Shimano Zee Rear Mech Review
Shimano have something of a checkered past when it comes to affordable, heavy-duty drivetrains. Their Hone group comes to mind, with its non-standard derailleur mounting that very quickly (and thankfully) went the way of the dodo. So when we agreed to test the Zee mech, our first question was: "Will it work with my regular dropout?" It does. For the few who are not familiar with Zee, it is Shimano's affordable gravity groupset that some refer to as 'Saint Light' and it has become a popular offering on mid-priced bikes.
![Close-up of the used mech.]()
![On the scales vs XT.]()
Details
There are two versions of the Zee mech available and you need to make sure you get the correct one. There is a DH version, designed for close-ratio cassettes, and a FR one that works with up to 36t cassettes. This is one of the big differences between this and the Saint mech, which comes with an adjuster allowing you to easily switch between the modes. Aesthetically, yes Saint is a bit prettier, but the main difference is that the Saint uses a massive, wide-spaced parallelogram, while the Zee derailleur shares the more compact design of the XT mech. As for weight? Well, Shimano states the weight of its Saint mech at 280 grams. Our wide-range Zee weighed 270 grams. If you are using your Zee for Enduro or AM use, that's 12 grams more than Shimano's XT Shadow-plus mech - and $25 less.
![The setup w 11-36t cassette.]()
Setup
The Zee mech is compatible with all of Shimano's ten-speed components, so we ran it with an XT shifter, because it's what we were already running. The mid-cage derailleur was paired with an 11-36 cassette and a single-ring crankset. There was no drama regarding setup. We more or less threw it at the bike and it started working fine. It is a 10 speed, so as always, it takes a little bit of fine tuning to get the gears dialed.
![Close-ups of the damage]()
On the Trail
It is immediately noticeable how good the Zee mech feels with the XT shifter. Gone is the ambiguous lightness of Shimano from years gone by, replaced by an incredibly solid, positive feeling. Having ridden a few different options on different bikes since setting this up on our long-term test, we find ourselves coming back to this setup and appreciating how good this combination is. In a blind test you'd be hard pushed to pick this out as a cheaper option. Here at Pinkbike we are big fans of clutch mechs and this Zee is no different - it isn't when you use a clutch derailleur that is the big deal, it's if you go back and try to ride a bike without one that you realize just how good they are and the Zee is everything we hoped it would be in that regard - quiet running and precise shifting.
Where the Zee mech really stands out is in terms of survivability. It was with the 2012 XT derailleur that we first noticed that the current Shimano mechs keep working well past the point when you'd expect them to fail. That XT mech was scored, grated and slightly twisted, but it kept going. This Zee mech goes another step beyond that. Just after fitting it, we were riding with it at Lenzerheide, in Switzerland. Coming through the boulder fields, there were dozens of rocks protruding at about derailleur height. Eventually, a few of them hit home and a couple of them were big hits. We were sure we would look back to see a small pile of twisted metal hanging from the dropout, yet it kept working. Looking at the mech at the end of the week there were a number of big gouges on the body and it wasn't what you'd call straight, but it still changed gear every time you pressed the lever. OK, the indexing wasn't perfect and if you are the kind of person who likes your bike to be just so it would probably have upset you greatly. For us, it's reassuring that you can be more confident of making it home, no matter what happens. If payday is still a few weeks away when you hit your derailleur, you can keep riding, even if it isn't perfect (or if you're lazy like me you can just keep using it as it is for months). And that is impressive.
Pinkbike's take:
Shimano
Zee is Shimano's affordable gravity groupset - here is our battle-scarred test mech.
A wide-range Zee on the scales, vs. an XT long cage mech.
Shimano Zee rear mech details:
- Short cage only
- 10-speed only
- Shadow RD technology: Super low-profile design with clutch chain stabilizer
- DH spec - 28T Capacity
- Freeride spec - 36T Capacity
- Weight: 270g
- MSRP: $115.48 USD
Shimano Zee rear mech details:
- Short cage only
- 10-speed only
- Shadow RD technology: Super low-profile design with clutch chain stabilizer
- DH spec - 28T Capacity
- Freeride spec - 36T Capacity
- Weight: 270g
- MSRP: $115.48 USD
Details
There are two versions of the Zee mech available and you need to make sure you get the correct one. There is a DH version, designed for close-ratio cassettes, and a FR one that works with up to 36t cassettes. This is one of the big differences between this and the Saint mech, which comes with an adjuster allowing you to easily switch between the modes. Aesthetically, yes Saint is a bit prettier, but the main difference is that the Saint uses a massive, wide-spaced parallelogram, while the Zee derailleur shares the more compact design of the XT mech. As for weight? Well, Shimano states the weight of its Saint mech at 280 grams. Our wide-range Zee weighed 270 grams. If you are using your Zee for Enduro or AM use, that's 12 grams more than Shimano's XT Shadow-plus mech - and $25 less.
