shift awesome until it explodes.

Opinions?

 

[Udi]

The new saint gear shifts beautifully (much lighter action than the old version, plus thumb shifting), but I'm not sure it's as durable as their trusty old stuff. I've got the mech and shifter on my spare dh bike and it's been brilliant, but I've heard mixed reviews from longer term users. Obviously the X0 stuff isn't the most durable out there either.

Honestly I think it's going to be a much of a muchness, it'll come down to personal preference rather than one being better than the other. I'd suggest trying both and taking your pick than asking for e-pinions.

 

[rigidhack]

I just went through this whole thing as well. MY decision in the end is to go with X9. The Siant stuff was tempting, but I have also heard the reliability issues. I am going X9 because I can't quite justify the extra expense for X0.

 

[zdubyadubya]

Once you use SRAM shifting, I think most people tend to want to stay in that camp. It just seems to feel crisper than shimano/saint to me...

but i agree with the last poster because its what I do too. X-0 shifter w/ X-9 derailleur. crisp, on-point shifts every time, plus the added benefit with adjustable triggers.

also, for those who havent realized yet, SRAM changed the cable routing on their new derailleurs and it is a work of genius IMO. cable stays tucked nicer and wont get sucked towards the spokes in the lowest gear. my vote is SRAM for the win!

 

[Sandwich]

My saint derailleur is beautiful. Plenty of bashing all season long and it's still nice and tight. I can't tell you which shifts smoother or cleaner, but I'm more than happy with it from a durability standpoint.

I'm using an XTR 8 speed shifter and cassette and a saint mech. The only complaint is that it rattles off its own internal stop quite a bit....but at least it's not the chainstay.

 

[Brad23]

after mashing many a sram derailer, my camp has been going with saint. Not quite as crisp, but way more tucked and burly. After using sram for years, I loving the saint now. As long as my bike aint broke, I'm happy....seems to be rare but...

 

[Tayrob]

I've been on the Saint shifter and rear der. for just about a year now,and I love it.The der. has some scrapes and scratches on the "skid plate"(as Shimano calls it) and it still shifts great.No play in it or anything like that,also love how tucked away it is and how stiff the spring is.Only downsides i've noticed were it is a bit more noisy then a Sram due to having the little gold piece the whole der. swings on,and I had to loctite the der. into my hanger becuase the der. swinging on that piece caused it to unthread itself.

Also a huge fan of the shifter,tried running the Saint der. with a XTR shifter and didn't like it,the shifts felt too "light".Put the Saint shifter on and it basically is my dream shifter.Adjustable clamp,no indicator,and a nice stiff click from gear to gear,espically when dropping down gears to get some speed,all wrapped up in bomb proof black box.

Loved it all so much I treated my DJ/4x bike to a Saint drive chain.
And all of this is comming from a guy who ran all his bikes with full Sram for close to 5 years.

 

[Zark]

Love my Saint setup. Shifts great, less prone to damage. It doesn't shift as accuratte as XO, but it is much less damage prone. I do have some play in the linkage, but it doesn't seem to degrade shifting. The shifter is great as well, even more intuitive than the SRAM units.

Hey SRAM, put a goddamn cable port on your shifters! Changing cables shouldn't require shifter disassembly! On top of that it shouldn't require bending the cable into a fish hook to feed through the mechanism.

 

[norbar]

Obviously the X0 stuff isn't the most durable out there either.

.

The X.0 May not be as durable as old saint with it's crazy mounting idea but It's been the most durable thing I ever had and I'm heavy on my gears. Prolly the strongest thing I've tried from sram and I'm on their stuff exclusively since shimano stopped producing the STX-RC (If I find a spring for it I may use it as a spare because that thing is though as hell)

 

[demo 9]

Just switched to a saint derailur and shifter from xt and xt. I have not ridden it yet, but it will not adjust and shift nicely. i gave it a few hours and than a shop i trust worked on it for about 45 minutes and swapped the chain from sram to shimano. its better, but still not nearly as nice of shifting as the **** beaten XT i had on it previously.

