Bike shop confessed to a mistake today, the discounted 2016 model they thought they had reserved for me (in one of their other stores) got sold.
However, to make good they offered to sell me the 2017 model of the same bike for the same discounted price (a £1300 bike for £1000).
So far so good. I found the specs of the 2017 model and noticed two things, one is the crazy drivetrain, SRAM GX with a 36/24 chainset and 11-42 cassette - 24 x 42 lowest gear!
Second is SRAM Level T brakes instead of Shimano Deore.
Not too fussed about the drivetrain, I figured I could just stick an 11-36 cassette on there as I still want the range and the low gears (a personal fetish for so-steep-you'd-be-quicker-walking style climbs...).
However I'm a bit nervous of the SRAM brakes, in my experience Shimano sintered pads are the only ones I'd trust for relatively quiet all-weather braking. Past experience of SRAM brakes has never been all that great either, although the last set I owned were some 2010 Elixirs.
So... worth passing on the bike for the sake of some dubious brakes? Worth taking a discounted 2016 model but in the slightly weird purple and blue colour scheme below?
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SRAM brakes are not Avids
I run GX 1x better than the XT 10sp than I also have, can you 1x the crank?
Looks like your bike shop is doing the decent thing by offering you a 2017 alternative.
The drivetrain is a consumable, there's nothing stopping you from fitting a 32T/34T chainring and reaping the benefits of 1x. Your bike shop may be willing to negotiate here.
Those brakes are an unknown. Like you, I've an aversion to anything with discs and pads that SRAM/Avid has built, but the new Guide brakes seem to have resolved historical issues. If the Level T brakes are all new and not simply rebranded Elixirs, then you might be reassured.
Point taken re:SRAM/Avid, although the recent history of SRAM brakes hasn't exactly been glittering either! I guess I might dodge a bullet with Shimano's leaky seals though...
Edit: Agree re: the bike shop, absolutely no complaints there, doubt they're making much out of the deal discounting a brand new bike by £300 on Cyclescheme...
Edit edit: Still think I'd rather spend the money on a smaller cassette, a recent history of knee and back problems means I'd rather be (slightly) overgeared rather than under. I guess a 32 tooth oval ring might be interesting though...
Point taken re:SRAM/Avid! although the recent history of SRAM brakes hasn't exactly been glittering
my 2 sets of XT's are decidedly average after coming from hope, seem to have the impossible to bleed ones. I'd give it a go and see how you went. Remember you have warranty on all the components.
You want a low gear so you're considering replacing an 11-42 (is it not 10-42?) with an 11-36? Does not compute.
If you really want to do that you'll need a new freehub body.
I'd rather be (slightly) overgeared rather than under
I said low, not 24-42 low, hence the (slightly) caveat 😉
I know from previous that 24-36 was the lowest I needed for some of the silly short steep things I was trying to ride up, after that it just became impossible to keep the front wheel down. Anyway, the gearing thing isn't really an issue, I can play around.
The 11-42 GX cassettes use a standard freehub body as far as I can tell.
I think SRAM [b]NX [/b]is 11-42 on std freehub body
[b]GX [/b]is 10-42 on XD freehub body
If you do have an XD freehub, going 1x is definitely the easier option, as don't think you can get anything smaller than 10-42 in XD format?
Interesting, the only details I could find were on an Italian website, it definitely said GX but 11-42.
Bontrager hubs though so I assume will be standard unless SRAM are licensing out the XD driver thing?
Looking at the gearing calculations, with 24-36, you'll geared 1.5:1 versus a 32-42 then you increase to 1.3:1, so climbing will definitely suffer. Alternatively, you could go 30-42 and be geared 1.4:1 but you'll lose at the top end.
I can understand why you'd want to keep your 2x crank and swap to a 36-11 cassette. IRL, there's some adjustment required going to a 1x setup, but the payoff is the flexibility of only having one set of ratios to worry about. I've not tried an oval chainring (yet!) to be able to comment on how it mitigates gearing.
It's personal preference really, there's no right or wrong answer.
[ninja edit] I've just reread the difference between GX and NX, which renders my entire point as moot. As you were.
Think I've decided just to go for the 2017 model, the verdict of my co-worker was that the purple one is definitely a girls bike, and the verdict of an old STW thread is that the SRAM Guide/Level brakes are pretty good, so worth a punt at least.
Kudos to Alpine Bikes Edinburgh also, I know from experience that these sort of mistakes happen and they were super quick and happy to sort it.
I'll buy that GX cassette off you Ian!
OK Greg, you've got dibs 8)
Might reserve the right to experiment with 1x first, let me know if you need it urgently...
Bontrager hubs though so I assume will be standard unless SRAM are licensing out the XD driver thing?
They are. You can get virtually any hub with an XD body. Would be a colossal own goal otherwise...
Personally I like the blue and purple colour scheme but it is a bit violent for some people . The basic Shimano brakes that the 2016 bike comes with are not great IMO , they are not very powerful nor do they give you much feedback but they are reliable . Since you mentioned sintered pads it's worth noting that the rotors that come with these brakes state that they are for organic pads only . The spec sheet on the 2017 bike states that the casette is an 11-42 so you could swap to an 11-36 if you wanted to but personally I'd just leave what's on it . If you hardly use the 42 sprocket it doesn't matter much .
Don't worry about the level brakes I'm running the LT models on both my bikes after swapping them out from XT's, and they are way better, the guides have been out longer and are starting to get really good reviews after a couple of years and the levels are the same technology, so watch this space give it 12 months and everyone will be joining you with the level's