New-Old-Stock Shimano 105 Rear Derailleur w/Short Cage...Model RD-5501 SS (Black)...Some Shopwear
Thank you for your interest in this item and please visit our store for other offerings. We have very reasonable shipping terms and combine orders to save money (for customers) on shipping costs. We also maintain customer friendly return/refund/exchange policies.
Product Description:

This offering is for a new-old-stock Shimano 105 rear derailleur (RD-5501) in the short cage (SS) model and with a black finish. With respect to the shifting capacities and other notable specifications, we have included the following...

  • Index shifting compatibility: 7/8/9 speed (with Shimano branded or compatible index shifters and freewheels/cassettes)

  • Friction shifting compatibility: Several options (most 5/6/7 speed freewheels/cassettes)

  • Front capacity: Triple chainring w/14T (max) difference

  • Rear capacity: Minimum to maximum...11T to 27T

  • Total capacity: 29T (combined front chainring and rear sprocket difference...also known as chain wrap)

  • Weight: 228 grams (per our digital postal scale)

  • Other notes: The short cage (SS) designation relates solely to the pulley cage length, which represents the technical specification having the most direct impact on rear derailleur capacity limits. This particular model has the shortest cage length...measuring 50 mm from the center of the jockey/guide (top) pulley to the center of the tension (bottom) pulley. The primary benefit to a shorter pulley cage is less weight (although, in all honesty we are only talking about grams here, so probably not a noticeable savings for most of us). The downside, as most already know, to a shorter pulley cage is lower capacity limits, which limits these derailleurs to double crankset road bikes with a relatively narrow gear range on the freewheel/cassette.

    One other note regarding pulleys, Shimano incorporates a Centeron mechanism with it's jockey pulley on this rear derailleur, which allows for some laternal movement to compensate for imprecise index shifting. In other words, the jockey pulley has some built-in play within it's cage to better align under a sprocket when the indexing adjustment is not optimal.

This derailleur is a second generation 9-speed model that was first introduced in 2003. Although, our Shimano catalogs characterize this second generation model as receiving a "facelift", which is an indicator that any changes from the predecessor model are primarily cosmetic in nature. It's not among Shimano's top-end derailleur units of this era, but still considered very good quality. It's also worth noting that Shimano designed these units with the same geometry/specs as their higher end Ultegra and Dura-Ace models...to allow for mixing and matching of 9-speed drivetrain components without a significant drop-off in functional index shifting performance. As noted above, we have also confirmed this model is backward compatible with predecessor Shimano index shifting drivetrains.

As for condition, our stocks are not retail boxed and we are seeing some shopwear (scuffs and scratches) in the black finish. Listing Update...I have begun updating the pictures to reflect the next unit that will sell/ship.  As a result, please review the images and understand they do represent pictures of the next one of these rear derailleurs available for sale. I do see some visible scratches on this unit and please keep this in mind when considering this offering.

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Note to international customers regarding shipping...
We apologize to those that feel some of our international shipping charges are too high. We only charge actual shipping rates, but once an order exceeds a certain amount, we hesitate to use the least expensive US Postal Services First Class International service. We feel this way, because this service is not trackable or insurable...so more risk of loss. We prefer the US Postal Services Priority Mail International service for more expensive orders, because this service is trackable at USPS.com and insurable...so less risk of loss. Unfortunately, this service is more expensive, especially for smaller/lighter packages, relative to the First Class International service. We are sorry about these higher shipping costs, but hopefully our notes help to explain why this is the case.

Note to international customers regarding customs...
We also apologize to those that feel their country import taxes, duties and brokerage fees are excessive. As a small US business, we are required by customs' laws to declare each order as a retail sale. Additionally, the declared order value must be equal to total store purchases and/or winning auction bids (less any shipping costs, as these are not considered in the declared value). As a result, each customer will be responsible for paying his/her own country taxes, duties and brokerage fees, which will be collected upon delivery. Again, we apologize for these additional costs, but we cannot afford the penalties and fines that come with breaking customs' laws...so we have to strictly abide by them.