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Shimano Deore XT rear derailleur review

Shimano’s Deore XT lineup has long been the staple for serious cyclists who want great performance but were hesitant (or unable) to drop the cash on the slick but pricey XTR group. The Deore XT rear derailleur offers consistency in all conditions and does a very good job moving gears when it’s supposed too. While the derailleur experiences some of the shortcomings that are common to Shimano derailleurs, it’s a good overall performer.

For this review, the Shimano Deore XT high normal (non-rapid rise) rear derailleur was mounted on a 2003 Giant Rainier using Shimano’s LX Rapid Fire trigger shifters. The bike was ridden regularly in the Fraser Valley and beyond — Maple Ridge, Coquitlam, Mission, Bellingham (Galbraith).

I ran the high-normal version (non-rapid rise) of the Deore XT rear derailleur. The Deore XT is now available only in the low-normal, which in my humble opinion, is superior to the alternative. Low normal derailleurs shift in reverse to what you’ve come to expect: ‘pulling’ leads to an upshift into an easier gear while ‘pushing’ with your thumb downshifts into a harder gear. This system is great for increased shifting performance under load. The main criticism about low normal shifting is from riders who like to change three or four gears with a single push of their thumb.

First impressions

Like some of the other derailleurs in Shimano’s stable the Deore XT rear derailleur doesn’t exactly knock your socks off. While it is more impressive than the Deore and Deore LX models, the lack of real innovation in Shimano’s design over the last few years has made the derailleur’s appearance less than overwhelming. I do like the styling of the new XT derailleurs — the lines look a little sharper and the part is differentiated a bit from its lower-end siblings.

That being said, when you open the black and silver box that contains your new XT derailleur, you know what you’re getting into and you know that once the derailleur is mounted on your bike and tuned properly, you’ll be good to go, with reliable movement and clean and quick shifting.

Performance

The Deore XT performs really well on the trail. When set up correctly and adjusted properly, the XT offers shifting that rivals the top-of-the-line models from Shimano and SRAM. I found little real difference between the actual ability of the XT rear derailleur to ‘change the gears’ and the SRAM X.0; when the XT is on, it’s on and it performs really, really well.

I found that my test derailleur worked well in all conditions, downshifting under load without complaint and upshifting in a way that’s similar to the SRAM X.0. And even after a few months of regular riding, the XT was reasonably tight and free of the serious side-to-side play that developed in the Deore derailleur over time.

Durability

My knock on the XT derailleur comes up when you do just that: knock the derailleur. Inevitably, every rider falls or makes a small mistake that ends up in you cursing your bike, its parts, yourself, or the dog that runs in front of you and forces you from the trail (not that that happened to me). Part of this is due to the 1:2 actuation ratio that Shimano uses with all of its derailleurs; this ratio helps the derailleur work effortlessly when it’s tuned and straight, but when it becomes less than perfect the thing that makes the derailleur work so well becomes its worst enemy.

That being said, my derailleur lasted most of the season before I experienced a knock that forced me to fiddle around with the part. After a few minutes with the bike on the stand I was able to get it to shift properly and reliably, although it was noticeably less silky ’smooth’ than it was prior to the crash.

As is the case with the rest of Shimano’s lineup, the Deore XT suffers from excessive chainstay ‘knuckle slap’, has relatively poor cable routing, and uses an exposed barrel adjuster (for fine tuning) that is easily broken . While I do believe that ‘knuckle slap’ is less of an issue for cross country than it is for all mountain, freeride, and downhill applications, it remains something that isn’t a problem with derailleurs from SRAM and is something that I’d prefer not to hear on more technical descents.

I’ve run XT derailleurs on bigger bikes at places like Whistler Bike Park and on DH runs and, in those cases, the life span of the derailleur is noticeably less than that of a SRAM X.9.

Pricing

The Shimano Deore XT rear derailleur has an MSRP of about $75 (usd) and $120 (cad), which puts it right in line with the offerings from Shimano’s major and only real competitor in the mountain bike derailleur market (SRAM).

Wild card

The Deore XT derailleur weighs in at about 260 grams, which is about 50 or so grams heavier than the top-of-the-line products by both Shimano and SRAM and about 20 grams lighter than the cheaper Deore LX model.

Summary

In the end, the Shimano Deore XT rear derailleur works well but you shouldn’t expect the world from it. It easily outperforms the Deore and LX models and it’s on par with the competing offering from SRAM (the X.9).

The XT has an acceptable life span and, as long as you’re not known for running your derailleur into rocks or tumbling down slopes with bike in hand, you should get good value for your cash. If you can afford the price and appreciate the increased durability and performance that the XT offers over its lower-priced siblings, it’s worth the upgrade.

Manufacturer website: www.shimano.com

MSRP: $75 (usd) | $120 (cad)

This entry was posted on Monday, June 13th, 2005 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.