I am toying with the idea of replacing my 12 speed full SLX drivetrain with something like 11 speed deore or even 10 speed Microshift.

I have deore and slx 10 speed set-ups on 3 bikes. All are faultless. I think I’ve changed a gear cable on two of them and that’s about it.

In contrast my SLX 12 speed needs constantly fettling to get it to almost work. Everything is straight and set up properly but it’s still not as good as 10 speed. As many other posts have pointed out I think 12 speed is too sensitive to imperfections for off-road.

I’m conscious that downgrading still comes with a significant cost. But would that cost be worth paying for less annoyance on the trail?

Yup. As soon as my 12 speed wears out on my eeb, I’ll be going cheapo ten speed I think.
Ridiculous having 12 speed on an eeb.

I’m only on 11 speed on my neebs so will probably stick with that rather than have to replace everything.

nope. Always had shimano. Would never put SRAM crap on one of my bikes.

Not consciously downgraded, but bought a new bike with deore 12 speed and haven’t bother to put the XT stuff on it that I took of my previous bike. Works just as well!

Well I did (panic) buy an SLX 12 speed chain to put on my XTR shod bike, promptly bought another XTR when I got the SLX out of the box, it was so bendy.

Yes, but also no…?

My bike originally came with XTR 11 speed mech & shifter, and an E13 cassette, and E13 carbon cranks. Whipped it all off and fitted SRAM GX eagle rear mech and shifter, XO1 cassette and XX1 chain. Then fitted a Shimano XT m8100 crankset. Then changed the rear mech/shifter to GX Eagle AXS wireless.

Some might consider the original change to be a downgrade I suppose.

My last build had GX AXS mechs and shifter with XO1 cassette and chain, last 2 were full XX1 AXS.

Not sure thats what the OP meant…

I try to avoid Sram and was perfectly happy with 11sp. Broke the rules and bought a Sram SX 12sp bike on a whim and it was terrible, impossible to properly index the gears across the whole cassette and never smooth. Just sold the bike and will defo go back to Shimano on my new build and may stay with 11sp.

Yup, 12 speed just too finicky for me, both shimano and spam.
Back to xx1 or x01 11 speed, bombproof reliable ime over the past 7 or 8 years.

yep i’m doing my ebike when the cassette goes, no need for 12 speed….

I was once an ultegra/xt or better bike snob. Gradually, partly because I’m no longer racy or race shaped and partly because it’s all so much better, I’m using deore/105 level stuff. Contrary to previous beliefs, the sky has not fallen in!

Yes.

My Sherpa runs 1 x 11 Deore.
Went for the 11-51 Deore cassette and a Deore RD-M5100 Rear Derailleur 11-speed (a wide-range one, although 12-speed derailleur might work fine). All from Bikester.

It just works. Local bike shop now recommends this set-up to their customers because it just works.

When my 11spd setup died I replaced it with Microshift Acolyte.

8 speed, 12-48 wide range cassette, seems bombproof so far.

The best bit…£70 for rear mech, cassette, shifter and chain.

Sometimes.
I’ve got an XTR chain and cassette I put on for races, XT for all other things as the XTR is too expensive to replace often (and getting very rare, I’m still 10sp)

No. I’ve got 12-spd XT on my MTB and it has never missed a beat. Tweaked the gear cable once and that’s all. It’s going to go haywire tomorrow isn’t it.

Having only ridden 12speed SunRace setup, I swore to myself never ever again to 12speed.

I currently run 11speed GX though contemplating 10speed Microshift once worn out.

Yes, went from Sram GX 12 back to Shimano XT 11 speed

but up a nice carbon hardtail over the summer and went to 2 x 10 because I could get lightly used XT at a decent price, certainly don’t feel like I am missing out

Bizarrely it has a 12 speed SLX crank because that was the only thing I could get at a decent price at the time.

Does buying a perfectly good GX equipped bike and singlespeeding it count?

I’ve stuck to 10 and 11 speed on my bikes, you can still get 11-46 on the 10 and 11-50 on the 11 so more than enough range and nothing is too fussy or expensive. I don’t think I’ll ever go 12 speed tbh.

I’ve downgraded to AliExpress cassettes on my gravel bike. Partly to availability but also as a bit of an experiment to see what they were like.

I’m tempted to try a Sensah groupset or Microshift. I’m pretty easy on components normally and not too fussy on setup not being perfect.

I tried swapping from SLX 11 speed cassettes to Microshift 11s and it was a disaster – ebike plus me equalled enough torque to wear the sprockets out in about 100 miles! I’d like to try Linkglide but it’s still vapourware…

On my hardtail I’ve got from GX Eagle to singlespeed. Lighter, quieter, faster uphill, more fun downhill. Rubbish for commuting but this bike isn’t for that.