We used the wider-range freeride version with an 11-36t cassette.
Setup
The Zee mech is compatible with all of Shimano's ten-speed components, so we ran it with an XT shifter, because it's what we were already running. The mid-cage derailleur was paired with an 11-36 cassette and a single-ring crankset. There was no drama regarding setup. We more or less threw it at the bike and it started working fine. It is a 10 speed, so as always, it takes a little bit of fine tuning to get the gears dialed.
Some close-ups of the beating our test mech took, and survived. On the left you can see the gouges in the body and on the right, if you look closely, you can see how far bent out of line the cage became.
On the Trail
It is immediately noticeable how good the Zee mech feels with the XT shifter. Gone is the ambiguous lightness of Shimano from years gone by, replaced by an incredibly solid, positive feeling. Having ridden a few different options on different bikes since setting this up on our long-term test, we find ourselves coming back to this setup and appreciating how good this combination is. In a blind test you'd be hard pushed to pick this out as a cheaper option. Here at Pinkbike we are big fans of clutch mechs and this Zee is no different - it isn't when you use a clutch derailleur that is the big deal, it's if you go back and try to ride a bike without one that you realize just how good they are and the Zee is everything we hoped it would be in that regard - quiet running and precise shifting.
Where the Zee mech really stands out is in terms of survivability. It was with the 2012 XT derailleur that we first noticed that the current Shimano mechs keep working well past the point when you'd expect them to fail. That XT mech was scored, grated and slightly twisted, but it kept going. This Zee mech goes another step beyond that. Just after fitting it, we were riding with it at Lenzerheide, in Switzerland. Coming through the boulder fields, there were dozens of rocks protruding at about derailleur height. Eventually, a few of them hit home and a couple of them were big hits. We were sure we would look back to see a small pile of twisted metal hanging from the dropout, yet it kept working. Looking at the mech at the end of the week there were a number of big gouges on the body and it wasn't what you'd call straight, but it still changed gear every time you pressed the lever. OK, the indexing wasn't perfect and if you are the kind of person who likes your bike to be just so it would probably have upset you greatly. For us, it's reassuring that you can be more confident of making it home, no matter what happens. If payday is still a few weeks away when you hit your derailleur, you can keep riding, even if it isn't perfect (or if you're lazy like me you can just keep using it as it is for months). And that is impressive.
Pinkbike's take:
 | We can't help thinking Shimano have shot themselves in the foot with the Zee rear derailleur. After using the Zee mech for a while we are hard-pressed to offer a reason why you would buy the more expensive Saint. It's well-priced - $115 buys you one of the toughest mechs we've ever used. - Matt Wragg |
Shimano
Author Info:
I bought an X0 derailed/shifter once, and I never felt that the price difference was worth it, then snapped it on a root and just like that lost 300$... Since then, I always go with X9, and looks like the Zee group will offer me a good second option!
I bring in an 8" bike and they just gawk at it...
But for the price you can have it in France, it's just one of the best derailleur out there.
My setup on my miniDH bike (see the pictures in my profile) is SRAM X9 9spd shifter, SRAM PG980 11-32 cassette, and I think a shimano XTR 9spd chain (but not entirely sure, might just be XT). With a Shimano Zee FR version (for cassettes up to 36T as mentionned in the article)
And I'm not using any mod on the derailleur, or shifter, both are stocks.
It works because the ratios are really close (I think the difference between both is somewhere around 0.03). I haven't tried this on a 3x10 or 2x10 setup, where crossing the chain might put some more stress. I just know that for a 1x10 setup, all 10spds work perfectly
I forgot to add that the washer has a slot filed into it to accept the cable and keep everything lined up. This is important. The actual thickness to the bottom of the groove is .236". A hair less than 1/4"
Interesting theory though, might try this whole clutch on 9spd setup
@t1000 the "2:1" ratio of shimano referred to derailleurs up to 9 speeds on the mtb side and the road derailleurs (all except the 7 & 8 speed DuraAce models) only. When they brought out the 10 speed MTB groups, they called it Dyna-Sys and changed the ratios. The ten-speed mountain shifters/derailleurs as a result are not compatible with their 10-speed road units (though the chains, cassettes, chainring spacing, and front derailleur cages are).
10 speed shimano DYNA SYS rear shifters and derailleurs... = virtually identical ratio to SRAM ESP/1:1 9speed shifters and derailleurs.
