New Chainset - XT, SLX or Race Face Evolve XC?

Anonymous

gt, i would get the xt cassette instead of the sram one as they can be had for the same price and are lighter.

Surf-Matt

SRAM apparently lasts longer though...

Anonymous

is that so?

final point is that the xt cassette has an alloy spider so will preserve your freehub if you have a softer alloy one (like on hope hubs)

Surf-Matt

Sheepsteeth - I'm sure they are pretty much on a similar par but these two comments swung it for me:

Can only say good things about this block. It still looks like new after 8 month of mud riding. Its also very light and has a lovely satin matt finish, as opposed to the cheep looking Shimano mirror finish. Put it this way I wont even consider getting anything else when I need a new one. Which looking at it may be a long time, seen as it just dont seem to be showing any ware. I run a SRAM chain with it and its a faultless combo.

Better than XT, moved over a couple of years ago to SRAM and not disappointed, that 34 ring is a real winner!

And I prefer the "satin" finish too - I'm sure they both work well though.

Anonymous

hmmm, my cassette is satin finish and has 34 teeth on the lowest gear.

i have one on the old stumpy, the new stumpy, the enduro and they all stil look perfect, are all satin finish, all have alloy carriers and all have 34 teeth.

Surf-Matt

Well I'd say it's down to brand preference then!

Anonymous

dont get me wrong, matt, im not trying to get into a sram shimano fight with you, as it happens sram shifters and mechs are my fave by a country mile, i want someone to swap my xtr mech for their xo or x9.

if it is true that the sram cassette lasts longer then it is a good bet.

supersonic

The polished finish is hard chrome I think - like on deore cassettes, lasts ages. Also get nickel coated.

Steve_b77

I think it depends on which XT cassett you get, as mine is a satin finish, and is bloody superb, saying that my LX HG80 is pretty damm good too

GT Destroyer

Then again I could just stick with the SLX one I'd get with the set?

There doesn't seem to be any huge advantages upgrading to the XT or the SRAM, besides the weight, and I'm not that fussed about that, I'll just have to get fitter if its heavier!

And the SLX is relatively new so I might stumble on something which looks good and will last for ages. If its still there at Christmas I'll deffo get it, and just go with it for a while and see whats what.

ESHER SHORE

shimano themselves say that the SLX crankset is 100% stronger than XT

its definitely the bargin crankset of the year, street price of around £80-90


I have just gone from old Saint to SLX dual / bash (with the pedal insert) and dropped a bunch of weight, the SLX feels just like Saint in terms of stiffness when stomping on the pedals or heavy landings, but actually feels easier to spin due to less rotating weight (not something I had ever figured into the overall weight reduction)

Surf-Matt

GT - is there an SLX cassette available yet? If there is, I'd grab it.

It really is a superb groupset. Until the XT moves forward again, you'd almost be daft to spend an extra £50 on the chainset for 36g less weight and half the stiffness! Plus I don't like chrome/silver either - so shallow!

Esher- Double ring does look good. The triple loses the steel inserts but is a bit lighter.
Do you livein Esher? My grandparents (now departed) house was next to Carson Farm.

toasty

I'm not sure the strength is exactly the same as the stiffness, glass is stiff! I've had numerous different brands of chainset in the past and the new XT ones are by far the stiffest I've ever had, so much so that I went out to my local shop and got one fitted on my Stumpy, it set me back £100 (fitted). This was before SLX existed though.

XT gets used on everything down to DH bikes, I wouldn't assume it's weak because of what they're saying to pimp their new groupset.

I did recently buy SLX gearing and brakes on the Stumpy though, it used to have some ancient LX bits on there The shifters are lovely, every bit as clean shifting as the XT on my Meta. The brakes are a bit weaker at the mo but I think this was just the cheaper pads, I got some Superstar ones through the post to try yesterday.

Edit: Oh yeah and their cassette is here http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=product&productId=1449&categoryId=123 - I've personally gone for XT if I want light or Deore for longevity.

Anonymous

where is claimed that slx is 100%stiffer?

Surf-Matt

Sheeps - not actually sure but the figure is all over the internet.

Stiffness isn't the same as strength but it's very handy in a crankset.

It's certainly a lot stiffer than my Stylo - which is meant to be a half decent set up.

It looks like SLX will replace XT, then XT will probably up it's game again.

Apart from the brakes and a tiny bit of overall weight, SLX seems a very sensible buy over XT at the moment.

toasty

Stiffness isn't the same as strength but it's very handy in a crankset.

I thought the original quote was 100% stronger, not stiffer though? I've never heard of anyone breaking a set of the new XT cranks anyway.

I do agree though, even the SLX brakes are worth it in my eyes (I've got both at the mo). Going by Merlin they're £125 instead or £200 for XT. The lever feel and action is exactly the same, the simple bleeding reservoir is the same too, both have the easy lever reach adjuster, the rotor I was sent seems to be identical to my XT rotors.

It's certainly a lot stiffer than my Stylo - which is meant to be a half decent set up.

http://www.mtbr.com/cat/drivetrain/crankset/truvativ/stylo-sl/PRD_357667_115crx.aspx those ones? :P


Edit: Oh one thing of note, the new style SLX/XT brakes don't fit very well with a lot of shifter designs. Even my 08 LX didn't fit the the SLX brakes which seems bizarre.

Anonymous

again, im not arguing, i was just wondering where these facts came from. i was on shimanos website yesterday (which seems much improved!!) and i couldnt see reference made to 100% extra stifness, i would have thought that would be a fact they wanted to shout about.

cee

I put an SLX mech on the patriot after smashing the previous one to pieces at fortbill.

I like the 'shadow' design....which will be familiar to SRAM users.....e.g. no big loop in the rear gear cable....goes straight into the top.

Got 08 XT shifters on there which do the 2 way release thing (like SRAM) and I like it better than the old shim design where a finger and a thumb were needed....only thumbs now!

Is there an XT Shadow range? my understanding is the SLX is just really LX Shadow?

Anyway....I have no complaints about the SLX stuff....it works great. That said, I have no bad experience of SRAM stuff either.

Surf-Matt

Sheeps - I just tried to find the "100% stiffer" thing too but am struggling. Definitely seen it somewhere "official" though.

Your link is to the ISIS version of the Stylo. Mine was a GXP one. A little better and served me well for 3000 miles. It's now looking sorry for itself in my garage!

One thing I don't like about the SLX (and many of Shimano's cranks) is that the drive-side crank arm isn't a single "spider/crank arm" set up like on the Stylo and many other cranks.
Clearly it makes little or no difference to the performance but I do prefer the spider/crank arm to be a single piece - purely from a visual point of view! XT is the same.

See below:



I prefer this "look" and surely it's stronger?!



or on the Stylo:

toasty

Bikes used to be black with silver components, now they're all white with black components. I can't keep up!

Anonymous

so how do you compare the slx to the stylo when it was in new condition, does it feel stiffer?

when i swapped form stylo to xt there was a marked improvement, not least cause the shimano cranks didnt keep coming undone!!

that said, i cant tell any difference between the newest xt and the version before.

Surf-Matt

Sheeps - definitley better. The Stylo was okay but hampered by a slightly baggy BB. Mind you I've only just noticed now I've got the SLX.
The whole drivetrain feels hyper accurate - like a rifle bolt.

joe1983

Think I may have found a source of the mystical '100% stronger' claim. See:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=28020

It says it in their description of the product, but its CRC so obviously not a primary source. The search continues..

GT Destroyer

Well I'm still holding out for one of the SLX groupsets from Merlin, I will be gutted if they sell out by Christmas,