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As you find yourself changing the number of chain rings that you use from three to two,
or from three to one, or two to one, you'll find that you may be able to also get away
with changing the length of your derailleur cage. Most bikes come with a long cage, which
is designed to take up a greater difference in front chain rings. The smaller the difference
that you have, the shorter length you can get away with. So, this is a long derailleur
cage. This derailleur here is medium length. You can see that it's a little bit shorter.
And then, this cage here, is a short cage, which is once again shorter yet. So, medium
cage derailleurs are good if you're not running an extremely large gear range in the rear
as well, and you're running three cages, so that would be the medium cage one. The long
cage is good if you're running three rings up front, and a wide range cassette in the
back, like an eleven or twelve-thirty-four. The small, short cage derailleur, which originally,
these were only on road bikes and now a few companies make them for mountain bikes specific
use, is really good for a double-ring application with a tight rear cassette, or a single-ring
application because the shorter the cage, the shorter you can make your chain and the
less swing weight there is, so the snappier and more effective the shifts are. Another
reason to change your rear derailleur is obviously, if like this one, things are broken. So, when
we're changing out our rear derailleurs we want to make sure that we set out limit screws
correctly, and that we're setting cable tension the right way. You can follow some of those
steps other places, but basically you want to make sure that you're aware if you have
a Shimano style derailleur with a rear loop and a different cable pull, because one type
of shifter works with one type of derailleur. So, yeah, don't be afraid to change out you're
derailleurs to save some weight and increase some performance, or just to suit your needs
better.