I’m really leaning towards an AXS mullet build, but the idea of destroying a $370 derailleur and $55 battery gives me anxiety. I’ve heard stories of trashed derailleurs at really muddy gravel events, and I figure it might be the same on MTB rides.
I’m not crazy about riding in serious rain/mud to be honest 
Is this a real concern in practice? Has anyone trashed a derailleur?
Thanks!!!
I live in the north of England, if you didn’t get out when it was wet/muddy then you’d never ride!
Have had to replace the jockey wheels now and again but the actual derailleur mech has been fine on my MTBs. Basically unless you crash onto the derailleur then it’s a non-issue. On my hardtail the first derailleur lasted six years of around 3000km a year in all conditions. I’m using Shimano kit but I doubt Sram are much different in this respect.
Twice in the last two months. Does that count?
AXS is probably one of the more robust derailleurs due to the overload clutch that disconnects the motor from the derailleur body in the event of an impact (text stolen from bikemag.com). I’ve hit mine on rocks a few times, heard the little noise of the clutch and been left with no damage. Who knows if that saved what would have been a trashed mech if it wasn’t AXS.
SRAM rear mechs in general are more difficult to break than Shimano, I think.
Have done it personally, and been on rides cut short as someone else, both on MTBs in woods where sticks + spokes + mechs = destruction. The UK has muddy conditions what feels like 99% of the year and I don’t get through jockey wheels quickly at all, just keep on top of cleaning.
Gravel or road bikes I’d have no qualms in expensive mechs but off-road cabled XT is as far as I’d go.
What type of derailleur?
sort of on an ultegra mechanical rear derailleur. on a gravel ride that had us go down a rock garden/dry stream bed kinda thing i decided to try a different direction than the guy in front of me. T-boned a large rock which flipped me over the handlebars and the bike onto the money side. I believe most of the damage and shifting problems stemmed from a bent cage but rather than have it repaired i replaced it and set the damaged one aside for a future look. might have a bike shop look at it and give a repair estimate if they care to.
My Eagle XX1 took a stick to the face a while back on the gravel bike with no damage. I guess every hit is different. I was impressed.
I have trashed many rear mechs (maybe 5). Used to run ultegra and now just do 105 to replace it for $50. Never noticed a difference in performance.
One xtr, one xt.
My derailleur hanger usually gives before the derailleur. That’s the point. I’ve mangled a few derailleurs but usually it was the result of a crash.
In 15+ years of riding MTBs in multiple countries it never happened to me. Just because I’m saying so I’ll probably break one next week haha…
I’ve trashed two regular gx derailers in the last three years, thankfully they’re relatively cheap. I find that the eagle derailleurs are pretty robust for square hits, but it’s sticks and branches twisting the cage that are always the issue.
This is basically what happened to me. In races when some debris got kicked up and I was hammering on the pedals, the debris went into the mech cage and tore it up
13k miles on my GRX Di2, Been in races that seen people rip derailleurs off. I have managed to avoid it. I think most of it is poor choices, either continuing to ride in a state they shouldn’t or forcing the pedals when something binds up.
I still haven’t. I have bent a lot of hangers, and bent the cage on a GRX once in a weird situation, but even on that I bent the cage back and it is still working.
I don’t always crash, but when I do it is ALWAYS to the drive side. As others have mentioned, bent hangers has been the worst, with ultegra and GRX.
Sticks are the big mech killer, it’s always in the woods where they’ve died.
If I rode in a less wooded area, say Moab (which would be awesome) I’d worry less.
I’ve broken two, a SLX on the MTB and an Ultegra in a CX race. Both involved mud and sticks. Both were pretty catastrophic, cages broken off and/or ripped in two.
The CX race was extreme mud, also twisted the chain and cut the hanger in two.
I’ve also broken and bent about a half dozen hangers. Much preferable.
A couple sram, both due to sticks getting caught