SRAM Neos derailleur

This SRAM Neos derailleur is one of the DI.R.T. designs that SRAM inherited from Sachs.

DI.R.T. (note the weird placing of the full stops) stands for DIrect Response Technology. The DI.R.T. designs were extremely innovative, with two composite knuckles, a composite outer parallelogram plate and a composite inner pulley cage plate. That's a lot of composite for the time, and it made these derailleurs fiendishly light. They also had a pretty straight cable run and a groovy curvaceous look. Finally they were Shimano compatible - which gave SRAM something to offer the majority of the market, while it gradually built the population of riders using its proprietary 1:1 actuation.

Did they change gear well? I would say that they did - although many home mechanics, who were not used to the straight outer cable run, were not careful enough about the length of outer cable required. Get this right and these gears worked well, possibly very, very, well. Get it wrong and they were dogs.

Were they a commercial success? Possibly not. They acquired a reputation for being fragile, with numerous macho dudes claiming on the, then newly fashionable, internet that they had smashed their DI.R.T. derailleurs to pieces in this way or that. I have to say that I didn't notice more smashed DI.R.T. derailleurs than smashed Shimano derailleurs, so I am mildly dubious about this claim. I do think that the DI.R.T. derailleurs looked fragile, and that plastic and pressed aluminium possibly does not look as comforting as polished or anodised aluminium forgings.

Most of all these derailleurs were not cheap (particularly the higher end ones). The biggest downside of the DI.R.T. derailleurs was that it was hard to convince customers that a plastic and pressed aluminium derailleur was a luxury item that should cost as much as one constructed of polished or anodised aluminium forgings. These derailleurs were no only light in weight, they were also light on Bling.

Despite this history, and despite the fact that it does not chime with SRAM's foundation myth, it might be true to say that there is more of the Sachs DI.R.T. DNA in, say, a SRAM X-0, than DNA from SRAM's own, contemporary, SRAM ESP 900.

The SRAM Neos was nearly, but not quite, the bottom model in the SRAM DI.R.T. range. It featured:

an aluminium inner parallelogram plate.
an allen cable clamp bolt
a steel outer pulley cage plate
an aluminium b-pivot bolt
a rivetted parallelogram that could not be disassembled
plain and simple pulley wheels in an alluring French blue
the words 'SRAM Neos', prominently written on the b-knuckle
a round badge on the p-knuckle with the letter 'N' for Neos
adjustment screws that can be turned with a Phillips head or a flat bladed screwdriver
unbranded pulley wheels
an outer pulley cage plate that is only branded 'DI.R.T.'.

Unlike it's higher-end siblings, there is no mention of Sachs anywhere.

Derailleur brands: SRAM
Categories: SRAM - DI.R.T.
Country: USA, manufactured in France
Date of introduction: 1998?
Date of this example: possibly 1999 (inner cage stamped W0)
Model no.: unknown
Weight: 252g
Maximum cog: 32 teeth
Total capacity: 40 teeth
Pulley centre to centre: 86mm
Index compatibility: 7/8/9 speed
Chain width: 3/32”
Logic: top normal
B pivot: unsprung
P pivot: sprung
Materials: largely composite with an aluminium inner parallelogram plate and a steel outer pulley cage plate