I’m not keen on £200 cassettes and all the other expensive drive train bits and some of the 2015 bikes I like/want/need come with it as standard. I am pondering swapping it out for some 2×10 Shimano.

Is this foolhardy and should I embrace the new?

Or

Am I rightly worried about stupidly expensive drive train maintenance costs?

I agree, if I bought a new bike that came with XX1, I’d flog the lot and go shimano.

If you mash cassettes and don’t want to pay for replacements then no, it’s not daft. X1 cassettes are £140 or so now I think, so not horrendous! Significantly cheaper than XTR, for example.

I imagine a shop would swap it, freehub body is a potential ball ache though.

Once you use the Sram 11 Speed youll never go back. Phenomenal bit of kit.

U will need to change the wheels as well to change cassette as it has a different driver body to a conventional cassette

Chain and chainring wise there prety much the same as say 10spd the cassette is a well made pice of kit and quite long lasting

You need a new freehub body, not wheels. Can’t think of anything that’s not convertible.

Ah i see I was under the impression they were hub specific

Well, they need a proprietary freehub body. That’s a replaceable part. It doesn’t need new wheels.

It would be hard not to give it a try it out?

Just did a quick read up another useful bit of info in the bank 😀

Well, I wasn’t going to get it for my new bike, but the demo bike had it and I was totally won over. I am aware of the cost of replacing parts, but I bloody love it just having the one ring at the front and a range of gears at the back which get me up and down everything I point it at. Only the really steep stuff going up stop it. Or rather me as I run out of puff.

£140 for a cassette is acceptable?

i’ve said this before, and i’ll say it agin:

i had 1×11 on 1 bike and 1×10 xt on another with a T-Rex on there to give me more range… i now have 1×11 on both bikes, it’s expensive yes, but by god it’s fantastic….

I don’t think the Mrs would understand even the bargainous £140 cassette, plus £30 a chain and not to mention my bad luck with rocks and rear mechs…

Riding all year in the Lakes is not especially kind. Its not gritstone and its not that muddy but it is very wet and in places boggy. I find an XT cassette/mech extravagant so until I earn more money SLX 10 speed will do.

I don’t doubt that I would enjoy benefits of a single ring and chain retention etc, but I do like climbing very steep technical stuff and at the moment the 29er has a cheating 20 tooth granny ring 😳

im getting some xx1 bits together

most of the groupset is not too bad price wise if you shop around

ive found
£80 shifter (ebay)
£150 cranks (CRC black friday)
£152 rear deurailer (CRC with 10% off code)
£40 for slightly used hope XD driver (ebay)

so really its the cassette which seem the most expensive piece, currently the best ive found is £185 on ebay

so Im glad people think it good !!

20 TOOTH Granny Ring will take back all that kudos I gave you climbing Harterfell!!!!

I agree with op. I’ve never been a fan of having to single click through SRAM gears compared with shimano. I have ridden a demo bike with xx1 back2back with my xt triple converted to a 1×10 using hope nw and 40t Rex on the back. couldn’t tell the difference.

about to convert my 29er, here is the real maths as I have purchased the parts:

xt triple crank from crc with bb = 97
sold rings for forty thus = -40
bought one up 42t expander and 32t nw ring = 70ish
cassette = 40
xt clutch mech = 40
shifter (already have) = 35
chain = 16

total = 260 ish roughly rounded may be £10-15 out

add in the part replacement cost when worn I can’t see how 1×11 adds up. especially given how well shimano shifts through multiple gears at a time. no brained for me tbh

Law of diminishing emptying of your wallet.

£140 for a cassette is acceptable?

It’s the same as a 1999 XTR 9 speed cassette was. It’s £100 cheaper than a 9 speed XG999, or an XX 10 speed. Acceptable? Only you can decide. It’s not cheap. This isn’t news.

It’s not really any different to XTR chainrings of old. In fact XX1 as a group set is cheaper than XTR m9000.

But as I said, if you only want to spend XT money then you’ll struggle.

