XT and XTR

I’m sure this has been covered before, but it’s about new bike time and was wondering what the consensus is on whether it’s really worth the money to go with XTR and what the advantage is with XTR other than a slight weight saving?
I have had XTR for years and it’s worked almost flawlessly, but it sure jacks up the price of a new bike these days.

I have had slx and deore for years and it’s worked almost flawlessly, but it slightly jacks the weight of a new bike these days.

I would make a choice between SLX and XTR. I don’t think XT has been a great offering since the 1997 revision. Not enough to differentiate between it and LX then or SLX now.

That’s a bit like asking “shall I burn tenners or twenties?”

SLX is all you need imo.

SLX is all you need imo.

I would make a choice between SLX and XTR

Thanks—-Something I honestly hadn’t considered—think I will do some looking into SLX

I have xt on my only mtb. It’s a good few years old now and worked perfectly. If i wanted to save the same weight as i would with xtr i’ll just cut my hair before a ride. Really not worth the money.

went with XTR only as I had the money and I could. It’s lovely lovely stuff, i’m sooo pleased I bought it.

Has it made the slightest difference to shifting? Nope, not a bit. 😆

Unless you want your groupset to be all the same then I would mix and match. IME XTR shifters are worth the money and possibly deraileurs if you’re not a serial rear mech smasher. For cranks and brakes SLX is great and you won’t notice the difference either in terms of weight or better performance.

One option on the Pivot I am looking at is a mix of XT/XTR and it saves about $1400.00 on the total cost vs all XTR—I can think of all kinds of things I could spend the money saved on. Interesting fact is that my first complete MTB only cost about $800 (of course that was 20 years ago)

The main differences are weight and ‘feel’. I have SLX on one bike, XTR on the other. Both shift flawlessly, but the XTR feels a lot nicer to use. In my mind, XT might last longer before it becomes sloppy and inaccurate, compared with SLX – It just feels more nicely made. And XTR another step up.

For a ‘trail’ bike on a budget(ish) I’d probably mix and match, although it’s personal choice of course:
SLX mechs / cassette / chain
XTR shifters
XT brakes

i hate this ‘ i’ll just cut my hair’ or ‘ go for a sh*t’ before i go on a ride if i wanna lose weight comments. How stupid. Your body weight fluctuates all day, whereas your bike weight doesn’t. A light bike will always be lighter than a heavier bike regardless how many sh*ts you take.

To answer the OP’s question, buy what you can afford and can sustain. Shifting will be no quicker, maybe better feel or smoother. The more you pay generally the lighter it will be, it may not last as long but overall it will be better. I ride xtr with xx cassette because i like the feel and i want my bike to be as light as possible but also because i could afford it and wanted a top end bike. You do what you want, you will never be judged by it, it may not improve your riding

From my own experiences of a bike workshop, XT brakes ALL DAY. xtr are good but not worth the extra.

My point was to emphasize how little the difference in weight is between xt and xtr. sorry for having a sense of humour.

If I could afford XTR I would have it because it oozes quality. I do have an XTR front shifter for my 1×10 but that’s it..the rest is XT because it works perfectly and is, afford-ably, replaceable if I break it.

I’m with stevied on this.

I’ve got a bike with full XT and it’s great – XTR is a lot more expensive for a small improvement.
On a recent upgrade on another bike, I was replacing SLX which after 2 years was a pain to use and went with XT but with XTR shifters – IMO the shifter is better than XT – the feel is nicer – but I don’t fancy the replacement costs of an XTR mech.

It’s worth spending the money on the bits you touch in my view.

I think XT is the sweet spot actually, it looks nicer than the lower level stuff, is better finished and better made, and i think i little bit more robust. If you can afford it (over SLX etc) then going XT brings worth while gains.

I’m not so sure about XTR (although my FS is XTR’d up) as it’s really quite a lot more expensive, doesn’t bring any new features to the game, and possibly is just a little bit to far down the “light weight lower durability” scale than XT. For example, the polished XTR crankset looks terrible when scuffed up, which it gets almost immediately!. The biggest weight saving is the XTR rear cassette with the Ti big cogs, but you pay a lot for the privilege, and it’s only 100g max saving.

If, like me, the rest of your bike is spec’d up as far as it will go, then by all means, spend your money on XTR. If you could afford a better fork, or a dropper post, or better brakes, or whatever, then go XT and get those instead imo!

Xt shifters are a lot nicer than slx though. Xtr is prob even nicer but i thrash my bikes so not worth considering spending the money.

I think a mix and match approach is best as there are pros and cons throughout the groupset.

XTR for cranks, cassettes (if you’re flush), rear mechs if you don’t brake them. XTR shifters feel too vague imo and the brakes are more temperamental than xt.

XT for brakes, cassettes (if you’re not so flush) shifters if you run a pair.

Saint shifter if you run 1×10. Saint mech for the same or Zee if you’re a wrecker.

Current XT and XTR shifters have quite a different feel. After M980 XTR came out, a lot of people felt that the shift action was too light and the detents not strong enough. The M780 XT came out a year later and definitely has a more positive click in each gear. Its personal preference, really.

And SLX and XT share a lot of parts! Look at the Rear Der Tech Doc most parts are identical or interchangeable!

Pick the wins if your mixing. Cassette shifters and cranks get the weight down faster. Rear mechs catch rocks. Running a mix of x0 x9 and xt here.

stevied – Member
If I could afford XTR I would have it because it oozes quality. I do have an XTR front shifter for my 1×10 but that’s it..the rest is XT because it works perfectly and is, afford-ably, replaceable if I break it.

One at the back and ten at the front?!

XTR shifters are well worth it, a mate has exactly the same set up as me with an XTR Shadow + rear mech but he has XT shifters but I have XTR. Mine have always felt so so much better, I wouldn’t have anything else now.

