Front Mech's: Spot the Difference

In article <[email protected]>,
Duncan Smith
[email protected] says...
> I have in hands one Shimano XT FD-M760 front mech and another Shimano
> Deore (not LX, just Deore) mech. After a careful inspection I
> conclude the differences are:
>
> + Colour.
> + Adjuster screws have 'H' and 'L' engravings on the XT model.
>
> That's it. Seem the same weight, material, quality, fairly identical
> in every respect. Why buy an LX or XT front mech?
>
I suspect the XT has either pivot bushes or hard anodising, either of
which should improve the durability. Just a guess though.

Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
>
> I suspect the XT has either pivot bushes or hard anodising, either of
> which should improve the durability. Just a guess though.

It usually (or used anyway) to have much better jockey wheel bearings as
well.

--
Tony

" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell

"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>>
>> I suspect the XT has either pivot bushes or hard anodising, either of
>> which should improve the durability. Just a guess though.
>
> It usually (or used anyway) to have much better jockey wheel bearings as
> well.

No on a front ;-)

Jc

Tony Raven wrote:
> It usually (or used anyway) to have much better jockey wheel bearings as
> well.
>

Hmm...my bikes are more out of date than I thought - I haven't got any
jockey wheels on my front mechs!

Ian

"Josey" <jc@nospam> wrote in news:[email protected]:

>
> "Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote in
>> news:[email protected]:
>>>
>>> I suspect the XT has either pivot bushes or hard anodising, either of
>>> which should improve the durability. Just a guess though.
>>
>> It usually (or used anyway) to have much better jockey wheel bearings as
>> well.
>
> No on a front ;-)
>

Memo to self: Do not post before first coffee of the day ;-)

--
Tony

" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell

>
> I suspect the XT has either pivot bushes or hard anodising, either of
> which should improve the durability. Just a guess though.

For whatever reason, the front shifting has always been sub-par even
though at least 3 cycle shops have had a go at servicing it (never
stays good for long). Now I've fitted the XT pod and mech it shifts
like a dream. Got a similar improvement by swapping the brakes from
the OEM non-adjustable Juicy-3 to the oh so easily adjustable
Juicy-7's.

Well happy with the setup now , shame the racing season's over :-(

I think the pattern here is, if you want a job done well, do it
yourself, as a task at a cycle shop could be limited by time/profit
and no one cares as much how well your bike's dialed in as you.

Regards,

Duncan

>
>I think the pattern here is, if you want a job done well, do it
>yourself, as a task at a cycle shop could be limited by time/profit
>and no one cares as much how well your bike's dialed in as you.
>
Talking about servicing it yourself, I have just found this Youtube
video on setting up indexed Shimano gears. I imagine that most URC'ers
can do this in their sleep ;-) but I found it really useful when
fettling my new/secondhand MTB.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzvfCaIbyQ

Cheers
--
Geomannie

Am Sat, 08 Sep 2007 20:32:09 -0000 schrieb Duncan Smith:

> I have in hands one Shimano XT FD-M760 front mech and another Shimano
> Deore (not LX, just Deore) mech. After a careful inspection I
> conclude the differences are:
>
> + Colour.
> + Adjuster screws have 'H' and 'L' engravings on the XT model.
>
> That's it. Seem the same weight, material, quality, fairly identical
> in every respect. Why buy an LX or XT front mech?

As you say - there seems to be little difference between Deore and xt front
mech. Just have a look at these two photos - nearly exactly the same

<http://www.paul-lange.de/bilder/shimano/Produkte/2006/MTB/DEORE/FD-M530.jpg/plimage_details>
<http://www.paul-lange.de/bilder/shimano/Produkte/2006/MTB/DEORE_XT/FD-M760A.jpg/plimage_details>

For most uses a Deore front mech is good enough. My ancient Deore LX front
mech from 94 is still working fine. For other components, especially the
hubs, there are though quite significant differences between Deore and
Deore XT.

Andreas

Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>,
> Duncan Smith
> [email protected] says...
> > I have in hands one Shimano XT FD-M760 front mech and another Shimano
> > Deore (not LX, just Deore) mech. After a careful inspection I
> > conclude the differences are:
> >
> > + Colour.
> > + Adjuster screws have 'H' and 'L' engravings on the XT model.
> >
> > That's it. Seem the same weight, material, quality, fairly identical
> > in every respect. Why buy an LX or XT front mech?
> >
> I suspect the XT has either pivot bushes or hard anodising, either of
> which should improve the durability. Just a guess though.

i've noticed that the deore rear shifter on my still fairly new MTB
doesn't shift anything like as well as the old bike's STX one, or rather
in the ooh ****! i need gear X it makes a lot more fuss than the old one
which might make a clunk but does it with out a problem.

i suspect that as someone further up the thread said may not be 100%
ajusted. after all there is differnce from being able to shift to all
gears and being correctly ajusted.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com

On 9 Sep, 16:42, Andreas Schulze-Bäing <[email protected]> wrote:
> Am Sat, 08 Sep 2007 20:32:09 -0000 schrieb Duncan Smith:
>
> > I have in hands one Shimano XT FD-M760 front mech and another Shimano
> > Deore (not LX, just Deore) mech. After a careful inspection I
> > conclude the differences are:
>
> > + Colour.
> > + Adjuster screws have 'H' and 'L' engravings on the XT model.
>
> > That's it. Seem the same weight, material, quality, fairly identical
> > in every respect. Why buy an LX or XT front mech?
>
> As you say - there seems to be little difference between Deore and xt front
> mech. Just have a look at these two photos - nearly exactly the same
>
> <http://www.paul-lange.de/bilder/shimano/Produkte/2006/MTB/DEORE/FD-M5...>
> <http://www.paul-lange.de/bilder/shimano/Produkte/2006/MTB/DEORE_XT/FD...>
>
> For most uses a Deore front mech is good enough. My ancient Deore LX front
> mech from 94 is still working fine. For other components, especially the
> hubs, there are though quite significant differences between Deore and
> Deore XT.
>
> Andreas

Yep, I agree, this is why I almost always use a deore/LX front and
stick with XT on the rear, I've had so many hours from LX's that the
frame/other parts generally are dead before the front mech.