Yup! Late to the party but I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment: Deore if you want best value for money. XT if you want the best performance. SLX is kind of irrelevant since Deore exists and XTR is for those of you who hate money and want to burn it. 😁 But yeah: XT shifter is probably the most impactful upgrade you can make to your shifting.
slx derailleur and xt shifter is the best combination possible. You could get the xt jockey wheels with sealed bearings for less than $20 extra and it will be basically the same as the XT.
financial this doesn't make sense, because you can often get it cheaper with a real XT. The only thing that really makes sense, especially with an ebike, imo Deore cassette XT derailleur & shifter XTR chain The best performance and at the same time the cheapest combination in the long run. Because the cassette and chain last longer than their counterparts in the other groups.
Six months late, and out of the running for the prize, but I do want to name my childhood inspiration for two wheeled daredevilry, and that inspiration was…Evil Knievel.
My first bike had SRAM and as I keep building bikes it’s been SRAM on them to keep all my extra wheel sets aligned, but those little details you point out would be sooo nice for working on my bikes. In hindsight I would go Shimano. I do swap out for XT brakes because I love that lever feel 😂
I was always a big SRAM guy but recently made the switch to shimano. I think SRAM definitely has the edge on electronic shifting, but for mechanical Shimano has them beat in my opinion, especially at the lower price end
At this point in time, comparing MTB drivetrains ought to include Linkglide. It's was a huge improvement for my emtb - it shifts well and it just keeps on working.
Is M6100 cassette really the same as M7100+ except being full steel/heavier? Or is it the same as with chain where M9100 is the best since it provides all coatings/tech which makes it last longer than XT and below (and although most expensive is cheaper in the long run).