9 speed shimano shifters are NOT compatible with any derailleurs except 9 (or lower) speed shimano mtb derailleurs, and all the shimano road derailleurs except for the 7 & 8 speed DuraAce ones (which you're unlikely to encounter anyway).
now if only I had $100
Has anyone actually got cable pull measurements for a sram 9sp shifter and a zee mech over a 9sp cassette? A lot of what I've read on the internet about this mod seems to say it will get decent shifting, but not perfect.
As for Shimano guy hurling in a bucket..............................and...................................go
It's not about sex its about trust, and they should be releasing Zee and Saint with 6 or 7 speeds if they want us to trust them again. Until that day, there will be more and more people jumping on the shimano clutch mech/sram 9sp shifter bandwagon.
Just one question. Do you guys think XT shifter will perform better then Zee one? Zee has the appeal of same groupset, but if XT would be much better, I would go with that one
I wouldn't even consider running anything else now. Got Zee on both my Enduro bikes and am about to fit it on my 1x10 hardtail as well. Huge kudos to Shimano for making a groupset that just works. No stupid materials or crazy made up anacronyms, no flash machining for the sake of it, just functional, reliable and bombproof kit that p*sses on the competition.
Saint and Zee share mechanism, so there is no ‘upgrade’ where this bit is concerned. Only XTR has a different structure, the tension bolt mech is basically the same. We think it might be a specific issue with his mech.
The bolt comes from the factory with two anti-loosening features, the screw is coated with thread lock and the black plastic block is threaded for an interference fit (nyloc concept), so it requires force to unthread the bolt from the block, vibration is not enough. So re-applying thread locker is approved and suggested. It is possible, but unlikely that his RD was somehow delivered without the plastic block or that it fell off the first time. But when the screw falls out, the block should remain attached, since the bolt can be removed from the cam mechanism without the block even half unthreaded
The effectiveness of both anti-loosening features is tied to the quality of the femle threads in the cam unit. It is possible to damage these threads if the mechanism is over-tightened. We have seen riders choose to “crank it up” because they want maximum stability, but the mechanism is not designed for excessive torque. This is the most likely issue with his RD – damaged threads. Adjusting the tension while the cam is engaged could also lead to damaged threads. The assumption is that tension is ‘off’ during adjustment. The service instructions explain that, but good to put out here.
NOTE: Short cage RDs have a different torque setting requirement than Trail RDs, if following the XC adjustment you will, in fact, over tension this bolt so this is the key message.
Here's a link with some of the images and docs we described. shimano.box.com/s/6l81eu0gp7xi5xjf7w8m
give our customer service guys a shout our shoot us a message if you have more questions!
When will internal gearing become standard?????
Over 100 year old technology on modern bikes. Why???
I´ve been riding internal geared bikes since 2006 and I will never ever go back to "ordinary" gears.
Even if it´s heavier.
Works perfectly and cheap enough (almost) to be disposable - Recommended.
It has loooooots of dents, better say scars. Once my chain broken and hit into the spokes....and its still working) SO if zee will be as reliable as saint it wont be needed to buy a new one after one-year-riding. After killing X0 and a few x9: saint became a treasure!
www.pinkbike.com/video/295847
www.pinkbike.com/video/295848 - as I am writing it, this one is still beig converted, should be available shortly )
As an extra bit of info - 10sp Shimano road shifters have a different pull ratio so would not work with a 10sp Shimano rear MTB mech and same goes for Shimano 10sp MTB shifters won't work with Shimano 10sp road mechs. Shame really as all the 9sp stuff used to be interchangeable between road and MTB.
Shimano deserves a big, big credit for Zee and SLX. SRAM might be beating it by a hair on higher groups X0 vs XTR but they have a long way to go with X7 and some parts of X9.
To sum up, I see not a single quality or functionality positive over SLX (but a tiny little weight saving), no improvement over previous version (save clutch) actualy a step backwards comparing to XT vomponents I owned in the past.
I have the 2012 SLX with shadow+ and it is both solid and great looking, I dare to say it looks better than XTR.
they are not on the same technological level. xt has both paralelogram pieces made of aluminium, zee has just one and the other one is stamped steel.
As for the clutch, no thanks
I´m very interested, because I´m not sure if I stay with 1x10 and if there is possibility to run 2x10 with Zee mech, that would be awesome.
Well, i do but the mech dosen't add any chain tension as its fully back, and TBH I dont use those gears. On a full sus with 190mm rear travel.
So for enduro/trail bike..shadow or zee?
2x10
www.pinkbike.com/u/SupraShin/blog/How-to-convert-SHIMANO-Shadow-Plus-RD-into-9-speed.html
works it properly?
My zee has been faultless, but then again i actually know how long a chain should be...
Also 'gravity credentials?' Since when did having a dinner plate cassette slow you down?