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Mtb components, what's the difference?


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If I buy a slx or a deore or a xt group set, what really is the difference? What benefit do you get for the extra cash?

 

About to upgrade my spark 950 components and looking at the prices it's from 3500 to 17500 for a group set.

 

And please if you can be specific, don't say speed or effort

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This may or may not help.

 

I broke my XT RD on Wednesday I replaced it with a brand new unit that I happened to have; Acera (pretty much bottom of the range).

 

As easy to set up, a bit heavier and a little noisier. No discernible difference in shift effort or accuracy..

 

I think a lot of the differences are marketing hype especially on the MTB side of life.

 

Where road is concerned paying large amounts of money for a 10 gram weight saving seems normal.

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weight saving and some tech / functionality....that is really the diffs

 

I wouldn't buy a complete groupo, but rather cherry pick the best / crown jewels from each.

 

SLX brakes...no brainer

SLX cassette and chain, consumables

XTR shifters...buttery smooveness

SPD 540 pedals

SLX crank

XT derailleurs...shadow plus

 

But that is if it was my money

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weight saving and some tech / functionality....that is really the diffs

 

I wouldn't buy a complete groupo, but rather cherry pick the best / crown jewels from each.

 

SLX brakes...no brainer

SLX cassette and chain, consumables

XTR shifters...buttery smooveness

SPD 540 pedals

SLX crank

XT derailleurs...shadow plus

 

But that is if it was my money

 

Thats the type of answer that helps a fella

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weight saving and some tech / functionality....that is really the diffs

 

I wouldn't buy a complete groupo, but rather cherry pick the best / crown jewels from each.

 

SLX brakes...no brainer

SLX cassette and chain, consumables

XTR shifters...buttery smooveness

SPD 540 pedals

SLX crank

XT derailleurs...shadow plus

 

But that is if it was my money

 

This will give you a near perfect , smooth shifting DT .

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i think a few hears ago the differences were quiet clear but now its not the case, thanks to tech filtering down over the years the entry level stuff is actually very good. the big difference is in weight( and yes still a little tech but its only because the top end stuff has all the new bits on)

routjie has possibly the best you could put together, personally i would go for XT shifters though as i just cant see the value in spending XTR money for my kind of riding, i believe the xt is more durable due to having more weight behind its parts.

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Read somewhere XT and SLX shifters are basically the same, but XTR shifters have a different/better mechanism, making it better and much smoother... how true this is, I don't know and not enough time to google.

 

As for the groupsets, they are all pretty sweet, except the brakes, Shimano brakes dont come near my bike again (Had the XT's)

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Read somewhere XT and SLX shifters are basically the same, but XTR shifters have a different/better mechanism, making it better and much smoother... how true this is, I don't know and not enough time to google.

 

As for the groupsets, they are all pretty sweet, except the brakes, Shimano brakes dont come near my bike again (Had the XT's)

Plenty of mtbers have big lovin for the newish shimano brakes. You'll have to qualify your disgust with a version /year model.

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Read somewhere XT and SLX shifters are basically the same, but XTR shifters have a different/better mechanism, making it better and much smoother... how true this is, I don't know and not enough time to google.

 

As for the groupsets, they are all pretty sweet, except the brakes, Shimano brakes dont come near my bike again (Had the XT's)

Have XT brakes on both my bikes, and not had a day's hassles with them, baring a bleed and contaminated pads, otherwise they are the bomb :thumbup:
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I'm very happy with my XT BL-M775 brakes, great performance especially coupled with Ice Tech rotors, easy to bleed as well, and I believe the later models are even better.

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With all the trickle down tech nowadays you dont really need anything past deore.... works as good as 2years ago xtr and tend to last longer.... SRAm kind of the same x7/x9 parts more then suffice....

 

Anything above is just bling and weight.. shifting maybe not as crisp on the deore .. but it will last.

Edited by 2Nutz
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dont know what Braaileg is on about with the XT brakes - maybe the older version gave some fade issues but the new ones are amazing - so good i run them on my DH bike.

 

I would agree with Rouxtjie and cherry pick (unless you get a good deal on a full groupset) ... Id say go for:

 

XTR shifters - best ever IMO - better shift mechanism internally I have the 9spd ones and 3 years in they are still like new - perfect stiff shift feel - no sloppyness

 

XT Cranks - for weight over SLX

 

SLX brakes - same as XT's actually

SLX derailleurs - rear has a clutch so thats all you need - front doesnt wear down that much

 

DONT GET THEIR HUBS!

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If I buy a slx or a deore or a xt group set, what really is the difference? What benefit do you get for the extra cash?

 

 

Nothing wrong with SLX and the cranks are very pretty.

 

It all depends on your budget when buying and for the maintenance.

 

SLX is the entry level group set for racing.....SLX cassette 35 Euros.......chainring 27 euros

 

XT is for racers with a tight budget....XT cassette 50 euros...Chainring 36 euros

 

XTR is for the Pros with unlimited budget.....shifting is light and very smooth....XTR cassette 150 euros....chainring 78 euros

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All my bikes have mix SLX/XT, the XT came standard with bikes but as they they need replacing i replace with SLX unless i can get good 2nd hand XT.

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