Looking at purchasing a new set of wheels from rose bike. Both are mavic xc717 rims with the same spokes but i can have either of the above hubs but the price difference is £15. Now its not a lot of money but i cant seem to find what the difference is, i assume xt will be marginally lighter but essentially close to identical in every other way. Does xt have a more convenient feature to it that hasnt trickled down yet?

Yes, XT will be slightly lighter and possibly better seals (though I have no idea how you would find that out for sure). XT uses smaller bearings, so there’s an argument that SLX might be more durable.

I’d probably go for the SLX given that a marginal difference in hub weight is basically irrelevant.

Thanks. That kinda confirms that any difference will go by unnoticed by me so slx it is.

With new Shimano hubs, I tend to find that there’s not enough grease and the bearings are too tight. It’s an easy job to remedy, and the hub will last longer as a result.

Thanks ransos, i just read something similar so i will check them out. Read a lot of negative reviews for the xt hubs so definately going slx route.

I’ve seen a few SLX freehubs go, on the 142×12 version.

If you look up shimano tech docs and compare their drawings/common parts you will see the differences.