SLX 1×11 upgrade to XT 1×12 dumb question

Given I have a) DT350 hubs, b) weedy legs, c) steep hills in my local area, I thought I’d spec out upgrading from SLX 1×11 to XT 1×12 (10-51T variant).

Do I need to make any changes to the chainset, e.g. 12-speed compatible NW chainring?

Currently, running SLX M7000 boost with stock NW chainring. I assume a 12 speed chain is narrower and necessary. I found some google hits for Sram, suggesting internal chain spacing is the same as 11 speed, but nothing clear for Shimano.

Aside from swapping the bits over and mech alignment, are there any other issues to look out for?

Found the Wolftooth ISEV-ISII adapter, so should be good with mounting the new shifter onto the existing brake lever.

Chainring won’t be an issue. 11 speed chainring will work fine the inner spacing is the same

I believe that 11spd and 12spd chains are the same width internally but the 12spd has slightly thinner plates so is narrower overall.

That means your chainring will be fine.

You’ll need a new chain anyway since you are moving to 51T at the back and your existing chain is unlikely to be long enough.

The elephant in the room is that you’ll need a micro-spline freehub to accommodate that 10T sprocket.

The chain is ‘smaller’ on the inside. It may be the same inner width, I think its actually thinner, but either way the inner links protrude into the space in a way 11 speed doesn’t, so the chain wont mesh right with anything but a worn 11 speed ring.

The elephant in the room is that you’ll need a micro-spline freehub to accommodate that 10T sprocket.

Not much of a hardship. I think this is the Madison part number HBDT2562S

You’ll need the whole lot, or at the very least a Shimano 12speed compatible chainring, which I think there are a few after market ones kicking about. The Shimano 12 speed cassette isn’t meant to work very well with anything other than a Shimano 12 speed chain due to the dimensions and the shifting ramp profiles.

Freehub isn’t an issue as you can just buy a DT Swiss MicroSpline Freehub, pull your old one off and fit the new one.

Yup, I know I need the microspline convertor for the DT350s.

Given I bought my bike from Ben, then maybe I should trust him on the chainring 🙂

Ah – Wolftooth fess up on their 96 BCD chainring:

“Compatible with all 10-, 11-, and 12-speed chains except Shimano 12-speed chains”.

Will now be suspicious of the compatibility blurb for other after market rings, e.g. Snaggletooth!

Think the ring will be fine, but superstarcomponents raptors are 12sp ready. Don’t you need that new shimano chain to get the benefits of the new hyperglide plus.

Onup chainring also wont work with Shimano 12 speed chains, onup know about this and should have new chainrings available in a month or so

Why not simply run a smaller chain ring? You can go as low as 28t on a SLX chainset. Might not give you the range you want but 28×42 or 28×46 should be decent climbing gears for the steep stuff.

My understanding is as follows.

Shimano 12speed cassette is hyperglide plus.

This only works with a shimano 12 speed chain.

The insides of the links on this chain are shaped to fit the shimano ring which isn’t a true narrow/wide design.

28t on a SLX chainset

I cannot find any 28t for SLX M7000 1x crankset, i.e. 96BCD only, no 64BCD.

But I forgotten the option to switch cranksets to something that’d take 28t. Fair amount of mandatory road/flat gravel around me as well, so 10×30 has appeal.

Moon-on-a-stick 🙂

In practice I’ve found that the XTR chain didn’t like a Praxis Wave chainring, it was very grumbly sounding and did try and ‘suck’ once or twice.

A new Eagle chainring is absolutely fine though, quiet, smooth and hasn’t fallen off.

The chain isn’t narrower but there are protruding ‘wings’ from the inner plates into the space between the outer ones.

This means that the ‘wide’ part of the NW chainring isn’t quite as big as an 11 speed chain. That’s why the Praxis ring didn’t work as it’s not NW but alternating profiles, hence ‘wave’.

Given that the Shimano 11 speed single ring isn’t narrow/wide but instead had a deeper profile (from memory of an XT one I had but I may be misremembering!) , I’d hazard a guess that it will work as the width of the teeth remains the same.

A KNC 12 speed chain was fine on both chainrings but the shifting at the rear wasn’t ‘quite’ as good. Still streets ahead of Eagle but not as snappy under extreme load (think midway through a switchback climb corner, out of the saddle type of load.)

Overall it seems that as a system, the harder the load, the better the shift is. Mid sprint, or hard uphill shifts that your brain tells you should be ‘babied’ with a gentle pedal stroke don’t need that at all, it just changes gear. I think it’s worth making sure you can use the Shimano chain just to maximise that part of the performance of the drivetrain.

