Quote Originally Posted by featuretile View Post
Also, the Shimano 9sp rear mtn derailleurs seem to be a fairly tolerant of exceeding the rated max cog size (ie, they were never meant to accept cogs bigger than 34T but in practice they’ll work on a 36T with margin to spare).
The 9spd "shadow" RD's are meant to work with with 36t. These would be the RD-M592, M662, M772, and M972. Note that Shimano only announced the 9spd 12-36 cassette after these RD's (well, not the M592) were already shipping. Thus the printed specs give a 34t limit.