As a singlespeeder with no recent experience of groupsets is worth the extra £200 to get a Canyon Nerve XC 8 with Shimano XT over the XC 7 with a SRAM X9 groupset?

If it extends as far as brakes and cranks then maybe. My 160mm travel bike came with XT fitted, but I swapped it out for X9, as I think the more rugged feel of SRAM suits the bike better. I put the XT on my cross country bike and am happy with the swap.

Depends on how you like your shifting. XT shifts are smooth as you like. X9 shift with a bang. I like Sram stuff as it runs well even with manky cables. However there are rarely deals on Sram kit so you always have to pay near on full crack for replacement parts whereas Shimano kit can always be had crazy cheap online.

I have a mix of xt, deore and raceface drive train. To be honest it feels rubbish compared to the 10×3 XT kit on my mates ride. I’m going for the XT groupset from actionsports.de! Had SRAM X7 on my last bike and it wasn’t as smooth but worked very well.

Looking at the 2 Canyon bikes you mentioned, I would go for the XC8. You obviously want something more XC oriented rather than one of their AM models. The XT makes for a lighter bike…

The good thing about Shimano kit is that you can pick it up pretty cheap. The downside I have found is that it takes a little more looking after. I find that I have to tweak my gears before a ride.