Do Mechanical Rear Derailleurs Wear Out?

kil0ran wrote:

The main spring will fatigue over time, as will the main pivot bushing. But R7000 is pretty new so I'm surprised it's already worn, unless you're doing mega miles?

Thank you 😃
Just less than 9,000 miles done on the bike, but there are lots of hills. So plenty of gear changing.

hawkinspeter wrote:

0-0 wrote:

kil0ran wrote:

The main spring will fatigue over time, as will the main pivot bushing. But R7000 is pretty new so I'm surprised it's already worn, unless you're doing mega miles?

Thank you 😃 Just less than 9,000 miles done on the bike, but there are lots of hills. So plenty of gear changing.

I'd expect a derailleur to last a lot longer than 9,000 miles even with a lot of shifting. Far more likely to be jockey wheels and/or cables unless you've had some impacts on it.

I did crash the bike back in January on some black ice, on its drive side.
But ouch, the skin on my hip/leg took most of the damage.
I can't say I noticed any shifting problem directly after that time though.

Tom_77 wrote:

I'm in a similar situation. I looked at prices and new jockey wheels were £11 and a new derailleur was £45, so I bought the jockey wheels. I have yet to fit them.

So did you manage to get a new derailleur for £21, and if so where?!?

Halfords.
I used a combination of British Cycling discount, various Halfords vouchers (the type they give out when signing up to their email newsletter and when you give them your vehicle reg. no.).
I also got £10 off, because when I ordered the RD from my local branch, it showed as being in stock. But when I went to collect it, it wasn't. So complained via online chat, asking for a £10 voucher, as I'd wasted my time.

I looked around at jockey wheels, but didn't see any at £11.
Can you post a link to those, please?

Tom_77 wrote:

Got mine from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005DUIYQY

(£9.99)

Thank you.
I don't think they're compatible with 11 speed??
It says 9 or 10 speed.

hawkinspeter wrote:

0-0 wrote:

Tom_77 wrote:

Got mine from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005DUIYQY

(£9.99)

Thank you. I don't think they're compatible with 11 speed?? It says 9 or 10 speed.

Tom_77 was replying to Cdl888 who mercilessly hijacked your thread to ask for 9-speed jockey wheels. You'll want 11-speed ones if you're going to replace them.

Thank you.

matthewn5 wrote:

Having had problems getting into some of the smallest cogs, I dissembled my Athena rear derailleur (done about 5000 miles so far) and the pivots were completely dry. A bit of grease and a faff getting the pivot bolts back in but it does now shift cleanly down to the 12 cog.

Much more likely than 'wear out' is 'get bent', either the derailleur hanger or the jockey wheel cage can get bent through dropping the bike, parking clashes and so on, and that will affect shifting quality rapidly. I've a suspicion that the Athena mech has a slightly bent lower cage, because there's too much chatter from the chain going through the jockey wheels.

Thank you 😃

ktache wrote:

As they wear and age the bushings develop play.  Have a little go at the old and new one, you will be able to twist the older one, so the movement isn't just in the parallelogram.

The twist is most at the cage, where you want accuracy for shifting well.

Thank you 😃

Chris Hayes wrote:

I have a few old derailleurs from the late 90s and early 2000s that have gotten by with a good clean every now and then (until I switched to wax rather than oil which prevents gunking up), but I've never known one wear out (apart from the consumables such as the jockey wheels).  Did replacing the RD fix the shifting?  Result if it did....

Thank you 😃
Yes, it fixed the shifting.