Pros and cons of XTR

Friday said:

Anyone got any comments on XTR versus XT equipment for mountain biking?

It's got an "R" in the title, so it must be faster. Extra points if
you fit it all up to a red frame.

Happy to help!

BTH

Friday said:

Anyone got any comments on XTR versus XT equipment for mountain biking?

I can afford XT and it works.

Donga

Friday said:

Anyone got any comments on XTR versus XT equipment for mountain biking?

A little bit lighter, a little bit stiffer, a lot more expensive.

You racing? If not, don't bother.

quote='Bleve'Friday said:

Anyone got any comments on XTR versus XT equipment for mountain biking?

A little bit lighter, a little bit stiffer, a lot more expensive.

You racing? If not, don't bother.[/QUOTE]

I second that. XT works fine & you won't notice the weight difference, except in your wallet. 🙂

XTR - Expensive Bling (And there is more bling bling to be got) 😄

XT - Reliable light riders equipment.

Or you could run SRAM X9 Shifters and Rder. XT Cranks and Hubs with shimano discs (if you want discs that is)

Personally I rate the SRAM X9 better than XT in the shifting department due to the consistent good shifting and the trigger arrangement on the shifter.

The only XTR I would run would be the hubs, but cost is prohibitive.

Paulie-AU said:

XTR - Expensive Bling (And there is more bling bling to be got) 😄

XT - Reliable light riders equipment.

Or you could run SRAM X9 Shifters and Rder. XT Cranks and Hubs with
shimano discs (if you want discs that is)

Personally I rate the SRAM X9 better than XT in the shifting department
due to the consistent good shifting and the trigger arrangement on the
shifter.

The only XTR I would run would be the hubs, but cost is prohibitive.

I tried a bike with SRAM components and found that shifting
was consistently good, except I had a bugger of a time
trying to shift to bigger cogs because my thumbs were too
small to push the lever far enough easily. Very frustrating
- and it was meant to be a chick-specific setup!

T

In aus.bicycle on Mon, 09 Oct 2006 13:08:55 +1000

Tamyka Bell said:

I tried a bike with SRAM components and found that shifting
was consistently good, except I had a bugger of a time
trying to shift to bigger cogs because my thumbs were too
small to push the lever far enough easily. Very frustrating
- and it was meant to be a chick-specific setup!

Same same their gripshift. The rear is sweet (except for some
cogjumping problems I have that I think are cable route related) but
the front is a right pain. Hellish hard on the wrist to shift to the
big ring, and constantly having to adjust the limit screws to get it
to shift properly to the small ring.

I now have barcons including an XT rear derailleur. Just have to
decide if I do the swap myself or wimp out and get a shop to do it.

Is it etiquette to turn up to a bike shop with all the bits and say
"don't want to buy parts from you, just want you to do the work"?

Zebee

Tamyka Bell said:

I tried a bike with SRAM components and found that shifting
was consistently good, except I had a bugger of a time
trying to shift to bigger cogs because my thumbs were too
small to push the lever far enough easily. Very frustrating
- and it was meant to be a chick-specific setup!

I agree. I have X9 shifters and halfway into the Epic I could barely
shift to the big ring, my thumb muscles were so tired.

Donga

Zebee Johnstone said:

I now have barcons including an XT rear derailleur. Just have to
decide if I do the swap myself or wimp out and get a shop to do it.

Is it etiquette to turn up to a bike shop with all the bits and say
"don't want to buy parts from you, just want you to do the work"?

Be a devil, do it yourself. Get instructions off the web, e.g. Park
Tools, and follow them. Believe it or not, they work, and it's not
hard.

I've asked this question about etiquette and the answer is the workshop
is happy to do your work using your parts and charge you a fee. I found
this so, except still was embarrassed.

Donga

SRAM front ders use the same activation ratio as Shimano meaning you can use both Sram and Shimano front ders.

I am surprised that people have had problems shifting with it. (new stuff that is).

In aus.bicycle on 8 Oct 2006 20:37:15 -0700

Donga said:

Be a devil, do it yourself. Get instructions off the web, e.g. Park
Tools, and follow them. Believe it or not, they work, and it's not
hard.

Yeah, but while I'm happy to rebuild my motorcycle motor completely,
these cables and cogs and things worry me!

Ah well, I suppose if I foul it up I can whack the bent in the trailer
and take it to someone to fix.

Hmm, have to buy a tube cutter....

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on Mon, 09 Oct 2006 13:08:55 +1000

Tamyka Bell said:

I tried a bike with SRAM components and found that shifting
was consistently good, except I had a bugger of a time
trying to shift to bigger cogs because my thumbs were too
small to push the lever far enough easily. Very frustrating
- and it was meant to be a chick-specific setup!

Same same their gripshift. The rear is sweet (except for some
cogjumping problems I have that I think are cable route related) but
the front is a right pain. Hellish hard on the wrist to shift to the
big ring, and constantly having to adjust the limit screws to get it
to shift properly to the small ring.

I now have barcons including an XT rear derailleur. Just have to
decide if I do the swap myself or wimp out and get a shop to do it.

Is it etiquette to turn up to a bike shop with all the bits and say
"don't want to buy parts from you, just want you to do the work"?

Sure, but generally you'll pay a higher rate for the job as the shop's
not making any money off the sale of the bits, which generally
subsidises the labour charges.

