Shimano RD-M8000 Rear Derailleur XT Shadow+ 11-Speed Long

Darin West is the Best! A Pro all the way!The Derailleur was the easy part.The Derailleur Hanger was the hard part to find that was also destroyed in the wreck that took out the Derailleur. Darin advised me of a Supplier in CO that could supply the Hanger and they had it!I have way more respect for that end of the Bike now!

Biggest bang for your dollar.

The very best derailleur in terms of value, durability and performance. The low profile design is superior to the comparable sram sx,nx or gx as the entire derailleur is tucked away behind the frame. This design helps protect it from rock strikes. The clutch is much firmer than the sram variety while keeping shifting effort low. The derailleur is only compatible with shimano 11 speed shifter.

Don't wait, buy it now

Fantastic rear derailleur.Made in Japan quality.Medium cage is good for my hard tail with 1x11, should give enough chain length for full suspension bikes as well?Price is right. Did not want to move to 12sp because I would need a new rear wheel (can't swap free hub only sadly). And I think 11 speed is a good price/performance tradeoff. I don't find myself wanting smaller spacing between gears.

Excellent

Great value now that 11sp is turning up to 12! My journey to shifting bliss was long and fitful. Mixed drive train. I am a looooong time grip shift holdout and ended up with an XT SRAM 2x10 with bash ring set up. But when I first tried to upgrade a 2x 10 to 1 x 11 I had to get an XD driver and E thirteen 9-42 with 28T Wolf Tooth Ovalized ring I had misery getting proper info and rear derailleur to function. I lived with it for a year, I know right. Started over with XT shifters and this mech and E-thirteen 9-50T. Super smooth, crisp, easy set up, not much B-screw adjustment and it was allegedly going to need Goat link or whatever...a year of hard riding and fresh chains later...still working great! Bonus: multiple gear shifts in one sweep of the trigger, Thumb or ... MoreGreat value now that 11sp is turning up to 12! My journey to shifting bliss was long and fitful. Mixed drive train. I am a looooong time grip shift holdout and ended up with an XT SRAM 2x10 with bash ring set up. But when I first tried to upgrade a 2x 10 to 1 x 11 I had to get an XD driver and E thirteen 9-42 with 28T Wolf Tooth Ovalized ring I had misery getting proper info and rear derailleur to function. I lived with it for a year, I know right. Started over with XT shifters and this mech and E-thirteen 9-50T. Super smooth, crisp, easy set up, not much B-screw adjustment and it was allegedly going to need Goat link or whatever...a year of hard riding and fresh chains later...still working great! Bonus: multiple gear shifts in one sweep of the trigger, Thumb or Index finger upshifts. I liked it so much so I got this set up to upgrade my wife's bike too.What I like: compatible with other non-shimano parts (your mileage may vary), Just works and works great! EZ set up, multiple gear shifting, weight loss from 2x/3x, simplified, made a location for my bottle opener, keeps my Killer B relevent. Converted me to thumb shifting.Cons: Uh, not the latest electro-shift wonder. part of the clutch selector lever broke off but is still accessible...make sure you put in higher tension mode before you ride off or it will feel like your out of adjustment!!!

OK derailleur

Shifts well enough. But my big gripe with this is the clutch mechanism. Internally it's basically a metal band that tightens around a pin, adding resistance to the pivot point. But it's really easy for liquid mud to get inside and muck up the mechanism (Shimano has a little plastic/rubber cover that flips open to allow you to adjust clutch tension on the fly but when the cover gets older it gets hard and wants to just flip open on its own, letting mud get inside). I've had to service this trailside multiple times -- if the clutch stops working properly and seizes up, your derailleur won't shift. I prefer the SRAM bearing style clutch, now that I've had a chance to try it on my other bike; and recently I've upgraded my derailleur to the Box 11sp that also uses a ... MoreShifts well enough. But my big gripe with this is the clutch mechanism. Internally it's basically a metal band that tightens around a pin, adding resistance to the pivot point. But it's really easy for liquid mud to get inside and muck up the mechanism (Shimano has a little plastic/rubber cover that flips open to allow you to adjust clutch tension on the fly but when the cover gets older it gets hard and wants to just flip open on its own, letting mud get inside). I've had to service this trailside multiple times -- if the clutch stops working properly and seizes up, your derailleur won't shift. I prefer the SRAM bearing style clutch, now that I've had a chance to try it on my other bike; and recently I've upgraded my derailleur to the Box 11sp that also uses a bearing style clutch similar to SRAM.

QUALITY + CLUTCH + CHAINWRAP 47 = AWESOME

CHAINWRAP OF 47! Very high quality well built derailleur. And it has a clutch! I installed this with a tanpan to make my 11 speed road bike carry an 11/42 cassette with a chainwrap of 47! (front 2x chainring with a tooth different of 16)

Shimano 11 spd XT with old SRAM XXI 11 spd shifter

Paired this with an old XXI Sram 11 speed shifter (Shimano and SRAM have identical shift pulls). Actually shifts better than the old and very used XXI derailleur that it replaced. Very happy so far after almost 2 months of riding and racing. I also like the ability to adjust the clutch resistance and the ability to turn on and off the clutch - two features not in my old SRAM XXI derailleur. I doubt that this derailleur will last as long as the old XXI, but time will tell.

Smooth as silk shifting!

Have been riding with this derailleur for about a year and have nothing but positive things to say. Shifting is very responsive and smooth. I went with the long cage and have nothing but positive things to say. You can't beat this derailleur for the price point. I ride 3-4 days a week during the summer and besides typical service, have not had an issue.

Tried and true, bombproof reliability

This versatile workhorse of a derailleur is bombproof. I can switch wheelsets of 10 and 11 speeds, switch my Microshift bar end shifter between index and friction to convert my touring bike to a gravel bike. It can handle a range of cassettes from goat climber to road warrior. As the industry goes nuts over electronic shifting I prefer the simplicity and ease of maintenance of mechanical shifting. Probably not for the gram counters but 99% of riders don't need to count grams. Most riders could stand to cut weight in the human sitting in the saddle :-)

Works great in 1x10 setup

Upgraded to a Sunrace 11x46T with 34T oval. Was running an RD-M786 SGS and shifting was good but not great. Installed the M8000 and shifting was much better but not as buttery as I would like. Smooth and quiet up to the 46 but a little Clunky outward to the 11. Decided to experiment with a Goatlink and Whoa! Greased lightening up and down the transmission. Not sure why the physics changed but this is how an MTB is supposed to shift. Performed flawlessly on the trail since I needed to confirm full suspension under load (260 lbs) didn't change the shifting performance. Especially on techy climbs where I frequently needed to switch between the the right granny and higher gearing . Happy Dance here...Happy trails all!