wanting to pimp my ride a bit so thinking of getting some top end gear stuff. Marlin are doing a decent deal on X0 or X9 shifters and rear mech but is it worth spending twice the price on the X0s over the X9s? Apart from the 45g weight saving will there be much difference in the performance?
yes, X0 is awesome (well it used to be, I have less experience of the newer stuff)
Got X0 and X9 shifters on different bikes, can't really tell difference in performance.
I agree, I run a mix of X0 and X9 and apart from the pimp factor, performance is very much on a level.
have got/had X7/X9/X0/XT/LX/XTR/Saint on various bikes. X0 has always given the most reliable, stress free shifting of any of them. the X0 on my wife's race bike has just been amazing, in 7 years i haven't had to adjust the rear mech and it gets used a fair bit
The question you have to ask yourself is,
"Am I willing to dangle a £150 rear mech just above the floor and bash it into rocks and roots on a regular basis, risking smashing it, when one less than half that price will do an identical job, just because it looks nice and is 8g lighter?"
Remember, the indexing is in the shifters, not in the mech. Expensive shifters and a cheaper mech makes more sense, but even X9 shifters are fantasic.....
🙂
admittedly i've never paid full price for X0 stuff
actionsports.de or merlin have been my friends in that respect
I have to admit I do like the X-0 stuff. It just seems to work better and is more reliable than the X9 kit on my HT. I've not found anything that shifts as smoothly and positively as X-0 shifters. And it does look fantastic 🙂
I've got the same problem though - having possible trashed my X-0 mech, what do I replace it with if needs be....?
I ran XO rear and shifters for a bit, and it was by far the best SRAM stuff I've used. X9 is pretty shabby/agricultural by comparison
Get X9 shifters and X0 mech
i have used the following (in a variety of combinations) x5,x7,x9 and x0 rear mechs and x7and X9 shifters
Shifters anything above X9 is just silly money for no real gain the internals are identical (slight difference in internal material iirc) and the XO has adjustable shifter angle and a few grams saving for a lot of money so IMHO not worth it.
Rear mechs .. honestly if I did not look down I would not actually know what rear mech I was riding. They perfrom the same BUT that said I have a full x9 set up on one bike and a full x9 with a X0 rear mech on the other.... read into that what you will.
Marlin are doing a decent deal on X0 or X9 shifters and rear mech
just a shame they added well over 40quid to the price in the last month or so, and have doubled it from 07.
X0 rear mech has smoother running jockey wheels than the x9, and the whole thing can be dissasembled whereas the x9 is riveted together, just buy what you can afford and are happy with, no use getting X0 and being so careful it spoils your ride.
X0 Shifters are more adjustable than X9 and with carbon bling and nicer more tactile lever, other than that no difference in shift performance.
I *heart* X0.
positive, reliable, pimpy carbon goodness!
Have XO shiter/X9 rear mech on my downhill bike and it feels awesome. Have X9 shifter/X9 rear mech on my hardtail and it feels only slightly worse. When X9 is setup properly with new cables it's hard to justify getting X0 instead. With the ever present possibility of writing the rear mech off is it really worth it? I would go for X0 shifter/X9 mech if you have the dosh.
I've got one bike with x0 and the other with new xtr, and xtr is better. thats IMHO obviously. I think it may have something to do with sloppy X0 pivots and cack sram casettes.
bigrich - Member
I think it may have something to do with sloppy X0 pivots and cack sram casettes.
Strange you say about cack SRAM cassettes as I recently changed to a SRAM cassette (970 IIRC) and i would say it is better than my previous LX cassette. I always go for SRAM or KMC chains tho, never Shimano.
MY 990 (The red one), had flexy cogs and the carrier was made out of toffos. the lockring came undone regular as well
I run XO and X(, not much diffeence.
and they are way tougher than shimano...especially the cheese "shadow2 with ultra long cages that get snagged and ripped off the hanger.
If you do use SRAM make sure you carry a mech hanger as the hanger will rip off if its caught, but your mech will be fimne (most of the time)
