I’m looking to go to 1×11 and have done a quick price and weight comparison of SRAM GX and Shimano Deore XT. Prices were cheapest I could find via Google (although my search wasn’t too in depth). I’ve excluded the cost of an XD driver as I’d try to get this second-hand sell my Shimano one on (Hope Pro 2 Evo hubs). Happy to do this if SRAM turns out to be worth it.

SRAM GX

XG1150 11 Speed Cassette £75.47 394g
GX 1×11 Speed Rear Mech £67.50 265g
PC1130 11 Speed Chain £14.49 259g
GX 11 Speed Rear Trigger Shifter £25.99 122g

Total £183.45 1040g

Shimano Deore XT

XT M8000 11 Speed 11-46t Cassette £76.45 450g
XT M8000 Shadow+ 11 Speed Rear Mech £51.50 275g
XT M8000 11 Speed Chain £22.39 257g
XT M8000 11 Speed Trigger Shifter £38.49 120g

Total £188.83 1102g

On price and weight they are roughly comparable, but SRAM GX is slightly cheaper and lighter.

The second thing to consider is the ratio range they give. I’ve used this calculator http://gears.mtbcrosscountry.com/

SRAM GX with 30T front ring gives:

0.71 to 3.00
26″ wheels @ Cadence of 60 RPM = 5.3 km/h to 22.6 km/h

Shimano Deore XT with 32T front ring gives:

0.70 to 2.91
26″ wheels @ Cadence of 60 RPM = 5.3 km/h to 21.9 km/h

Again, little to separate the two.

So it would come down to real world performance, can anyone give a direct comparison of the two systems?

The easy thing would be to say Deore XT is the obvious choice as it’s Shimano’s one down from the top offering (XTR). What’s surprised me though is the weight, Shimano is heavy! There is more scope with SRAM too, I could spend more on the cassette and go lighter. Also a 32T would give higher top gear without compromising the low end too much

Personally, I’d run XT Mech and Shifter & GX Cassette and chain.

I prefer the feel of the XT shifter, and I thought the XT mech quality was better than GX, however the GX cassette offers a bigger range for less weight. Sram chain is just a preference- I like their quick link for serviceability, over the split pin Shimano thing. Added benefit of my choice is that it’s also cheapest.

I’ve fitted a lot of both.
If it was my own cash I’d go GX for sure.

I removed brand new SRAM off a bike and replaced it with Shimano as I like the multiple down shift of Shimano and the fact it’s on a normal freehub – the xD really makes fitting aftermarket cassettes (also use a Sunrace cassette which I have had no issues with at all). Shimano mechs also seems to outlast SRAM which I have found loosen at the pivots and affects the shifting performance.

Would use SRAM brakes over Shimano though!

Stick on a 32T oval chainring and you have the best of everything!

Just a couple of further options to consider:

I run XT with the SRAM cassette, 56g saved so weight is then comparable with full SRAM setup.

Can always go with the new SLX M7000 shifter which is only 8g heavier (!) but ~£11 cheaper? Due out in the next week or 2…

EDIT: cokie beat me to it…!

And yes, SRAM PCX1 chain works good for me on this setup

Also, http://gear-calculator.com/ allows you to compare 2 setups side by side!

EDIT- as does your link – duh!

Having just fitted XT m8000 I hate the lever action. Feels really heavy compared to XT 10 speed. I am hoping it will slacken off.

Avoided the XT M8000 brakes and went Hope Tech 3 E4 though so got the ispec B shifters.

Waiting for the SLX M7000 to come out for a friends bike to save her a few £. Her hubs wont take an XD driver so no option there. My Hope will but decided to stick with 11-46 as I am running 104 bcd XTR cranks so don’t have an option of going smaller than 32T on the oval ring (running 34 oval with 11-42T on my 26″).

I went for XT, but with an X01 cassette though. I much prefer the Shimano downshift 2 way release, as I like using my index finger instead of thumb, and the single push multi-release regularly comes in handy, plus in my experience the slimmer Shadow mechs are less prone to damage than sticky out Sram ones.

Fairly sure I paid a lot less than RRP for an XT 11-42 at Evans, so expect the 11-46 to be cheaper.

I ran an XT M8000 mech on a 10 speed set up and it ran better than the Zee mech it replaced.

I ran a 10 speed chain on M8000 mech, cassette and shifter with no problems. Now use the cheapest Shimano 11 speed chain I could find and it’s still good, even with a 10 speed SRAM Power Link.

If I ever bought a new bike with SRAM I’d take it off before the first ride, sell it and put on XT. Bloody awful stuff.

I like their quick link for serviceability, over the split pin Shimano thing.

Just use whatever quick link you like on a shimano chain. Works fine – was doing it for 10 years prior to moving over to KMC/Sram

I like their quick link for serviceability, over the split pin Shimano thing.

Just use whatever quick link you like on a shimano chain. Works fine – was doing it for 10 years prior to moving over to KMC/Sram[/quote]

Yeah, that works, but why spend the extra £5 for a quck link when the Sram/KMC comes with it from the off?

I was a massive SRAM fan for ages but switched back to Shimano because their clutch mechs were better. Shimano shifters are bloody horrible though (was running Saints); massive long triggers and nasty ergonomics.

I’m now mark on SRAM now I’ve switched to 11 speed. I’m running an X01 shifter because you can adjust the angle of the triggers and I’ve found the posher shifters last longer. I do miss the double downshift though. GX mech and cassette on the rear which seem great and an X11 chain. I’ve not touched a Shimnao chain for years because they’re rubbish IME.

prefer the shifter feel of GX. XT 11 speed seems quite notchy in comparison which isn’t something that was apparent with 10speed XT.

