PRODUCT REVIEW: Shimano XT Shadow Plus rear derailleur

One thing that has always annoyed me in Mountain Biking is the derailleur and chain rattling around. So I was pretty excited when I heard that Shimano had brought out a derailleur with a clutch that would eliminate this. The Shimano XT Shadow Plus rear derailleur is one of the newest products that shimano has brought out, and follows the release XTR version earlier this year.

The big plus (excuse the pun!) was the cost. In the end it was not alot more then the standard XT replacement i was looking at, and a fraction of the cost of the XTR version.

 My experience so far (2 months) on the full range of trails and in a number of races, has been fantastic. Even on very bumpy trails when you expect your derailleur and chain to bounce around, the XT Shadow it is super smooth and quiet. In a race I can now sneak up on an opponent, even on a gnarly Downhill.

The other cool thing is that it has a release leaver on the top, that when activated, makes it just as easy to take the rear wheel on and off.

Improvements? If I was being really picky, then it would be that you still get a teeny, teeny bit of chain-slap still, so a bit more tension within the mechanism would be great - but it's still a huge upgrade for any rider as is.

Rating out of 10: 7.5/10

I reckon it's worth the investment, cheers Kalen

Sunday, 8th of July was race 1 of the winter N-Duro series and I decided to go and try the 45km race. This was the longest race that I have ever done. I wanted to see how hard it was to keep going over a long distance.

5am wake up, out the door, a 2 1/2 hour long drive with the family to the Whakarewarewa Forest in Rotorua. Temperature was -1 and everyone was in their leggings and arm warmers (boy was it lucky I had the warm R&R clothing).

9.45am was race briefing and straight away everyone looked pumped. 10am at the start line ready to do the 45km race and there were some big names doing the race including NZ Representative Karen Hanlen who will be going to the Olympics.

 But back to the start line 5 seconds left 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!!!!! and off I go trying to stick with Robin Page (sponsored rider for R&R sport too) and the pace was really intense. By 10km into the race I could already feel the burn with huge gravel roads to climb up.

At 20km I was still going hard but had fallen behind Robin.

Hitting the 30km and I was getting very tired. My goal now had reduced to just keep going and finish the race. As I reached the 40km mark I'd caught up to my Dad. He was doing the 30km race but didn't look very well. He just told me to go on but by that time I could feel cramps starting and wasn't feeling that confident about finishing the race either. But there were alot of encouraging riders on the trails who helped me push through this race.

At the end of the race I was absolutely pooped but very happy that I'd finished.

At the end of the day my family were all happy with the results, and all my friends had done well. But what made me really happy was that I had achieved my goal of finishing my first 45km race in a respectable time because I'd followed exactly what Sadie (Jafakids coach) said for me to do.