Flog it, mix and match XT cassette to XTR mech and shifter, relish in smoother shifting and cheap cassettes.

not to mention my bad luck with rocks and rear mechs…

This +1

I had a very expensive summer with three X9 mechs at £75 a pop, before going back to £25 SLX and XT which don’t seem to get bent with the same alarming regularity either.

Cassetts/chains I could cope with, multiple chains to prolong their life, regular lubing, etc, but the random and esxpensive rear mech breakages would be soul destroying.

Plenty of takers if you flog it. Seen good results here with it. As for single click twisties for the win, 6 days with XT triggers and I’m ready to ditch that shit.

I’m with the OP. I want multi shift, push/pull on the upshift and with OneUp/TRex etc I can still get rid of the front mech (which I have done on my C456) and have a low enough gear for the steep bits.

Then it’s the expense; even though a bike might be a flipping bargain (e.g. top end Canyon etc) I just couldn’t warrant the price of replacing a worn out cassette.

Sort of interesting-

http://www.bikerumor.com/2014/12/01/sram-adds-wider-range-11-36-force-cx1-cyclocross-cassette/

I’m with you on this one Tom.
I won’t be touching 11 speed for the foreseeable future. Just too expensive for what are basically consumable items (cassettes, mechs & chains)
If I do ever go 1xn, then it’ll be 1×10 with a range ext.
In the meantime, 2×10 for me too.

… and I still don’t get it why Shimano haven’t produced a 11-40 XT cassette.

for all those worried

im now on over 2000 miles for my x01 cassette, including 350,000 feet of peak district/wales (basically everywhere drivetrain destroying) and ive just put a new chain on, had a new cable outer and inner and it shifts better than it ever has

I have been changing my chain at .50 religiously and chains at 20 per pop you aren’t bothered at all by that, its lasting very very impressively indeed

that’s the key to it lasting, and if you look after the chains then you will get great mileage out of it

I still cannot believe just how well its shifting again with new outer and inner cable (I was starting to think the cassette was buggered, but it wasn’t that, just the above and my bad setup)

get a shop to set it up properly from day one and change the chain at .50 and im sure you can easily make a cassette last well over a year

same experience as OW above Im on third chain and new inner outer gear cable. Change mine at 0.75. Very happy 1 x 11 rider.

… and I still don’t get it why Shimano haven’t produced a 11-40 XT cassette.

£5 says next year, and SLX.

They did it with 10s.

Although TBH I don’t have a problem with a double, as long as the chainrings tough enough to shrug off the occasional rock and the shifting works it’s perfectly acceptable. It’s not like ditching the 44t outer and gaining the ground clearance. I’d like 1×11, but like 10s probably won’t buy into it untill I’ve broken my 10s mechs.

Sort of interesting-

how so?

I have been changing my chain at .50 religiously and chains at 20 per pop you aren’t bothered at all by that

don’t think I’ve ever paid that much for a chain

not sure xx1 (and xx and xtr) is aimed at most of us – despite starting to appear on “modestly” priced bikes, as someone said a while back if you can’t afford/happily shell out the potential running costs don’t buy top end kit.

£5 says next year, and SLX.

Doubt you’d get very long odds on that! It’s unusual for Shimano to have upgraded only one MTB groupset at a time, with 9 and 10 speed they did XTR/XT/(S)LX at the same time, perhaps a slight admission on their part that it’s diminishing returns, and they know they’d hardly sell any XTR cassettes if you could get an XT too. Perhaps I’m too cynical!

To add to OW and PB above, my XX1 cassette is lasting very well indeed, it’s doing better than previous XTRs I’ve had. It does pay to be fastidious with chain replacement, but that’s not a major hardship.

