If you we’re blindfolded would you be able to tell the difference between Deore and slx or slx and xt?
Who has the best prices for slx brakes with uk set up?

Just bought some Deores from Germany, I would not worry too much about being set up for UK because you need to shorten the hoses anyway.

I also have some new SLX’s, the calipers on the Deores look a bit more industrial and they are heavier but not much difference really.

CRC were the cheapest UK retailer when I bought mine however I hd to get them from that German discount place who’s name I can’t remember as they were a lot cheaper from there. Want to buy from the uk but when you save close to 200 quid by looking abroad its a bit of a no brainer.
Cant really comment onnthe performance as I have a new set of SLX onone bike and an old XT on the other and the old hasn’t been right since fitted. SLX seem to be very good though, they have the ability to chuck me over the bars.

A front Deore 596 weighs 296g (no rotor, adaptor or bolts). I don’t know if SLX or XT are much lighter. Performance wise, I haven’t tried the higher spec brakes, but the Deore is pretty amazing, especially when you consider the price.

got a set of new SLX from bike-discount.de last week, arrived 2 days later and now sitting in a box waiting for my girls to present them to me for Xmas. they were ~110 quid for the set. Got new rotors and adaptors so the whole lot was ~145. Was going to go for deore, but they are on a 15 week lead time now..

New Deore brakes feel a lot like the previous year’s SLX.

The current SLX differs with XT by not having forged levers, a pad retaining screw, free-stroke adjustment (pointless to me) and ice-tech pads. The calipers are the same, the SLX come with a split pin but have the thread for a proper screw and the level blade is unlikely to be much more than aesthetics unless you’re into DH perhaps? German prices mean the price difference is little between the 2, UK prices are quite different. I’d buy German XT for a main bike, Deore for a 2nd bike.

Rose bikes is another option, google their facebook discount code and you can get 10% off.

I ordered the Shimano XT M780’s from Merlin a few weeks ago for 120-ish,They came next day not even 24hrs later and to my surprise they sent the XT M785’s,Which they had priced at 200 so im happy with that,Not tried them though as there my Crimbo pressie.
They are F/L and R/R but will try them as they are and see how difficult it is to get used to them before trying to swap them…

those from Merlin are now out of stock 😥

for me the main advantage of the SLX is the tool free reach adjust, and the XT also have bite point adjust. just helps make set up a little easier

Don’t the levers on SLX/XT have little grip nodules on them so blind folded you would tell the difference over Deore 😀

Those 780 XT are even cheaper than the SLX at Merlin.

For me, not bothered about tool free reach adjustment – its a once job thing with an alen key. More bothered about not having the screw pin pad retainer on Deore.