Was nickfrog’s suggestion, stick with m7000 just get smaller chainring, I got rid of a 30t because I kept spinning out, so a 28t would mean getting overtaken my 10 year old nephew. It’s great for climbs but bad for fast descents. Personally I wouldn’t go that low even with a 10t cog. 51t let’s you go bigger upfront if anything.
Onzadog was spot on, taking full advantage of hg+ requires the chain too.

https://www.shore-lines.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=275

Sorry I should have linked this before. They were discounted down to £20 a few months ago so I fitted a 28 with 10—42. 28×10 gives you plenty of speed off road. If you need more, it’s probably not mountain biking anymore, on a fire road.

The insides of the links on this chain are shaped to fit the shimano ring which isn’t a true narrow/wide design.

Shimano 11 spd rings went thick-thin a couple of years ago, and all 12 spd Shimano rings are thick-thin.

The comments in this piece have two manufacturers of aftermarket rings arguing the toss. The bit they seem to agree on is that Shimano 12 speed chains need compatible rungs due to chamfering on the inner face of outer links. What they don’t agree in is whether a Shimano chain is required to fully benefit from HG+ shifting.

I’ve not personally tried any of this kit but like many others, I’d like to see those muddy waters clear a bit before I plonk down my hard earned cash of stuff that might not work as well as I’d hoped.

https://www.shore-lines.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=275

Sorry I should have linked this before. They were discounted down to £20 a few months ago so I fitted a 28 with 10—42.

But they say “The 28T ring uses the 64mm bolt spacing to mount on to the crank arm.” and there is no such bolt spacing on SLX M7000 1x crankset 🙁

28×10 gives you plenty of speed off road. If you need more, it’s probably not mountain biking anymore, on a fire road

I don’t live in a mountain biking utopia 😉

Summary appears to be that for correct performance, the correct chain should probably be used and it almost certainly requires a certified chainring.

Blackspire have told me that they have not done much testing with Shimano 12 speed and cannot guarentee the performance of their existing rings. New tooth profiles are in the works.

The new crankset option is a different question to whether I could just change the chainset/shifter/mech/chain.

But they say “The 28T ring uses the 64mm bolt spacing to mount on to the crank arm.” and there is no such bolt spacing on SLX M7000 1x crankset 🙁

I thought Shimano used the same crank arms for 1x and 2x on 11 speed?

Nope, see the Shimano product spec

They’ve been lazy with the drawings on the exploded views in the tech doc then.

There’s definitely only one set of bolt holes in the cranks on my bike 🙂

Probably couldn’t cope with the aesthetics or loss of 30×11 for the not-mountain-biking sections, but…

If I did pick up a 2x crankset (which is much cheaper than upgrading the cassette end), I would need a NW chainring rather than stock (given the 2x will have a front derailleur).

Would I also need to sort out the ‘chainline’, as I see this mentioned on threads? (rear is boost).

I bought an XT M8000 1X without ring from CRC and it strangely has granny ring holes too, the 2x looks the same but the spider should differ and offer different chainline, maybe OEM stuff differs from buying aftermarket.
Forever changing standards and compatibility issues, oh the joys of mountainbiking.

I’ve not personally tried any of this kit but like many others, I’d like to see those muddy waters clear a bit before I plonk down my hard earned cash of stuff that might not work as well as I’d hoped.

Same here – I’m hoping the independent chainring makers will have got this nailed by early next year, as I’ll be wanting an oval ring when I shift back over to Shimano.

Just FYI i got round to measuring the links – the outer link is roughly the same SRAM v Shimano, other than the way the inner link protrudes, but the inner link is definitely around 10% narrower.

Did you ever get around to confirming this?
I am seeing a 32t 11s SLX M7000 1x Chainring on sale and want to buy. I just bought a 12s Derailuer and shifter. Have a ZTTO 12s Cassette to mate with it and want to buy a KMC chain and proper chain ring.
Can the SLX M7000 1x Chainring 32t work?

Given your not using Shimano components the answer isn’t really relevant as it was referring to Shimano chain and Shimano cassette. You’ll need to suck it and see. Worst case you’ll have to fit a 12spd compatible ring so how cheap is the crank (cheap enough to be cheap after a new ring and selling the one it comes with)?

Same here – I’m hoping the independent chainring makers will have got this nailed by early next year, as I’ll be wanting an oval ring when I shift back over to Shimano.

@martinhutch Absolute Black make an oval chainring for Shimano 12 speed. I run one with XT8100 with no issues at all.

Superstar Raptor chainrings work well with Shikmano 12sp.

They last very well too.

I cannot find any 28t for SLX M7000 1x crankset, i.e. 96BCD only, no 64BCD.

But I forgotten the option to switch cranksets to something that’d take 28t. Fair amount of mandatory road/flat gravel around me as well, so 10×30 has appeal.

Moon-on-a-stick 🙂

2 cranksets even…. ???
TBH not tried the asymmetric (I’m still using old SLX/XT/Saint 104BCD) but on a 104 BCD you can’t get a 30T on and off without removing the cranks… ovals sometimes can be rotated a bit to get off
As I swap stuff about between bikes I tend to just swap over a crankset anyway.. at the moment I stuck a 34T on in place of a 30T… due to increased road use.