I was thinking about that. Most derailleur anxieties about bikes or trikes with small wheels are self solving, as the derailleur tends to move forward in the lower gears used off road, and hang more vertically in the higher gears, so you're less likely to knock it on objects near the tyre than you think. Even Bromptons don't have a big problem here, though they do get covered in muck.Chris Jeggo wrote: 21 May 2025, 2:43pmCould grass-deflecting strips be bodged on to the jockey sprocket cage?Skids wrote: 20 May 2025, 2:08pm One issue is the low slung derailleur hanger eats grass and jams up,
Grass is tricky though, as it's all-pervasive. I've been brought to a stop even with the Linear's 700c rear wheel on occasion, though more usually I just find bits of grass stuck in it afterwards which I have to pull out as it interferes with the gear change. The trick is to rig something up which the grass won't drag into the mechanism with it, causing actual damage. If the chain tension is right, so that the derailleur is well forward in lower gears, that will help, though it depends on your gear set up. There probably is a deflector of some sort that could be made without it being even harder to get the grass that does get in there out. Maybe something with whirling blades, though the amount of time spent getting grass stuck in your gears is probably actually tiny compared with the amount of grass free riding that most people do. It certainly doesn't stop me going off road!
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