If I could afford it I’d have XTR cranks too, just because they look so gosh darn sexy. I’ve just changed my rear mech for a Zee shadow + instead of XTR for 1×10 and the weight difference with both mechs in my hand was almost undetectable.

I’ve got xt all, bar xtr shifter, SLX rear mech. Xt or xtr shifter deffo better if only for the double click on the up-shift. Makes it easy to grab a handful of gears quickly. I also like sausages

I’m not a fan of all this mixing up groupsets, picking and choosing parts etc. I think it looks scruffy. With the exception of different branded brakes and crankset (say Hope or Race Face), and the cassette and chain combo don’t matter as they arn’t obviously different, I think you should stick to one groupset on a bike.

For example my HT has Deore brakes, shifters, mechs, crankset, cassette and Sram chain. It looks good because everything matches and even though it isn’t top of the line it all works very well together. Where as my FS has SLX brakes, shifter, mech, chain and cassette but it has a Saint crank so there is no continuity and it doesn’t look quite right.

Conversely, I’m not a fan of speccing your MTB with consideration for matching brands over function. Pick the kit that gives the best performance and weight in your budget, usually that’ll be a mixture of things. It makes your bike feel more custom built to your requirements. I’d always feel a little unhappy with a bike with a complete matching groupset, it feels unimaginative and off-the-peg.

robarnold

If I could afford it I’d have XTR cranks too, just because they look so gosh darn sexy.

I actually prefer how the XT cranks look compared to the XTR ones! Unless you have a very bling shiny bike, the XT ones seem to sit better with more modern frame designs/colour schemes imo…….. In fact, the only none XTR drive train on my FS is the XT crankset because it comes in black 😉

XTR Shadow plus rear mech with a direct mount is worth the extra £££, shifting is so quick, XT for everything else works for me.

Bought XT rear mech for the clutch, shifters because they felt nicer and XTR crankset on impulse.

First scratch on the cranks was like someone putting barbed wire across my face. Next bike will have SLX crankset, mech and XT shifters. XTR is pretty, but never again. The hurt when you put a scratch in it is too much for my heart to bear. And I consider myself someone who’s not overly precious about appearances!

I have XTR cranks. I couldn’t tell you if they have scratches or not. I’ve never actually looked at them.

You can’t worry about scratches off-road.

I really disliked the new XTR shifters, they’re orrible- I’d sooner have Deore tbh. So I ended up with Saint shifters on XT mechs and that’s bloomin brilliant. XTR mech might be better but to hell with that, XT is already pretty expensive for a mech! (SLX isn’t noticably different in use for that matter, I just don’t like the bushing’d jockey wheels)

I have XTR on my current bike. In comparison to the SLX/ XT mix I had on the previous one, the big difference is the shifters – they feel much more solid. The rest of the kit looks nicer but I don’t think there’s any real difference other than a little weight.

So I’d go full SLX, and use the money saved to upgrade to XTR shifters.

I have a 9-speed XTR shifter, which I bought 2nd hand. I am amazed at how much more delightful it is than any other shifter I have ever used. This effect may be entirely in my mind of course. But it feels real. 😀

i hate this ‘ i’ll just cut my hair’ or ‘ go for a sh*t’ before i go on a ride if i wanna lose weight comments.

Innit, anyone saying that sort of thing should be forced to put Picolax in their camelbak.

I’m not “worried” about the scratches once I’m riding it. I just look at them somewhat wistfully at cleaning time.

I just look at them somewhat wistfully at cleaning time.

Don’t clean it 😉

I have to admit my heart sank when the downtube of my new Ti had a fight with the studs on the flat pedals of my sons bike in the shed.

If you want people to point and laugh, buy SLX. If you want to be a trail riding god, then you must buy XTR 😀

If you want people to point and laugh, buy SLX. If you want to be a trail riding god, then you must buy XTR

but remember actual trail riding gods don’t pay for their XTR (or the most they pay is SLX prices)

Well surely what you are going to use the bike for comes into it, as well as whether you plan to buy off the peg, buy off the peg and change a few bits or spec / assemble the whole bike for yourself.

For a full on XC race bike yeah, give XT / XTR some more serious consideration, but if you’re going to be using it for more “General” trail riding, regulary exceeding your tallent quota, flinging it down muddy rock strewn trails and neglecting maintenance then the higher price point groups are less of a wise a investment (IMO)…

Functionally SLX does pretty everything that XT does, doesn’t it?
So why not just buy an SLX specced bike that you like the frame on and maybe ugrade the cassette when it wears out and possibly the shifters if you prefer the feel of XT / XTR, perhaps fit an XT rear mech when the SLX goes a bit baggy after a couple of years, but you may as well leave most of the rest as it comes and spend the difference on improving the contact points, then posher forks, wheels, clothing and some accesories.

I’m not a fan of all this mixing up groupsets, picking and choosing parts etc. I think it looks scruffy.

Nah, can’t agree there it’s a minor aesthetic thing not what MTBs are about IMO. Most people got over the matching groupset thing in the early 90’s didn’t they? If all your parts have to be the exact same boring shade of Matt Grey / Black / Shiney grey / silver then you’ve sort of missed the point. Valuing appearances over function just means you’ve spent more money on stuff you are going to coat in mud and scuff to buggery…

If a product manager spec’s a perfectly good Deore Front mech and some SLX cranks and brakes so that they can up the rear mech and shifters to XT I don’t think that’s a terrible thing at all, you’ll probably notice the benefit of the higher price point parts and be very pleased with the performance of the more “Basic” kit, the colours might not match but nobody important really cares you know.

Took a little advice from everyone, saved myself good $$$ and ordered the new Pivot today with an XT/XTR mix.
Thanks for all the input