Clutch mech for 1×10 which is best?

If you’re thinking of putting an extender cog on then I’ve heard that the zee mech struggles to cope but doesn’t meant it can’t do it with a bit of fiddling. I’m not bothering going with an extender myself, I’d rather stand and mash the climbs out than spin away.

I’m 1×10 with an SLX mech, NW race face chainring and I’m yet to drop a chain. I’ve ridden all of Afan, local natural stuff and an uplift day at BPW so my vote is SLX.

They both work fine but the cage lengths are very different. Zee works great with an 11-36 cassette on a hardtail. Some full-sus bikes (like my Spitfire) have too much chain growth for it, so medium cage SLX works much better for them. With an expander cog on any bike I wouldn’t even consider Zee.

They share many of the same parts. Effectively they’re the same, except for the length of the cage. The cage is where the ability to accommodate chain growth comes in to play.

Hard tail up to 36t then either, expander and / or full sus then SLX.

You can use a Zee with an expander but it would probably be best to get an OneUp RADr cage. But then it’d end up costing more than an SLX one so that probably answers your question right there.

11-36 with Zee short cage on a FS here with no problems at all. Like the fact the mech tucks out of the way.