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As for the racing comment. XTR is nice stuff to own and if I could afford it all my bikes would be XTR/X0. What it won't do is noticeably improve your riding experience when compared with XT. It is lighter though so if you are sweating blood to finish 1 second ahead of someone in a 2 hour race it will be helpful.
I plumped for XTR on my race bike - but go for XT longevity on the trail bike.
Agree that XTR shifters are rather nice.
What if you're sweating blood to beat your mate up the hill, or to clear that ultra-tricky climb you've never managed before? is that any less important, just because you don't have a race number on?
erm, am I the only one who buys bike components partly depending on what is on offer at the time??
I'd say if you want XTR, get XTR. You can obviously afford it if you are asking the question and if you get XT you will probably regret it.
Me, I'd rather have XT/SLX and spend the remainder on something else.
As for durability - my LX front mech and XT rear were replaced late last yr after ~7yrs. Seems like good value to me.
I just looked at the price of XTR pods - £133. That's quite a lot.
What depressed me more was that XT pods are £85. I bought the pods AND a shadow mech for £70 last summer.