SLX brakes.. worth the extra over Deore?

Afternoon peeps,

Im after a set of brakes for my new build, looking at Shimano Deore or SLX.

Does anybody have the weight for the SLX brakes? As far as i can find the Deore’s weigh 300g. Also wondering are the SLX brakes worth the extra cost over the Deore?

I wouldn’t be going for the finned style caliper if that helps. The bike is a Cotic Soul, i am not heavy on the brakes as i am totes awesome.com aswell 😆

Thanks as always,

Mike.

SlX have the tool-less reach adjust which is nice, but other than that they’re very similar. Buying from Germany, such as bike-discount.de or rosebikes.com, SLX are approx. £50 from either of them. I’ve had my SLX brakes for 10 months and they’re brilliant, never had any brake fade, even on hour long descents in the Alps. Don’t munch through pads either, even in the Peak District. Nice levers too as long as you only brake with one finger, they’re a bit small for two fingers.

I dont know about weight but i recently bought a hardtail trek with slx brakes 183mm front and 160 rear and there a sight better than the avids that came with my Five Am!

Im very much a 2 fingered braker, but im sure i could change as the lever is smaller, i used to run Formula and they were 2 fingered levers.

It was Rosebikes i was looking at Sambob, Deore’s were £66 and the SLX were £108 if i remember correctly.

I was looking at Formula again but the prices are way out my price range.

I notice the tool free reach adjustment but not fussed about that, once they are set that’s it. I believe the Deore uses the old caliper aswell but whatevs….

If i could find the weight that may help swing the decision..

I have SLX on a soul and they are well up to the job and infinitely better than mates’ Avids. I did have some older Deore a few years ago and the SLX are a lot better than them but I couldn’t say for the newer ones which seem to get very good reviews.

I’ve got XT’s (£120 @Rose) and they weighed 550gms for both calipers/full length hoses/levers weighed all together. I think the SLX will weigh the same. So, you’ll probs save 50gms in total over the Deore. tht’s assuming you’re right with the 300gms.

Cheers B.A.Nana, that is a really good weight for them…. Probably worth paying the extra then..

I had the older SLX’s and i like them alot but never got to ride them off road unfortunately : (

Off to Rosebikes for me then..

Cheers guys, much obliged.

I have the Deores on me hardtail. They are like totally rad fo shiz!
Only cost 45 notes too… 🙂

XT are only an extra £10-£15 over SLX 😉

Yeah but XT’s are like Bums… ahbody has them 😉

I think i prefer the look of the SLX over the XT, but i prefer the look of the Deore over the SLX.. SO which is best….

There is only 1 way to find out…..

FIGHT!

I was looking at Formula again but the prices are way out my price range.

Check out the special offers on the formula store. Loads of Oros, 2010 RXs etc. Think you can get a set of RXs inc. discs for abotu £140 delivered (oros less, The Ones and Megas are more).

Got deores on one bike xt on another (basically slx) I would go slx slightly better for slightly more money (from rose). Deores still excellent though

After having some Formula Oros (and still having them), some RXs and finally XTs there’s no way I’d go back to Formula. The XTs are perfect.

Had Deores on my Heckler for the Alps – great brakes, and I’m 94kg!
Without the finned pads, the performance of Deore/SLX/XT is the same. All 3 have servowave 1or2 finger levers. Deore are a little heavier, but at £70 a pair from Rose – wow!!
Get a bleed kit for £15 from epicbleedsolutions.co.uk.

Dyno reports comparing the two (Deore VS SLX) shows there is no performance difference between the two.

Other than the above differences, the 2013 deores DONT take the SLX / XT / etc screw-in pad bolts but a split pin instead. If you’re brave use an M4 die to make a thread!

Cheers for the replies so far.

Not fussed that they don’t have the screw in pads, managed with split pin set up for years so happy to stay with that. Maybe the Deore’s are the ones for me.. I’m a tight fisted git aswell so spending more for the same performance is totally against my religion.. ; )

is it the same caliper as the SLX and XT? Deore in the past have been chunkier calipers but not sure with the new ones as they are all 2 piece. One of the things I like about my older XTs are the one piece calipers which are tiny.

I think they are, but I’m not 100% sure TBH

I’ve got Hope mini mono, avid juicy 3, shimano xtr and Shimano SLX brakes. have to say I like the feel and power of the SLX best of all of them.

andyl, essentially they are all the same shape and size. The only difference I can work out is the reach dial is missing on the deore, so presume it’s a screwdriver/alankey job. I think I’d go for deore tbh, 50gms for £40 isn’t worth it.

