[Closed] Rear mech's: XT, SLX or Zee?

You pays your money..... you know the rest

Deore.

My tiny clutch Zee is lighter than my medium non-clutch SLX, worked fine with a double and now with a single ring, and seems tough (it's survived six months of me riding it, and I have a tendancy to drop bikes onto their mechs when I crash). I like it.

You pays your money..... you know the rest

Zee is short cage SLX with a different badge. That's what I use on one bike and have bought for another.

@Brown. What was your set up to get a short cage zee to work on a double? 11-36 and 22/32?

Exactly that. You'll need the wide ratio mech. It was probably a bit slack in small/small, but why would you use that?

Buy the zee, for the length if nothing else. Less likely to catch on rocks.
Also the metal clutch switch is nice.

As above, Zee keeps it all out of the way. I have Zee on both bikes.

Zee here too, great little mech and has taken some rock bashing on mine.

My Zee FR one arrived yesterday. Really is a compact mech, nice short cage and same weight as my SGS XT S+...Happy days

Zee

seems very strong and mine has taken a few knocks with no consequences.

Lots of zee love here. I'm running a shadow + XT and have had no probs.
What does the zee do that slx, xt etc don't do?

I didn't have any probs with my XT s+, I bashed it.
The FR Zee cage, which will do 36T on a 1 x 10, is only approx 50mm between the jockey wheel centres. My XT SGS is about 95mm.

What does the zee do that slx, xt etc don't do?

Short cage. That's it.
Benefits are more clearance, lighter and better chain wrap on the chainring for marginally if any better retention.
Drawback is less capacity to take up slack so chain length is important as is setup.

I'm using a Zee 1x10 and it's been great. But, I'm thinking about one of those new 40T rear cog things to get a super-granny gear. I'm not sure a Zee will be able to handle this, so if that's something you are considering for the future then a different mech might be better.

Sorry to sound thick, but can you use a ZEE mech on a 2x10 setup? I keep reading conflicting reports

[i]Possibly.[/i] Depends on your bike too, some people claim to have done it successfully but then, you never really know what that means, whether they have the full range of gears and suspension travel or whether they're on a hardtail or a chain-growthy full suss. I've got a short cage shimano on a 1x9 bike and I'm pretty skeptical, it's not got a lot of margin for that frankly never mind another ring.

I've been really impressed with the durability of XT, though, one of mine has taken an extended kicking and is still good as new. Covered in scrapes but unfussed. Only downside is that I've gone through about twice as many mech-hangers as I used to with my 9-speed wibbly wobbly X9!