Well I’ve only owned one 12 speed bike (nx) and it worked ok but currently got shimano 10 or 11 across 4 bikes my son and I ride. 10 speed 11-46 on 26 wheeled bikes was all the range I needed. Saint shifter lovely still going strong. Moving to 29er and 11 speed with the 11-51 deore boat anchor cassette seems fine. In no hurry to go 12s again. Yes the range is bigger with a 10 tooth cog but I never spun out on 30*11 so seems pointless. I am running a 12s chain as it was left over from being bought as a spare on the previous bike, and a 12s deore mech as it was available.
The hardtail has 11-46 with m7000 mech- can anyone confirm that mech will stretch to 50 or 51 when a new cassette is needed? I don’t like the jump between big two cogs on the 11-46 shimano slx cassette at all!

I considered it after smashing a 12 speed mech early on, but it’s won me over with awesome shifting, range and durability (slx with xtr/xt cassettes).

I’m running an NX cassette with GX AXS on my KSL because it’s HG and fits the steel free hub on my Hope hubs. It doesn’t shift as nicely as either a Deore or SLX cassette but being all steel the wear rate is pretty good.

I went with microshift advent x.

Wide range 10 speed with 11-48.

Super impressed with it and alot cheaper

Still running a 3×9 set-up, now Alivio cassette & rings instead of higher level kit, and not regretted it for a minute. Working day in, day out on the latest & greatest has only convinced me more that “upgrading” isn’t a good idea.

My xtr 12 speed has been bombproof since I fitted it beginning of May…not even touched a barrel adjuster

Slight hijack with a query.

Can I run a bigger cassette say than my 11speed GX 42T with the GX mech as it is?

Were thinking of a 10-46T from any that fit XD freewheels.

Not so much a downgrade for me, but have stuck with 11sp XT drivetrain. I do have a Garbaruk cassette but chains are cheap to swap out when required. Can’t see me changing anything else soon.

Deore 12 on sunrace cassette here not skipped a beat since I switched early this year.

Drivetrain on a spesh eeb demo bike at Ard rock was horrendous though and I totally failed to fix it too (SRAM I think). Not sure what my point is…

Yep moved from XO1 cassette and chain to GX, both 12 speed, haven’t noticed a change in function.

I hired an ebike last weekend with the Microshift Drivetrain and to be honest I couldn’t tell the difference between it and the SRAM ones I’ve been using for years or a Shimano one.

At the price Microshift coats i’de replace mine in an instant if the mech dies.

Current hardtail has 11sp NX with a Sunrace cassette and having come from 10sp XO I haven’t had any bother with it, it shift well, doesn’t rattle around and lose the chain/skip, doesn’t need adjusting all the time. I wouldn’t touch SX with a barge pole but Deore, NX and Microshift are all perfectly good for 9/10 people who ride MTB.

Not yet, but I’m quite tempted to do so.

Previous 11sp somewhat-bodged Shimano had XT shifter, Deore mech, SLX cassette; and it worked very well.

Current 12sp somewhat-bodged Shimano is SLX shifter/mech with a Sunrace cassette, and it’s just annoying. Getting it set up in the first place took a lot of faff, and it has been temperamental ever since. It currently shifts well BUT won’t get into the largest sprocket on the cassette. So it’s effectively an 11sp 11:42 setup. And actually, that’s fine: I get up most stuff I generally want to get up.

So once I’ve run it into the ground if I can get something with fewer speeds that does 42T+ at the top end but isn’t a massive pain to dial in, I will give it serious consideration. I’m not massively bothered about cadence for MTB so an 8 or 9 speed setup would do me so long as it has a clutch mech.

I was once an ultegra/xt or better bike snob. Gradually, partly because I’m no longer racy or race shaped and partly because it’s all so much better, I’m using deore/105 level stuff. Contrary to previous beliefs, the sky has not fallen in!

Same here. Still got my original race bike with its full Dura Ace groupset (10sp 7800), and I’ve had long term use of a top end Canyon Ultimate with Dura Ace Di2, a high end Specialized with full Ultegra plus a couple of other much shorter lived (hired/borrowed) bikes.

New road bike is a mid-level carbon frame and a full 105 groupset. I considered Ultegra, even briefly looked at a Di2 model and then thought what’s the point?!

3 or 4x the price, cost of replacement parts, I no longer race, I simply don’t need it…

And it’s great! Looks good, rides really nicely. It’s all the bike I ever need!

@tomparkin have you checked the b tension screw on the mech? I learned on Saturday that it’s different to previous Shimano setting up. Mine is now perfectly set.
Indexing is still poor though.

Not yet but I’d love a 10spd 9-45 or even 9-42 option.
Happy enough with slightly bigger jumps in the high grears. That setup with current Shimano or SRAM designs would be absolutely superb.

Kind of a downgrade: removed 1×12 Deore from new bike in favour of 1×11 mix of SLX mech/cassette with XTR shifter. “Only” 11-46t cassette but that’s enough for me. Mainly changed as my and Mrs a11y’s other bikes are all 11sp.

Also, recently swapped from 11-46t SLX to a 10-42t SRAM XG1150 cassette. More a sideways step rather than downgrade. Hoping for better durability.

No plans to move to 12sp.

I have 11 speed Shimano Slx with an Xt shifter and that is great, SRAM GX 12 speed is finicky and the shifting isn’t as good. Box gears on another bike were really poor.

Im moving from the stock Deore 12 speed to XO 10 speed.