 

[J]

Anyone have anything to say about the longevity of the X0 pivots (and the Saint for that matter)? Are they rebuild-able and is it hard/practical to do this? I have an X9 on my small bike that is awesome but over time it has developed massive play in the pivots which makes it ghost shift over rough stuff.

I'm leaning toward the Saint, mainly because it sounds like it can last and the rest of the bike will be Saint too. The session does come with a schnazy looking red X0 though...

 

[Jm_]

Just switched to a saint derailur and shifter from xt and xt. I have not ridden it yet, but it will not adjust and shift nicely. i gave it a few hours and than a shop i trust worked on it for about 45 minutes and swapped the chain from sram to shimano. its better, but still not nearly as nice of shifting as the **** beaten XT i had on it previously.

Well the shop doesn't know what they are doing. There is no good reason you should have that problem. You most likely have some sort of cable/housing problem. I have a Saint derailer hooked up to a new-generation XT shifter and it works great. Not only does it work great, but it's by far the strongest derailer I've ever put on a bike (old-gen Saint). The only problem is I'd like something a little lighter and I'm waiting for it to break, but most rocks break before this derailer. Can't complain too much about it though. Pretty sure I could ride though a brick wall and the derailer would come out fine.

 

[J]

Well the shop doesn't know what they are doing. There is no good reason you should have that problem.

Agreed. I would guess a worn cassette or chain. A new chain on an old cassette will never work flawlessly (far from it in most cases). I have found that after time the new chain will stretch and work better, but the best thing to do is get a new cassette and chain. Or like Jm said, check your cables.

 

[jcaramia]

Every bike I've ridden with Saint Derailleur and shifter, shifts like total a$$. Maybe they weren't set up properly but I'd take x-0 any day over Saint, even X9.

Shimano's cranks and brakes on the other hand, are awesome.

 

[Jm_]

Agreed. I would guess a worn cassette or chain. A new chain on an old cassette will never work flawlessly (far from it in most cases). I have found that after time the new chain will stretch and work better, but the best thing to do is get a new cassette and chain. Or like Jm said, check your cables.

Worn chains or cassettes don't cause shifting problems, they cause skipping problems. Although you might have to check the chain stretch (easy to do with a 12" ruler), it's usually pretty obvious when a cassette or chain is worn. You'll get the skipping under the hardest efforts. At the point where you get skipping (which means you should have replaced the chain long ago) your chain, cassette, and possibly front ring(s) are toast. If the stretch is bad enough you can visually see the chain not meshing with the cassette, this is especially true with a far-beyond-salvagable cassette and new chain.

The Saint derailer I have has a pretty strong return spring, it's crisp. While I'll say that SRAM stuff is crisper yet, the Saint is a lot crisper/positive than my XT setup on my AM/lightFR bike. I actually like the lighter action of the XT better (err, my tendonitis does), but I like the positive shifts (clank!) of the Saint as well.

 

[demo 9]

Both chain and cassette are NEW. It shifts pretty badly. some gears hit some dont. It has 1 "spot" where it will skip up and down. So far the best that has been done is get the skipping gear to be 9th. Any advice appreciated. Also-road cassette if that matters.

 

[zdubyadubya]

this really sounds like a cable tension problem..., which if it is shifting fine in the stand, like the other guys said, when the bike sags, something is stretching the cable. if this is a problem on your demo, this is a known problem. check your routing around the links, if i remember correctly, if you run the cables next to the shock body you can have this problem. also, if you are running full housing, that sometimes adds to ghost shifts/skips.

worst case scenario, start from scratch. disconnect cable, seat derailleur in high limit, reattach, and go one gear at a time.

 

[MtnbikeMike]

Both chain and cassette are NEW. It shifts pretty badly. some gears hit some dont. It has 1 "spot" where it will skip up and down. So far the best that has been done is get the skipping gear to be 9th. Any advice appreciated. Also-road cassette if that matters.

Did you set the so-called "mode converter" to work with a road cassette?

 

[demo 9]

Did you set the so-called "mode converter" to work with a road cassette?

what the hell is the mode converter? and probably not.

 

[MtnbikeMike]

It adjusts the sweep of the derailleur to better track either close- or wide-ratio cassettes