As title, really. Also, anyone know where's cheapest for XT 10-speed cassettes right now? CRC coming out best so far. Ta.
no
Nope. Shadow plus is 10 speed only.
Try Rose Bikes for cassette.
I believe you can frig a shadow plus mech to run 9-speed with 9 speed SRAM shifter and a 6mm spacer.
I haven't tried it yet though
Cheers. And what's i-spec all about?
I-Spec means the shifter bolts directly to a hole on the underside of the current model Shimano brake levers. IF your brakes aren't Shimano, you'll have no way to mount an I-spec shifter.
honour - cheers for that. Guess that means one less clamp to clutter the bar - useful with a Reverb on there. I've got what I think are last year's XT brakes, so perhaps I'll be ok. I'll check later.
9 speed Shadow, Yes....
Shadow Plus (with a clutch), Dynasys only, so its 10 speed, clever bodgery, or no clutch...
Sorry.
I-spec - basically direct mount of shifter to the brake lever clamp (for less clutter) like matchmakers...
Just to add a wrinkle there's two types of I-spec apparently, [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/shimano-i-spec-b ]see this useful thread[/url]
what does the shadow'ness get you over a standard XT?
Shadow is more compact. The idea is that the parallelogram doesn't project as far away from the hanger and so is less likely to be ripped off from errant rocks / tree stumps etc.
Shadow is great - these mechs seem to outlast Sram by literally years for me. I marginally prefer Sram's X9 action to XT, but I can't afford to keep replacing them when they explode on rocks.
Plain shadowyness was just a slimmed down fixing and relocation of the actuating arm to the arse end of the mech to reduce it's profile and make it less prone to rock strikes.
Shadow[B]plus[/B]-ness added a clutch to reduce chain bounce and improve retention, unfortunately this was only added after everything went 10 speed (Dynasys) and different cable pull ratio was employed, hence no 9 speed variant...
The buggers! Its almost like they want you to buy a whole new drivetrain or something...
As jam bo mentioned above a Shimano 10 speed clutch mech will work with a 9 speed SRAM shifter using a 6mm spacer btw the cable and mech fixing point.
I've done it on 2 bikes and it works spot on. 😀
Getting any parts above Deore level in 9-speed is becoming increasingly difficult according to my LBS. 😡
not much weight difference between SLX and XT 10sp cassettes either
not £30 quids difference anyway
EDIT - OnOne had the SLX at 34.99 earlier in the year, but not sure what they are now
xt cassettes are only £37
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-xt-m771-10-speed-mtb-cassette/rp-prod52281
100mphplus - thanks for this, any chance you could stick a photo up on here of the adaptation? I could then presumably keep my x9 shifter and run it with the 10-speed shadow plus. No worries if it's a pain.
rob jackson - cheers, bagged one of these yesterday, along with an £18 bottom bracket. Bargain.
wl - this is the thread you need. I set a 10spd SLX mech up on my 9spd SRAM shifter 6 months ago and like others say it has been perfect.
Dyffers - cheers for this. I'd just started a separate thread asking for info/pics, but you might have done the job. I'll see what other info comes in anyway. Thanks v much for your link tho - it'll be great if I can save myself the cost of a new shifter without too much hassle.