VegasTriker

Do you ride off-road? I've owned two 20 inch drive wheel trikes and one 700C drive wheel trike since 2003 and never destroyed a rear derailleur with the exception of the time a rear light came loose and fell into the chain on my Catrike. My Greenspeed GTO uses a Shimano 105 8 speed short cage RD. I replaced it just once in about 30K miles when metal fatigue finally did it in. By that time the idler wheels were worn smooth. It shifted perfectly even as worn as that. When I compared the ground clearance on the GTO with that on my Catrike 700 which has wide range (11-36 cassette) and long cage RD, the distance is nearly identical. None of my three trikes were designed for off-road so that wasn't a factor.


Be sure this RD is compatible with your drive system. It is 9 speed and suitable for 11-34 or 11-36 cassettes. You will need to use the shifter designed for the RD. Adding the Schlumpf Mountain Drive may or may not be helpful. Do you need more low end gearing? My GS GTO has the SMD but it was coupled with using a single 65 tooth chainring and 3X8 in the rear including SRAM Dual-Drive. It turned out to have a wider gear range than I really needed. First trike was 19-98 gear inches. OK at first but limited at top end once I got used to riding the trike. GTO is something like 14-132 GI and the Catrike 700 is is 21.9 -124.2 GI. I don't really miss the low end gears on the Catrike. It works OK on even the steepest hills I encounter.