Rear derailleur cage size

[nickg]

On my rear derailleur I have a long cage. Should it be a short cage on a road bike? Just been comparing it to friends bikes.

 

[slowmotion]

It depends on the range of gears that you have. The bigger the range, the longer the cage tends to need to be. One of my road bikes has a triple chain ring and a long cage, the other has a compact (two chainring) set-up and has a short cage. The technical documents published online by the gear manufacturer will tell you which cage you officially need, but you can often break their rules with little lack of performance.

 

[Shearwater Missile]

If that is what the bike came with then chances are it is correct for that bike. It is the gearing that determinds the size of cage, not whether it is road or mountain. Your bike probably has lower gears for hill work.

 

[Ajax Bay]

On my rear derailleur I have a long cage.

As above.
What chainrings? What cassette range (both as in number of teeth)? What Derailleur? How long in mm between the two jockey wheel axes/screws?

 

[nickg]

As above.
What chainrings? What cassette range (both as in number of teeth)? What Derailleur? How long in mm between the two jockey wheel axes/screws?

I will check all this tomorrow and post details.

 

[raleighnut]

I will check all this tomorrow and post details.

BTW there's no performance difference between long. short or even medium cage mechs, hardly any weight penalty either.