I will add everything else is wearing quite well, my xx1 chainring is worn but still holding the chain, but is defo on its way out after around 1600 miles, jockey wheels seem fine, mech is fine

the key for me is changing the chain, keep on top of that (for the sakes of 20quid, just change it abit earlier at .50, or dependant on how much climb/mileage you do), and give the cable outer and inner a change, as once this starts to get gritty/wet/etc it can appear to make it look like the cassette is goosed (as its very very sensitive to that cable) and I suspect it will go on and on

I look after my bike though, so if you are lazy and cant be bothered to clean the chain regularly etc then its prob not for you unless you want to just run it into the ground

will get a xx1 cassette next time, as the black on mine wore off after about a week and looked quite awful, the silver xx1 cassette just keeps on looking quite new throughout its lifespan

Agree with cable sensitivity. Mine was shifting like a bit of a dog, changed the cable outers and it’s like new again. Trouble with Grip Shift is that you just don’t notice cables going gritty as much, so much more torque on the shifter than with a thumb paddle.

Expensive cassettes I could live with but not expensive mechs, not unless they’re also indestructible. If they ever get the mech down to, oh, let’s say sub £100 I’ll start to pay some attention though

Won’t be long – £107

Oooh, cheers- last I saw those were still around £125.

njee20 – Member

Agree with cable sensitivity. Mine was shifting like a bit of a dog, changed the cable outers and it’s like new again. Trouble with Grip Shift is that you just don’t notice cables going gritty as much, so much more torque on the shifter than with a thumb paddle.

Indeed, massively so i’d so, its very very sensitive to the cable, it didn’t actually feel gritty per se, but I noticed a big split in my outer cable underneath that was obviously causing the issue

the shop where I had the bike from initially also set the chain length wrong, and it was never right shift wise (like on my old bike which was perfect for 5 months till I sold it) from the off….funnily taking it to a trusted shop some 8 months on and 2k of miles and its now shifting better than new, which is just bizarre, genuinely thougth the cassette was shot (as it was struggling shift down 3 bottom cogs and skipping on the top 1), but nope a quick reset of gears, lose 2 links, new outer and inner and its like a new gear system (much less grinding noise too)

they did dismantle the rear mech too and gave it a proper good clean (pivots etc etc), but well worth it I think for what it cost me (25quid) compared to a new cassette and chain at 200+ so just a note to anyone out there whose xx1 is starting to die shifting wise, go and get a new outer and inner cable and see if that helps before stumping up the cash for a new cassette straight away

I expect mine will last now through winter, which is absolutely fine with me as it will be 1 year old by then and done a lot of mileage, then I can put on a nice new shiny one for summer

Robgclarckson,
(i’ve said this before, and i’ll say it agin:

i had 1×11 on 1 bike and 1×10 xt on another with a T-Rex on there to give me more range… i now have 1×11 on both bikes, it’s expensive yes, but by god it’s fantastic….)

Totally agree with you Rob, I’ve run XTR 2×10 on my Bronson since new, Ok yeah it’s good but I demo’d a Bronson before I got mine with XX1, only problem was my bike was ordered paid for coming from the USA & I knew straight away I’d cocked up, stuck with the XTR until I got another new bike this time XX1,tidys the bars up no clutter,, lighter, crisp & less weight, look after your drive train like you should with any make & it will last longer with regular lube etc.

If it’s down to a cost thing ok we all have different budgets & I respect that but from a pure performance gain it’s a no brainer.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

three X9 mechs at £75 a pop,

That was my experience with X9 mechs – pop, pop, pop. Never get that with Shimano.

when i briefly had X01, i really missed the double upshift of XT/XTR, that’s a really annoying problem for me, get to the top of the hill in 1st, then click click click click click click click click click click all the way to top. got very boring very quickly.

still, it all fell apart not long after that, as most SRAM stuff does, so i didn’t have to bear it for too long! 😆

when i briefly had X01, i really missed the double upshift of XT/XTR, that’s a really annoying problem for me, get to the top of the hill in 1st, then click click click click click click click click click click all the way to top. got very boring very quickly.

Grip Shift for the win. All 10 clicks in no time! The repeated double shifting of Shimano gets very boring very quickly 😉

I would prefer it was made by Shimano I must say, I don’t think SRAM stuff is as nice per se, but as they don’t have a comparable product it’s a bit of a moot point, although I may consider changing to XTR shifters/mech with my XX1 cassette if that works.