NickM
Veteran
- Location
- Darwin's birthplace
Because they don't polish it so much, mainly.Cope said:
How big are your chainrings? (I'm surprised that nobody has asked this so far).
XT or XTR Front Mech?
- Thread starter Cope
- Start date
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How big are your chainrings? (I'm surprised that nobody has asked this so far).
U
User482
Guest
Cope said:
SLX is the new LX (which is now aimed at leisure/ touring). It's a lot stronger than LX with no real increase in weight. Many of the components are exactly the same as XT, but with a different cosmetic finish (the rapidfire shifters for example). The consensus is that XT is so similar as to not be worth the extra money. Have a browse on the MTB forums and you'll see what I mean.
Cope
Senior Member
- Location
- Wickham, Hampshire
Thanks guys. I had a look at both in the bike shop, and opted for XT, on purely cosmetic grounds. I got it at the price of SLX too 
Be sure to get one for the correct wheel size. Although the wrong one will work it'll never be as good as the right one. I have a 700c wheel hybrid that came with an XT MTB mech, gear changing was better with a cheap Nexus designed for the bigger wheels. Luckily the choice is now better thanks to the 29ers.
Details of what you should use and why are here under chainstay angle;
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID= 4068
Details of what you should use and why are here under chainstay angle;
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID= 4068
Steve Austin
The Marmalade Kid
- Location
- Mlehworld
Should have gone XTR 
How does wheel size relate to a front mech????? Never seen it on a spec sheet. Top or normal swing, top or bottom pull, various tube sizes and direct or BB mount, in any combination but nothing about wheel size. Curious..............
Do you perhaps mean chain ring capacity?
Do you perhaps mean chain ring capacity?
jpembroke
New Member
- Location
- Cheltenham
spence said:
I was about to say something along those lines but then read the CTC article on the link he posted (the bit about chainstay angle, as he says) and it makes sense. Theoretically there is an issue with using MTB front mechs on road bikes (e.g. tourers) due to the seat tube angle being steeper on road bikes than on the MTBs for which they were designed. This can cause the front mech to sit at the wrong angle for the chain. Mind you, never heard of anyone having issues in practice.
jpembroke said:
Me neither but then I did play safe and check seat tube angles when I replaced my XT mech (on my old mtb) with an Alivio.
But I think there is a general but important point to be made; that is, it's not just as simple as swapping one mech for another. They all do have their correct operating ranges; be it the chainring sizes (and steps) they can service, or seat tube angles, etc etc. This also changes over the years. For instance, I couldn't even get a new XT mech for my old mtb, despite everything else being XT. There just wasn't a mech in the XT range anymore that would have worked for me.
It is definitely worth checking that stuff out before just buying a new mech.
