Hey guys!
As promised, last thing I want to test here is the XTR shifter
and the XTR 12 speed derailleur,
and all this with an SRAM Eagle cassette.
That is because I don't plan on buying anything Micro Spline
or the new Shimano cassettes, not yet anyway,
even though I have DT Swiss hubs
and I can find a Micro Spline freehub for them right now.
For those of you that have seen my video, running this hybrid,
XTR 12 speed shifter with the GX derailleur.
Some of you said that the shifting is clunky, and is noisy.
I would argue that this worked quite well
but here's another quick test just so you have it as a baseline.
So I have a Shimano shifter,
SRAM Eagle GX chain, cassette, and rear derailleur.
Here we go.
one by one first.
All the way up.
So that's what I have right now.
That is not bad at all, I would definitely run this combination any time of day.
So let's replace the GX derailleur with the XTR.
I'm gonna reuse the cable and the chain.
Yes, I wish the XTR had a cage lock, just like the SRAM derailleurs do.
First, the fixing bolt uses a 5 mm Allen key,
I put a bit of Loctite over there
and as you tighten it here, on the derailleur hanger,
make sure that there is no gap here
with this B-gap stop - I think they call it that.
8 to 10 Nm meters torque on this bolt
To adjust the limit screws, use a 2 mm Allen key,
and just like SRAM Eagle, line up that top jockey wheel
to the outside of that first cog of the cassette.
Make sure you're on the highest gear here on the shifter
then use a 4 mm Allen to route that inner cable here on the stop.
The inner cable pretty much wraps around the bolt.
And here it is. Yeah, don't mind my hairy inner cable
I'm gonna replace it before I start riding.
Chain length recommended by Shimano,
almost the same as recommended by SRAM but maybe easier to measure.
So they ask for big to big, which I have here,
plus one, two, three, four,
I have five links, they recommend 4 or 5 plus a quick link,
so I'm definitely within their specs for a hardtai bike.
Just be aware that the housing needed here for XTR
is definitely longer than what Eagle requires,
and with that low limit screw adjusted properly
it's time to take a look at the B-gap.
And this is how easy it is to adjust that B-gap,
given the mark that Shimano provided on their rear derailleur,
so thanks Shimano! Smart!
And for those of you that want to know what I ended up with,
as per SRAM that would be 16-17 mm,
as per Shimano, they measure to the axle here,
and that would be 45 millimeters.
So with the installation done
I have XTR shifter and derailleur, 12 speed Shimano drivetrain.
Does it work?
I don't know, let's give it a try!
Multiple gears at a time
And two at a time.
All right, so what do you think?
It works fine, it works perfectly fine.
Is it any better than what I showed you at the beginning of the day
when I had the SRAM Eagle derailleur?
I would lie to you if I said that I noticed a huge difference,
maybe, maybe, a slightly lighter shifter actuation,
and that would be because of the springs and the tension in that clutch.
For me, they both work fine,
and I would use either one of them any time.
And there is one more question that I'm going to try to answer,
and that is in regards to
how far out does the derailleur come from the frame?
I will be measuring from the actual derailleur hanger,
and this XTR is about 28 mm or almost 3 cm,
As opposed to that, this SRAM Eagle X01 is about 4 cm,
so I'm talking about at least an extra centimeter
that this SRAME Eagle sticks out from the frame.
So there you have it guys,
I hope you found this useful.
if you did, don't forget to like and subscribe,
Is there any conclusion, any other conclusions to be had ?
Which one do I prefer between the XTR 12 speed
and the Eagle 12 speed?
To be honest with you, I think I would get used to either one of these,
I used to use Shimano a lot, I've been using Eagle for the last year or so.
They both work perfectly fine,
and they offer a great range for the riding that I do.
And Shimano is at least as good,
maybe better if you like the feeling of that new shifter,
but otherwise it's perfectly fine.
The biggest takeaway for me is the fact that they are interchangeable.
The components are, and that would allow you
to keep less spare parts in the house
if you have more than one drivetrain to maintain.
And that's about it guys!
If have any questions
let me know in the section below.
Don't forget that I have a few more videos
talking about XTR 12 speed,
definitely have quite a few talking about SRAM Eagle,
and until next time,
I hope to see you folks on the trails.
Cheers guys,
Cheers!