XT 11 Speed

benpinnick

Weights (for the most popular set up anyway):

Rear Mech 272g
11-42 Cassette 433g!
Shifter (Ispec-II) 139g
Brakes 297/289g uncut.

Which means although its a fair bit cheaper, as a complete set up its a fair bit heavier than GX 10-42. I suspect there may be a fair few SRAM / Shimano hybrids, taking advantage of the wider range, much lighter SRAM cassette, but with the Shimano shifter/brake/mech.

supersonic

Thanks for the weights, it was the 11-42 I was missing. Compared to my existing set up:

XTR 972 carbon rear mech - 176g
XT 11-32 cassette - 256g
XTR front mech - 129g
Cables - 20g
Inner ring and bolts - 26g
XT shifter - 126g

Ok not a direct comparison as is XTR in there - and of course 11 speed XTR is lighter still. But adding that up it comes to 707g. Adding up the 8000 xt it comes to 705g. And I imagine my 9 speed truvativ noir ring is a little lighter than a NW. So for me at least, there is no point changing for weight benefits, and I lose out on gear range too slightly.

benpinnick

Actually you loose a fair amount of range. Assuming a 38/24 double on 11-36 cassette I think off the top of my head you only get 72% of the range on an 11-42, but that jumps to 81% on a 10-42. Quite a bump.

supersonic

This is where that 10t shows its main playing card - you can increase range for a tiny increase in weight (plus the SRAM construction in general is lighter, a work of art those things!). 10-40 for example still has more range than an 11-42, and lighter. They'd need a 46t to match SRAM 11-42. Shimano didn't want to push 10t though (it is a little less efficient), but they had this tech in their Capreo cassette and hub:



This was a 9t! Imagine a 9-42 - might need 12 speed for that ;-)

Giraffoto

I did some research on this a while back, and found that going from my 2x10 XT setup to 1x11 new XT would save about 200g in weight and serve up very much the same range of gears as I use now - the only real advantage would be simplifying the shift pattern. So, I'd go for it on a new build, but I'll stick with what I have until something breaks. (The real dilemma will come if the front derailleur breaks)

The Rookie

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19660939#p19660939]supersonic[/url] wrote:

Cables - 20g

Suspiciously light, my inners weigh that (11 rear and 9g front on my bike that has a front shifter), each section of outer (Jagwire/SP41) adds somewhere about 8g, I'd expect cables to come in at at least 44g (downtube routed - 60+g for top tube routed with the 2 sections at the seat tube junction)), a small saving for more exotic cables.

swod1

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I wouldn't ever go back to having a front mech. Single ring is so much quieter, leaves a tidier handlebar set up and just works better. I never feel the need for anything smaller than 32t-40t ratio.

Yes I see a lot of new bikes are going single ring with wide range cassette. On my way into work on the hardtail today, stupid front mech decided to drop the chain so another reason for me to get rid but the small 24t is handy though if my legs are tired I can just fly up hills.

I am tempted though to get the new XT 2x11 groupset as the 36/26 front rings will be useful.

The choice of XT cassettes are what 11-40 or 11-42?

Antm81

11-42 is 1x only as I believe the capacity of the rear mech won't cope with that spread on a 2x set up

supersonic

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19661242#p19661242]The Rookie[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19660939#p19660939]supersonic[/url] wrote:

Cables - 20g

Suspiciously light, my inners weigh that (11 rear and 9g front on my bike that has a front shifter), each section of outer (Jagwire/SP41) adds somewhere about 8g, I'd expect cables to come in at at least 44g (downtube routed - 60+g for top tube routed with the 2 sections at the seat tube junction)), a small saving for more exotic cables.

That's only for the front of course, not both.

Thewaylander

I think with wide ratio the bail out gear argument is a tad redundant.. I'm a fat get and I can pedal my lump of a bike up the local steep welsh terrain... If I can do that anyone can, its not much different from my old first if I'm honest..

supersonic

We all differ in fitness and preferred cadences, I really do like a low spinny gear. 32/42 is ok - 22/32 is better for me, and I prefer 22/36 on some bikes.

Chunkers1980

Then there's the tall gears which you just can't get out of a 32 front

rockmonkeysc

How often would you use those off road though? I have a 36t on my downhill bike but rarely get in to the tallest gear.
Big rings just get caught up on stuff and bend or just stab you in the calf.

supersonic

Not often - but some people do. Some just like to know they are there, even if rarely used.