The Deore’s are truely excellent – I picked mine up for about £30-£35 each from Bike24.

Very easy to swap the hoses and performance is incredible.

Yeah like I said not fussed for lever adjustment, I only plan on setting them once and that’s it.

The Deore’s are a tad bargaintastic…

Ordering tomorrow as I’m off out for the evening. Just forks to get now and then it’s ready to build.

I have deore on my soul with 180 front and back using r76 xt rotars. Good enough for my riding in the alps using one finger breaking. I think I weighed the front as 296g, the back 350 with adapter. As far as I can tell the main if only difference is slx can take finned pads, has no tool lever reach adjustment and the deore has split pit. Is power the same for deore/slx/xt if they theoretically used same pads and rotars?

Split pin pads can be a bit fiddly out on the trails but the tool reach adjustment is nice and precise but should not be deal breakers. I also like the less bling look of the deore.

@B.A.Nana – interesting…and as above I would just set the reach with a tool and then enjoy not having a knob to get dirty/knock ( 😯 )

I wonder where the 50g saving is or is that claimed to make people decide which? Shimano crank weights seem to be a lot closer than you would think sometimes.

Got a set of 2012 XT and Deore brakes and they are both plenty powerful. The Deore’s have a different caliper and less twidly bits on the lever – although tool free reach isn’t really that handy.

The most obvious question is which one do you think is prettier?

Deore 596 have new levers (sans knob) and old 595 calipers.
SLX 666 and 675 have new levers (with knob) and have new calipers that can take finned pads.

Shimano pads for deore are more expensive than non finned pads for slx. Non shimano pads (like superstar) cost the same for both.

I think the weight difference alone its not enough to care.
The same goes for the reach adjustment knob – one less thing to break.

I took the SLX for my latest build mainly to be more future proof, but still use the old reliable deore 595 on my singlespeed.

Deore calipers have a slightly different body and also do not have ceramic pistons.
But does that matter?

The deore caliper is slightly different, but not in size. my XTs are definitely 550gms, I wouldn’t put it past Shimano to deliberately weight stuff as a point of difference/pricing.

Both are good and reliable brakes.
The difference in braking power and lever feel is there (i own deore 595 and slx 675 and tested 596 before i bought the slx ones) but not enough for the average joe to care.
But we are not average joe’s 😈 and i would definitely put slx on the cotic.

I’ve used them back to back and the difference in power is barely noticeable if their is any but the slx do feel more solid, both in brake feel and construction. Less lever wobble. Not something you notice on the trail, more of a car park factor but the deore are excellent. Owned them for 6 months, now on XT, which are nice!

1981mike – Bought a pair of SLX M675 for a Soul build a couple of months ago (after using M666 on my Ex8 and being very impressed).

Front are 288g and rear 304g (including cables). If you can afford to upgrade to RT86’s rotors I’d recommend it, unless you are using centrelock and you can get the SLX ice techs instead.

The ice techs are a massive difference over the crap rt64’s that came with my ex8.

One of my friends has XTR on one bike and deore on the other bike. Naturally, he’s scraped the deore logo off the cheaper brakes. They work more or less the same…

I suspect longevity will be better on the more expensive brakes, the deore ones feel a lot cheaper than my XTs. Of course, they ARE a lot cheaper so you can probably buy two sets and keep one as a spare.

Im very much a 2 fingered braker

Whatever brakes you run, 1 finger is the way ahead. More fingers on the grips=more control! It’s a case of setting up so your tip’s in the nook, they may only need a 5-10mm nudge inbound.

As for the brakes, I had some 2012 Deores as part of a Merlin groupset. They’re very good brakes (comparable to my 2011 SLX), which include the servo wave internally as well as having the newer lever. I think the new approach to bleeding is an improvement and the hose is stiffer to cut. If I was a snob I’d say they’re too low end for a Soul. But I’m not, they’re great 😀

I have a set of M666 SLX and a set of M785 XT. The XT were £135 from Rose but came with non-finned pads.

The XT have a free-travel adjust screw on the lever, but other than that and the polishing are identical to the SLX.

SLX M666 astonishing brakes. Breath on the levers and you slow down. But somehow the control is still there.

Does anyone know if Deore, SLX and XT share the same pads? Apart from the screwed pin on XT.

Slx and xt do, deore are different….

Ah cheers, I had an idea of standardising my brakes as in needing only the one type of pad, quite smitten with my SLXs and plan on XTs for another bike. The deores would have been for another bike again.