Shimano Zee rear derailleur with 11-42t cassette??
 

Anyone out there running a Zee derailleur with an 11-42t cassette? Let me know!

I looked into this a few years ago (before M8000 & M7000 came out) because the Zee derailleurs were really cheap. The posts I found on MTBR about it - including one from OneUp which is one of the companies like Wolf Tooth that started out making big-cog kits - is that it might work on a hard tail but the chain length needs to be exactly right. It just has barely enough wrap. On a full suspension it's probably not going to work.

Example
https://www.mtbr.com/threads/zee-rd-...th-cog.926337/
https://www.mtbr.com/threads/getting...sette.1023983/

You have an M6000, right? What are you trying to do? If it's broken, any of the 11 speed RD's will swap for that

i have a Jones with Sram Nx drivetrain. I am thinking about building a “bulletproof hardtail”: Kona Honzo ESD with maybe a 1x10 drivetrain highlighted by Zee derailleur and shifter.

It has sliding dropouts, right? I could tease you and say bulletproof bikes don’t have derailleurs! And weigh a couple pounds less.

All the 11 speed derailleurs will do 10 speeds just fine and handle the 42t no problem. If you are dropping speeds because you think 11 chains are weaker or faster wearing, well, that’s a widely believed theory. The people who make chains, and the tiny cottage industry of people who test them, disagree. It’s more about the chain quality. But if you persist anyhow there are 8 and 9 speed options too. If you want a Zee RD because you think it’s tough, well it’s not really that special and the 11’s are just fine. They never updated Zee and Saint because free ride kind of lost out to enduro lately, otherwise they’d be 11 speed too

Take a look at the Microshift Advent X 10-speed drivetrain. We are upgrading my kid's 12-speed to this. I think it is supposed to arrive tomorrow.

lol yes! Could run it with a Rohloff if I wanted too!

All good points, I am not married to the Zee lineup in particular or 10 speed in general, I have one lying around and I have always been impressed by them considering how little they cost. Chain durability doesn’t factor in at all, I am of the same mindset that you are: differences between the two are academic. SLX would be just fine too, and may be the way to go depending on the wheelset I wind up with and which freehub driver it has.

So, mostly looking for big bang for my buck but this build will be near $3k so spending an extra $50 on a derailleur is not a big deal.

I have heard good things about that group; I have an older Microshift thumb shifter on my 9 speed city bike. It's connected to an inexpensive Deore derailleur; the whole thing was a snap to set up and shifts beautifully and runs very very quietly.