Shimano Linkglide longevity

Anyone on here used the shimano Linkglide XT 11 speed drivetrain?

I’m intrigued as to whether it’s a bit hardier than 12 speed stuff (I have used GX and SLX) and stays indexed for longer being 11 speed.

My Gx derailleur took a very slight knock and since it just won’t index quite right now.  It’s reasonable, but not 100 percent, for a couple of rides but then ends up out again. It’s not the hanger as that has been replaced.

The SLX I used was even worse. That lasted about 3 months before the pivots went loose and wouldn’t shift out of the top cog.

My other half has it on her ebike, we are 18months in, average 30miles per week.

We are on the 2nd chain but the cassette is going strong.

if the mech is slowly going out of alignment either the cable bolt isn’t done up tight enough (so the inner is slipping through) or the outer is shrinking somehow. I’d be getting a shop to replace the inner/outer and see if that sorts it

The cassette seems to be durable. Just replace chains in time and it should last much longer.

The derailleur does not seem to be any beefier than the other models – will probably dislike hits and scuffs as much as any other Shimano der.

I ran 11 speed XT HyperGlide with SLX cassettes for a few years on my Levo. The shifting would start getting worse at about 600 miles and was unrideable by 1200. I switched to 11 speed XT LinkGlide and got 1800 miles of good behaviour from a cassette before the chain started skipping. Just replaced the 11 speed cassette with the 10 speed version.

Doing a lot of short rides/commutes in turbo when you pedal like you’re on your singlespeed is really hard on chains and cassettes!

Thanks for the replies on this.

as a quick update, inner and outer cable replaced and no different. Managed to source a new second hand gx mech at a reasonable price so fitted that today and sure enough shifting back to 100 percent.

When it works 12 speed GX is lovely but I feel that a year and not a massive amount of miles out of a mech is pretty poor. Admittedly it took a very slight knock but I don’t feel enough of one to cause issues.

I would snap up a similar gx /XT quality decent range (say 10-50) 10 speed set up that isn’t so picky with indexing.
Maybe link glide is the answer but I do wonder about the strength of the cage on the mech having had an SLX one if the link glide ones are no beefier.

Due to the limited amount of space I do find the eagle stuff exceptional difficult if you knock the derailleur, i have done several and they are not cheap.

I would say to check the mech hanger as I find they bend before the derailleur

My 12-speed SLX has been faultless for 3 years, hardly ever even needs any indexing tweaks. :good:

That’s my “mildly relevant but entirely unhelpful post of the day” out of the way 😉

I have an XT and a deore mech and run SLX cassettes.

In finally had to change my cassette after nearly four years but it’s only the smaller sprockets which show signs of wear.

The derailleurs have done very well. The XT nearly got retired but another service later and it is back in the game. It took a huge rock strike on cut gate a couple of weeks back but still finished the ride. Whenever I do start to have issues it is invariably the cheese UDH hanger that my bike came with out of alignment again. Quick hangar alignment and it’s good to go.

I have also learned never trust a brand new hangar. The only one I have received that isn’t slightly misaligned once fitted is the lovely one I got for my Marley from a gent on here.

Admittedly it took a very slight knock but I don’t feel enough of one to cause issues.

But it obviously was…

Ive been using linkglide 11spd with 2 XT chains in rotation on my E bike probably over 6 months now maybe 1000 miles, chains starting to jump occasionally on smallest cog and mech has a bit of wobble. Still shifts really well though.

I would say to check the mech hanger as I find they bend before the derailleur

+1