We do it reasonably often. We often get to assemble kmart bikes too
.... urghh

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on 8 Oct 2006 20:37:15 -0700

Donga said:

Be a devil, do it yourself. Get instructions off the web, e.g. Park
Tools, and follow them. Believe it or not, they work, and it's not
hard.

Yeah, but while I'm happy to rebuild my motorcycle motor completely,
these cables and cogs and things worry me!

I know that feeling. Was quite happy doing all (well most) of my own
work on the FJ1200, but still felt I needed a maint course on bikes.

DaveB

In aus.bicycle on 8 Oct 2006 21:07:39 -0700

Bleve said:

Sure, but generally you'll pay a higher rate for the job as the shop's
not making any money off the sale of the bits, which generally
subsidises the labour charges.

That's what I figured. I don't mind the money because I don't mind
paying for expertise.

What pisses me off is substandard work... and I've had that happen!

I might ask City Bike to quote as they are easy to get to and have
treated me well before. (besides, anyone who has tubes in my bike's
sizes on the shelf is definitely on my good guys list!)

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone said:

Quoted message said:

Sure, but generally you'll pay a higher rate for the job as the shop's
not making any money off the sale of the bits, which generally
subsidises the labour charges.

That's what I figured. I don't mind the money because I don't mind
paying for expertise.

Some people get quite indignant. We typically charge around $50 an
hour for labour, and something like fitting a flightdeck computer can
take that long, or assembling a kmart [censored] (to a standard that we'd
accept as at least, safe to ride) can take longer. The general rule
for bike assembly is the cheaper the bike, the longer it takes to put
together properly*
so when someone brings in some $80 [censored] from kmart and asks us to
build it for them and we quote them $100 to do it, they get quite
annoyed. But, it'll take us two hours to get the damn thing to work
properly, after we rerun the cables, replace the parts that break the
first time we testride it (brake lever housings made of the cheapest,
nastiest plastic you can imagine for example) etc.

Quoted message said:

What pisses me off is substandard work... and I've had that happen!

I might ask City Bike to quote as they are easy to get to and have
treated me well before. (besides, anyone who has tubes in my bike's
sizes on the shelf is definitely on my good guys list!)

You'd like the LBS I work at then, we have 'bent tyres, 'bent tubes,
'bent wheels ... even have 'bents on the floor to testride 🙂 We lend
out beards and long socks to go with them...

* - except Cannondales. They take ages to put together, they come as a
bag of bauxite and a bag of graphite fibres, some pig iron, and some
instructions ...

In aus.bicycle on 8 Oct 2006 23:13:27 -0700

Bleve said:

Some people get quite indignant. We typically charge around $50 an
hour for labour, and something like fitting a flightdeck computer can
take that long, or assembling a kmart [censored] (to a standard that we'd
accept as at least, safe to ride) can take longer. The general rule
for bike assembly is the cheaper the bike, the longer it takes to put
together properly*

Ah but you see I'm a motorcyclist. What's more I'm a motorcyclist
into "Classic Italian machinery", otherwise known as 1970s horror
stories 🙂

So when I walk into my friendly motorcycle mechanic I know I'm up for
quids because ain't nothing cheap or quick when someone else is
working on your elderly wopbike.

So if I can be sure they'll do it right then I'll be happy to pay,
better than then me mess it up and then it will cost more to have them
fix it.

Quoted message said:

You'd like the LBS I work at then, we have 'bent tyres, 'bent tubes,
'bent wheels ... even have 'bents on the floor to testride 🙂 We lend
out beards and long socks to go with them...

What about the sandals? Got to have the sandals!

Zebee

Friday said:

Anyone got any comments on XTR versus XT equipment for mountain biking?

As many others have said - as far as derailleurs go only XTR if someone
else is paying for your stuff and it has to be Shimano. Else XT is good
but X9 is betterer.

Parbs - who prefers neither

"Bleve" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Friday said:

Anyone got any comments on XTR versus XT equipment for mountain biking?

A little bit lighter, a little bit stiffer, a lot more expensive.

Or less stiff as the case may be. XT cranks are stiffer than XTR.

Quoted message said:

You racing? If not, don't bother.

Even if you're racing it hardly matters. XTR is for people who don't pay
for their gear, check out what it costs to replace an XTR cassette vs XT.

--
Frank
[email hidden]
Drop DACKS to reply
"Zebee Johnstone" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

In aus.bicycle on Mon, 09 Oct 2006 13:08:55 +1000

Tamyka Bell said:

I tried a bike with SRAM components and found that shifting
was consistently good, except I had a bugger of a time
trying to shift to bigger cogs because my thumbs were too
small to push the lever far enough easily. Very frustrating
- and it was meant to be a chick-specific setup!

Same same their gripshift. The rear is sweet (except for some
cogjumping problems I have that I think are cable route related) but
the front is a right pain. Hellish hard on the wrist to shift to the
big ring, and constantly having to adjust the limit screws to get it
to shift properly to the small ring.

I now have barcons including an XT rear derailleur. Just have to
decide if I do the swap myself or wimp out and get a shop to do it.

Is it etiquette to turn up to a bike shop with all the bits and say
"don't want to buy parts from you, just want you to do the work"?

Zebee

I'm in the process of buying a small bike shop (Plug - Jet Cycles in
Kelmscott, WA) and I'm taking the line that I'm selling service/labour so
bringing bits in to be fitted will incur a fee but no gripes about not
buying from me. I figure that's a more productive line than whinging about
net shopping vs supporting your LBS. Net shopping will happen, so I may as
well go along with it.

Cheers,

Frank