The BikeYoke Shifty v2 might just be the mountain bike performance upgrade that you didn’t even know you needed to keep your mechanical shifting crisp throughout the year. The shifty is a simple little gadget. It replaces the stock plastic SRAM shift pulley rather with an alloy BikeYoke alternative that spins more smoothly and longer on a sealed bearing. Now it its second generation, the BikeYoke Shifty v2 fits more derailleurs. It offers more color options. And it is, in fact, cheaper, too.
What’s not to love?
BikeYoke Shifty v2 pulley upgrade for SRAM derailleurs
BikeYoke founder Stefan Sack explains that he created the original Shifty in 2016/17 after a really wet and muddy race weekend across the border into France managed to seize up a brand new derailleur. When thin mud & grit worked their way in between the stock plastic shift guide pulley and its steel bushing, everything soon ground to a stop, adding a lot of friction to the shift cable. The BikeYoke Shifty solution eliminates that possible shift failure mode by swapping in a precision-machined alloy pulley (that also doesn’t collect mud in its spokes) spinning on a standard, trusted & replaceable sealed bearing.
Now, v2 gets a bit thinner to fit in the reduced clearance between the pulley and newer derailleur bodies. And it adds a second pair of spacers to fit either the older mechanical SRAM 1x derailleurs, or the two newer Transmission mechanical derailleurs that use a smaller diameter bolt + threaded sleeve to secure them in place.
Why upgrade?
I’m a big fan of my mechanical and fully rebuildable SRAM Eagle 90 groupset. I’ve been bashing it on rocks, thrashing it down muddy trails, and simply hosing it off at the end of the day for more than 9 months now. And the mechanical shifting is pretty much as good as new. But with a wet & cold winter in my sights, I love the idea of eliminating one potential point of shift degradation with the simple upgrade to the affordable BikeYoke Shifty v2. Plus, a little pop of anodized color never hurts, right?
I upgraded the newest in the SRAM mechanical derailleur family – without disconnecting the shift wire. And it took about 10 minutes to break the Eagle 90 down into individual parts, install the Shifty v2 pulley, and then reassemble. The toughest part was firstly finding my good Unior P-handle T20 wrench, which I rarely use, and was buried in my Pro Kit travel toolbox.
Beyond my new derailleur, the new Shifty v2 is now compatible with pretty much every 1x mechanical MTB 11- or 12-speed derailleur that SRAM has made in the last couple of decades. That includes the Eagle Transmission 70 & 90. But it also still fits older NX1, EX1, GX1, X1, X01, X01 DH, XX1, plus NX, GX, X01, XX1 Eagle derailleurs, too.
BikeYoke Shifty v2 – Tech detail, pricing & availability
This little thing is pretty straightforward. It’s just a CNC-machined aluminum pulley that spins on a standard sealed cartridge bearing. It now fits all the SRAM mechanical MTB derailleurs that feature a shift pulley, with one of two sets of included spacers. It even works on entry-level derailleurs with riveted-on pulleys, which you just drill out and replace with BikeYoke’s included bolt.
The BikeYoke Shifty v2 weighs 6g with spacers, but without the bolt. That’s a 2g weight penalty for me over the plastic pulley that came with my Eagle 90 derailleur. Less than the weight of the mud that I cleaned off my derailleur to make it look slightly more presentable and less of a magnet for irritated commenters.
BikeYoke now offers the anodized Shifty v2 pulley in 7 colors. Pick from: black, silver, signature purple, red, orange, a Kashima-ish gold, and yellow. This second-generation upgrade costs $32 / 29.90€ plus shipping, down about two euros from the original generation. Order your direct from BikeYoke or pick one up at your local dealer bikeshop.