Shift accuracy of the shimano seems a bit better though. The smallest 10T sprocket on the SRAM set-up is sometimes very slow to engage.

Can’t really comment on longevity yet though

Shimano now have their own variation on the chain quick link.

I too seem to be in a minority of de-SRAMing my drivetrains in favour of Shimano. The new XT setup feels great to me, very intuitive to use.

FWIW, my local bike shop swears by XTR chains with an 11 speed XT drivetrain as they claim the shift quality is improved.

Thanks for replies, I’m coming from 5 year old SRAM setup so have no real experience with latest Shimano (or SRAM for that matter)

I’ve input the two setups into http://gear-calculator.com/:

SRAM GX vs Shimano XT

The spread and spacing on SRAM looks a lot better.

EDIT: Personally I’d definitely never de-SRAM (or de-Shimano) a new bike on principle. It makes sense to at least give it a go!

Full XT set-up here. I can’t fault it. I’m especially impressed with the Shimano chain ring. I don’t have a chain device and I haven’t dropped the chain once. My previous set-up with a Raceface NW chain ring needed a chain device.

Sorry for the hijack but it is related I promise!

My new bike comes with 2*10 based on Deore shifters, front mech , cranks and an SLX rear mech.

Can anyone tell me what sort of weight saving I’d get from going 1*11 full XT?

Presumably the weight of a front mech, shifter and the small differences in spec/quality of what remains?

Ta and hugs 🙂

A bit of Googling, a pen and paper and a calculator will answer your question RRR 🙄

Edit: Calculator may not be needed

RRR- you won’t get an exact answer without looking up the weights of your exact parts. This link is useful for looking up shimano official weights.

However, as an example I swapped from SLX 2×10 (with 398g HG50 11-36 cassette) to XT 1×11 (with SRAM 390g 10-42 cassette), that saved me about 450g . If you have a lighter cassette on at present, you’ll save less…

Breakdown:
Rear mech saved 40g
Front mech saved 144g
Shifter saved 128g
Cables saved 42g
Double to single chainring saved 86g
Cassette in my case saved 8g but if you have a lighter cassette at present, you’ll gain weight here going 11speed.

dmorts – if that is the correct ratio spread for the new 11-46 from shimano, I agree, that jump to bottom gear looks fairly nasty…

Glad you found the gear-calculator link useful. I find the visualisation more handy than looking at numbers!

I’ve got full XT on one bike and have tried GX on another so have some experience of both.

Had the XT since April and I love it. Great gaps between the ratios (11-42T), basically a 10 speed cassette with a 1 tooth lower bottom cog and a 42T for stupidly steep climbs and as a bail-out on long days. Well, that’s how I use it anyway. Don’t know what others are saying about the shifter being notchy as mine’s incredibly smooth and very light. Took a few minutes to get used to it but now I can shift however many gears I want at a time intuitively. Lovely kit.
The GX I tried was on a newer version of my 5 and was nearly new but had been used. Worked fine with a good spread of ratios but felt much more ‘mechanical’ compared to my XT. It also had a lower quality feel to it, both in use and to look at. The place I had the bike from said it did need a bit more looking after compared to their XT stuff to keep it running smoothly.

I’d be happy with either if they came on a new bike but if there was a choice I’d have the XT. But then I’ve always preferred Shimano gearing anyway 🙂

I started with full XT M8000, which felt nice but lacked a bit of range. Stuck a GX cassette on (changed freehub obvs) and now it’s at the sweet spot.

GX cassette, and whatever you choose after that. The GX has better range and less weight.

I’very recently finished the Tour Divide and including all my riding in North America my XT 11spd kit covered 2900 miles with no fuss, no chain drops, etc. All still works fine despite nothing more than being wiped with a rag each morning and a healthy dose of lube applied. Counter that with my experience of Sram jockey wheels like ninja stars and sloppy shifting after 600 miles.

Whatever you do, don’t buy XT M8000 brakes. Even the ‘new’ ones are unreliable in terms of bite point and that’s downright dangerous. I’ve got one last fix to try and if that doesn’t work they’ll be off.

I currently have a choice of either running the rear with the lever that pulls far too close to the bar but after a few pumps under heavy usually gets to where it should be *or* running the lever in the right initial position but randomly goes hard quite far out meaning I have to let go our stretch my fingers right out. Great eh?

^

jruk – Member
Whatever you do, don’t buy XT M8000 brakes. Even the ‘new’ ones are unreliable in terms of bite point and that’s downright dangerous.

Had this with two sets; various conversions with Madison, many magazine articles discuss this issue and yet they still don’t acknowledge there is a problem. And it caused me to crash, luckily not badly.

That’s why I went Hope Tech 3 E4’s. Slightly expensive but #brakesforlife*

(*not really but it’s how I justify them)

Hope do brackets to convert Ispec 2 shifters to Ipsec B/Hope Tech 3 but they are £12 per side so I went for Ispec B shifters. The benefit of the Ispec 2 seems to be an ability to rotate the shifter relative to the brake. But having tried that before I ended up putting them back parallel.

150 quid for M8000

The £150 Winstanleys deal is only with the 42T cassette. I’m looking at the 46T which makes it comparable to the Sram ratio range.

Gx user here, great groupset 8 months in and a lot of riding and I’ve changed a chain and taken up the cable slack. It’s hard to fault it really. Prefer it to me xt 10sp on the other bike.

I like the clunk of the SRAM stuff; even my Saint shifters felt too light. The 11 speed isn’t as ‘clunky’ as the 10 speed stuff.

Big thng for me is the cassette; the XT one is hideous. The GX one looks pretty good. Plus if you’re running Guide brakes it all integrates nicely.