Saint or Zee for beginner

The Northern Monkey

ilovedirt wrote:

Maybe. But that one time that a stick does get tangled up in your mech just by chance because maybe the cage was a little longer than it needed to be, well it's an expensive (and annoying) mistake.

Just saying that's my experience with them thus far.

Only if you have an expensive short cage rear mech.

You can buy 2 1/2 deore rear mechs for the price of 1 saint rear mech. and lets be honest, shifting performance isn't always as the top of the list. I mean, I change gear maybe twice on a DH run if I'm lucky.

If on a budget, I'd spend more on shifters than a rear mech for a gravity bike.

ilovedirt

£40 for an X7 mech is still more than I want to spend...

The Northern Monkey

Don't buy SRAM then...

Deore 9sp shadow rear mech - £27.99

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=40542

ilovedirt

Erm, no ta.

felix.london

The Northern Monkey wrote:

ilovedirt wrote:

Maybe. But that one time that a stick does get tangled up in your mech just by chance because maybe the cage was a little longer than it needed to be, well it's an expensive (and annoying) mistake.

Just saying that's my experience with them thus far.

Only if you have an expensive short cage rear mech.

You can buy 2 1/2 deore rear mechs for the price of 1 saint rear mech. and lets be honest, shifting performance isn't always as the top of the list. I mean, I change gear maybe twice on a DH run if I'm lucky.

If on a budget, I'd spend more on shifters than a rear mech for a gravity bike.

This ^ - My local run is gnarly as f@ck and I don't think I change gears at all on a 7km run and a 1km drop out of the sky! - Hence my original question - I want a Deore/SLX/XT rear mech in a shortcage version please Mr Shimano!

felix.london

...and yeah as pointed out you can get a Zee mech from the Germans for similar price to an XT but I'm just going with CRC prices - Zee £65, XT £45, SLX £40, Deore £28

And I'd be happy with a shortcage Deore mech for that kinda price

Chunkers1980

Ever thought about SS on that bike?

supersonic

Want a tough, cheap mech (9 speed or less) and run Shimano? Altus or Acera.

felix.london

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Ever thought about SS on that bike?

haha! I wouldn't be able to get to the lift! And just cos my local trails are seriously steep with no flat bits. There stations all over the place near me and they aren't quite so gnarly (well not as much vert) and some even have the odd small uphill section so need the 34/27 gear to get up them for sure - especially on a 16.5kg bike :shock:

felix.london

supersonic wrote:

Want a tough, cheap mech (9 speed or less) and run Shimano? Altus or Acera.

Now - there are limits and I think Deore is mine! I joke - I'm sure they'll do the job fine

But my '06 Deore mech is still going strong and spot on after a fair amount of abuse and spending most of it's life in the UK rain and grime. New set of jockey wheels and it's literally as good as new - a noticeable difference in smoothness from the XT (and the X9) but is bang on every time

lawman

felix.london wrote:

...and yeah as pointed out you can get a Zee mech from the Germans for similar price to an XT but I'm just going with CRC prices - Zee £65, XT £45, SLX £40, Deore £28

And I'd be happy with a shortcage Deore mech for that kinda price

So what exactly is the problem if a zee mech can be purchased in desired short cage guise for the same as slx? Crc prices are irrelevant :roll:

Chunkers1980

For a start they are not and second zee is only 10 spd as far as I can see.

supersonic

http://www.parker-international.co.uk/1 ... n=pid11479

Shorter cage due to bigger wheels ;-)

felix.london

Because we now have another groupset that people will think they need when actually it's not necessary but that's what these companies do - "are you a DH ripper on a budget - you need Zee!"

I can see the point of the Saint & XTR groupsets - high end sh1t for pro's and racers (and people that are loaded). And I can see where SLX & XT fit in

Saying that when I ditch the SRAM mech & shifter if Zee is the same price as SLX - of course I'll go for it because of the short cage mech. But it would've been fine just to add a short cage mech for "DH rippers on a budget" to the SLX line imho. That stuff is reasonably priced, works very well, looks fine it's just not super light which doesn't matter too much for a DH bike and as far as I can tell so far..is pretty much bombproof too

felix.london

Chunkers1980 wrote:

For a start they are not and second zee is only 10 spd as far as I can see.

+1

felix.london wrote:

Because Zee only comes in 10sp. And I 'cos a DH specific rear mech - even a budget one with a stupid name is a waste of money imo

lawman

felix.london wrote:

Because we now have another groupset that people will think they need when actually it's not necessary but that's what these companies do - "are you a DH ripper on a budget - you need Zee!"

I can see the point of the Saint & XTR groupsets - high end sh1t for pro's and racers (and people that are loaded). And I can see where SLX & XT fit in

Saying that when I ditch the SRAM mech & shifter if Zee is the same price as SLX - of course I'll go for it because of the short cage mech. But it would've been fine just to add a short cage mech for "DH rippers on a budget" to the SLX line imho. That stuff is reasonably priced, works very well, looks fine it's just not super light which doesn't matter too much for a DH bike and as far as I can tell so far..is pretty much bombproof too

People forget that these companies are trying to make money, new and shiny groupsets that are abit different will sell. Slx has been around for too long to justify it being tagged for DH, sure it could take it, but shimano see more money in a specific group for budget DH use, and where is the problem in that? You actually get the product you want, at a similar price, with a different name? where does any kind of problem come into that? Shimano haven't made a short cage xt or slx mech for years, so its not like zee suddenly causes problems, if anything its solved your problem, what more do you want?

felix.london

Wheels that are slightly bigger than I've got now but not quite as big as a 29er please...

YeehaaMcgee

lawman wrote:

felix.london wrote:

Because we now have another groupset that people will think they need when actually it's not necessary but that's what these companies do - "are you a DH ripper on a budget - you need Zee!"

I can see the point of the Saint & XTR groupsets - high end sh1t for pro's and racers (and people that are loaded). And I can see where SLX & XT fit in

Saying that when I ditch the SRAM mech & shifter if Zee is the same price as SLX - of course I'll go for it because of the short cage mech. But it would've been fine just to add a short cage mech for "DH rippers on a budget" to the SLX line imho. That stuff is reasonably priced, works very well, looks fine it's just not super light which doesn't matter too much for a DH bike and as far as I can tell so far..is pretty much bombproof too

People forget that these companies are trying to make money, new and shiny groupsets that are abit different will sell. Slx has been around for too long to justify it being tagged for DH, sure it could take it, but shimano see more money in a specific group for budget DH use, and where is the problem in that? You actually get the product you want, at a similar price, with a different name? where does any kind of problem come into that? Shimano haven't made a short cage xt or slx mech for years, so its not like zee suddenly causes problems, if anything its solved your problem, what more do you want?

It would be nice to have a short cage, 9-speed compatible mech.

Maddog1979

Ok i've just ordered the Zee shifter and mech... just need to look at a cassette,

Would a Shimano 105 / 5700 25T be ok?