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.

• Derailleur brands: Shimano
• Categories: Shimano - weirdness
• Themes: A riot of colour
• Country: Japan
• Date of introduction: 2003
• Date of this example: 2003 (two letter date code is BJ)
• Model no.: M800 SS
• Weight: 363g including integral hanger system
• Maximum cog: 34 teeth
• Total capacity: 29 teeth
• Pulley centre to centre: 50mm
• Index compatibility: 9 speed
• Chain width: 3/32”
• Logic: low normal
• B pivot: sprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: largely aluminium with a steel inner parallelogram plate