Either way, there are now set ups to suit pretty much everyone, albeit you pay more for the wide ranging 1x stuff. I still use a 3x8 on one bike lol, but that does see more tarmac.

Giraffoto

Well, I still haven't gone for XT 11 speed, but I'm now a convert to 1x10! Having a spare 32T steel chainring and a few spare minutes, I tried swapping my big (38T) ring for the 32 and taking a ride around. No good, it grinds on the front derailleur something terrible. Remove the front derailleur. Try again - better, but noisy in the lowest gear. Get the inner ring off and swap the spacer on the bottom bracket to the non-drive side. Success! 32-11 isn't a bad top gear, smooth running on all 10 cogs, easy shifting pattern, and when the cassette finally wears out I'll try 11-36 and get an aluminium narrow/wide chainring

swod1

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19673067#p19673067]Giraffoto[/url] wrote:

Well, I still haven't gone for XT 11 speed, but I'm now a convert to 1x10! Having a spare 32T steel chainring and a few spare minutes, I tried swapping my big (38T) ring for the 32 and taking a ride around. No good, it grinds on the front derailleur something terrible. Remove the front derailleur. Try again - better, but noisy in the lowest gear. Get the inner ring off and swap the spacer on the bottom bracket to the non-drive side. Success! 32-11 isn't a bad top gear, smooth running on all 10 cogs, easy shifting pattern, and when the cassette finally wears out I'll try 11-36 and get an aluminium narrow/wide chainring

I'm looking at doing something similar the front mech on my bike is just annoying the hell out of me at the minute even though I have adjusted it many times.

I thinking a narrow/wide 34t with the 11-36 cassette I already have should work ok for me, I don't think I need one of those 40t expander sprockets not got extreme hills around here.

I see merlin have the 2x11 xt groupset on offer at the minute.

Chunkers1980

Modern front mechs do actually work perfectly if they are set correctly. Set correctly is just a very small window though. No reason to dump it if it's not working correctly, keep trying.

Angus Young

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19661959#p19661959]supersonic[/url] wrote:

We all differ in fitness and preferred cadences, I really do like a low spinny gear.

I find low spinny gears weird, like I'm expending loads of energy and not much is happening. They seem to tire my legs really quickly.

The Rookie

Science says otherwise, hence why Chris Froome uses such a high cadence.

I like a Spinny gear, but rarely have a trouble with my 1x9 with a 32F/34R lowest gear, I have also logged speeds of 32-34mph pedalled on the 32/11.

That said I'm think of going 40-11 with a 34 or 36 front using an expander.

supersonic

I probably have a 90rpm or so cadence on a steady climb. On a technical climb is a balancing act between stalling and being able to have the torque to lift the front end up and over, but not spin out.

BloggingFit

Higher cadence leads to a higher heart rate but less muscle fatigue while pushing a bigger gear with a lower cadence has the opposite effect. I tend to spin more on longer steady climbs and push bigger gears on shorter and steeper tech climbs.

Giraffoto

I like to spin, but I run into issues when I'm whipping my legs into a blur and hardly moving - it's a combination of not having enough momentum to easily balance and the tendency of the (very light) front to come up. So I don't have a great need for anything much below 1:1, particularly in the fairly easy bits of the Chilterns where I do most of my riding. 34T front and 11-36 rear will probably be what I end up with.

swod1

So has anyone got there hands on the new XT 11 speed is it worth upgrading to 11spd?

lawman

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19674073#p19674073]swod1[/url] wrote:

So has anyone got there hands on the new XT 11 speed is it worth upgrading to 11spd?

Aye, had mine fitted for a week now, not had a huge amount of mileage on it but first impressions are very good. Very smooth in either direction but feels a lot more positive than older Shimano stuff. Biggest difference I noticed over my 10 speed + hope expander setup was the gaps between ratios are much nicer now, I had a 16t in place of the 15-17 on my 10 speed setup but still found on occasion it wasn't ideal. Think of 11 speed as a refined 10 speed with a bigger bailout 11th gear and you've got the picture. Is it worth it? I'd say so, I liked my 10 speed but this is better. I'd normally wait til the chain and cassette wore out to change though, but came into a bit of cash so thought why not!

Antm81

Can only echo lawman here, fitted my mech, cassette and shifter today, great quality and feels good. I like shimanos shifters but there's always been that bit of 'slop' or play in the levers, that's now gone. Looking forward to receiving the crankset and switching to the I Spec B shifter once it's released.