If, in Blade Runner, Harrison Ford had fancied a wee spin, this is the derailleur he would have chosen. With a great colour, great sculpted forms and a great big lump to attach it to the end of your hub axle (no broken hangers here) - the Shimano Saint is a sci-fi gear for downhill competition use.

Shimano have rethought it from the ground up, it has a cable route above the parallelogram, a sprung ‘cable saver’ cable clamp and circlips on the ends of key bolts - to catch them if they loosen. Apart from the steel inner parallelogram plate it is constructed like a Deore XT, with a sealed bearing tension pulley and ceramic bushes in the guide pulley.

This is the short cage (SS) version of the first style of Saint (M800) - there were also GS and SGS versions.

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1. •Brand: Shimano
   

2. •My category: Shimano - weirdness
   

3. •Country: Japan
   

4. •Date of introduction: 2003
   

5. •Date of this example: 2003 (two letter date code is BJ)
   

6. •Model no: M800 SS
   

7. •Weight: 363g including integral hanger system
   

8. •Maximum cog: 34 teeth
   

9. •Total capacity: 29 teeth
   

10. •Pulley centre to centre: 50mm
    

11. •Index compatibility: 9 speed
    

12. •Chain width: 3/32”
    

13. •Logic: low normal
    

14. •Pivots: two sprung pivots
    

15. •Material: largely aluminium with a steel inner parallelogram plate
    

16. •My theme: A riot of colour
    

0356/M