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Submitted by
Jonathan
a Cross Country Rider
from Israel
Date Reviewed: February 18, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | CTC Israel | | Strengths: | Worked well for 6 months | | Weaknesses: | The middle chainring started to cause a lot of chiansucks after a half a year. Very disappointed. | | Bottom Line: | I should have read this page before I got the crank it would have saved me a lot of money!!!!!!
Shimano did a big scam here to make more money!!!!!!!!!!!! | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
spiro vagenas
a
from Denmark
Date Reviewed: September 7, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | koeki | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Purchased At: | original component | | Strengths: | 22 chainring does the job | | Weaknesses: | 44 chainring very short life | | Similar Products Used: | no name brands | | Bike Setup: | koga-miyata tls | | Bottom Line: | Anything else than a XT 44 chainring. There are simply put, no benefits with this chainring. This is also the impression I get from my local bike shop. I have been through a few of these chainrings now and I have never come across a chainring this soft. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Zane
a Cross Country Rider
from Henderson, NV
Date Reviewed: July 26, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Cottonwood Trails | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | Local Bike Shop | | Strengths: | None | | Weaknesses: | Skips like a 5yr old girl. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano LX | | Bike Setup: | Klein Atittude Race frame, Mavic wheels, Shimano XT group, Easton EA70 bar/stem/post | | Bottom Line: | Do not buy this product. After 10 months of trouble shooting, banging my knees on the bars and going over the bars, I learned last week that Shimano knows there is a design flaw in the 2006 model and they will do a recall replacement if you complain. However, they are not offering up this information to the bike shops. If I catch the Shimano rep in my LBS, I'm going to make him feel the pain I've felt due to this f#$@ing piece of crap. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Brendan
a Cross Country Rider
from Wollongong, Australia
Date Reviewed: June 28, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Anything local | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Shifts OK. | | Weaknesses: | Chain skips on it without much wear. | | Similar Products Used: | RaceFace, BBB, TruVativ, Blackspire. | | Bike Setup: | Blur LT, Nixon fork, XO shifters and rear derailleur, LX front, CrossMax XL wheels, Juicy carbon brakes, Maverick seatpost. | | Bottom Line: | Abyssmal. Worst middle chainring I have ever used. Replaced chainring on XT crank which wore early with another XT in October of last year.
It skipped from the outset, everyone in the bike shop I bought it at, and the people I rode with looked at me like I was a mechanically inept idiot. Had replaced chain and cassette with SRAM ones at time of change over, so replaced those as I thought it would improve going back to all Shimano setup. Wrong. Chain skipped going up a short hard climb, went over the bars, landed on a jagged burnt out stump, was cut and gouged profusely. Found out these things had problems/issues even when new, replaced with cheap BBB chainring, and have not had a problem since.
I can't believe Shimano could put something this bad on the market. I had complete faith in them, to the point of replacing everything but this chainring, until told of these issues by the LBS after they'd made some enquiries. Looking back it's probably even worse a situation than the crappy XTR chainrings they made, at least those weren't complete crap from the outset. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John
a Cross Country Rider
from Austin, TX
Date Reviewed: April 16, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Barton Creek Greenbelt | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | With bike | | Weaknesses: | Unbelieveably cheesy. Started skipping early and after a year it died, put on a brand new one and that one skipped too. Replaced it with a Salsa for half the price and it skips no more. | | Similar Products Used: | Salsa chainring ($20) | | Bottom Line: | Not worth the price, wears down too quick and skips under torque | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
pierre bourgon
a Cross Country Rider
from cornwall, ON, Canada
Date Reviewed: December 24, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | any trail I find | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Purchased At: | on bike | | Strengths: | smooth shifteing, bombproof | | Weaknesses: | rapid wear | | Similar Products Used: | STX RC(cheap durable steel), truivat-s,s,Al | | Bike Setup: | no suspention | | Bottom Line: | these are good cranks, not especially durable though. If you have a problem with gear wear with any aluminum chainring just find a steel replacement. usually this is a problem with the two smallest chainrings. just make sure it has chain pick-ups (ramps, pins) like the old chainring. chainsuck, never happened. most aluminum chainrings will 3000-6000 miles before they are shark-finned. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Nigel S
a Cross Country Rider
from Dublin, Ireland
Date Reviewed: November 4, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | anything technical | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Purchased At: | as part of my bike | | Strengths: | works fine for 4 months | | Weaknesses: | they suck... | | Similar Products Used: | 2000 deore cranks | | Bike Setup: | Merlin Malt 2, magura asgard forks, full XT kit | | Bottom Line: | if u want a product that will last...don't bother with these.
They worked fine for 4 or 5 months but then the chainsuck began....mystery bent teeth and now 3 broken teeth on my granny ring?? very strange indeed!
i had deore cranks for 4 years and i never had a problem. it doesn't make sense that a product that costs more is far worse...
Shimano....Get ur act together | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
jason
a Cross Country Rider
from los angeles
Date Reviewed: August 21, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Peak, suicide | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Tough one, they seem to work if the conditions are perfect...u know, the moon is aligned with the sun crap... | | Weaknesses: | In short...one year...went thru 3 rings...many broken teeth, and the chain suck...omg...if only my girlfriend would suck this much i would have married her a long time ago | | Similar Products Used: | race face, | | Bike Setup: | Enduro Pro | | Bottom Line: | I've tried to stand by shimano...repeatedly forking out the cash to replace what I thought was rider error. Spending hours cleaning my chain, rings, cogs, ... stopping and hiking thru mud/water in hopes to keep my drive train clean and suck free....no luck. And when these rings dont suck, they break...forgetaboutit. I recently moved on to race face and very happy, no complaints. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Eben
a
from Palo Alto, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: June 21, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Purchased At: | OffRamp | | Strengths: | None. Sometimes possibly to pedal over parking lots if there are no puddles. | | Weaknesses: | Chain suck from day one on new Epic Marathon. Skipping on hills. Can't handle any mud or water. Complete junk. | | Similar Products Used: | 9 years of same chain rings on specialized pro before buying this new bike this year. If I had the old chain rings I would put them on in a second. | | Bottom Line: | Get anything but these Shimano XT chain rings. Not sure what I'm going to try now, but need to figure something else out as I can not pedal up hills due to severe constant chain suck. Very frustrating! These get 0 flamin chilis all around. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jason
a Cross Country Rider
from Johnson City, TN
Date Reviewed: June 14, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | Pricepoint.com | | Strengths: | Reasonably light | | Weaknesses: | I got the crankset at pricepoint in April of last year and the teeth were mangled on the middle and small rings before the summer was over. | | Similar Products Used: | LX | | Bike Setup: | Santa Cruz Superlight | | Bottom Line: | These things are junk | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
James Taylor
a Racer
from UK
Date Reviewed: December 16, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Pennines | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Purchased At: | On bike from Keswick MTB | | Strengths: | Shifts well when chain is not jammed. | | Weaknesses: | Chain suck on the middle ring after 1 hours use, it is constantly getting pulled up behind the chain set when pedaling along normally. Replacement chain did not help. | | Similar Products Used: | Old XT (bomb proof) Pace, Sugino, Campagnolo. | | Bike Setup: | 2004 Specialized Epic Marathon. | | Bottom Line: | 2004 XT middle rings are not fit for purpose, 1 out of 5 is far to generous. My problem is not isolated and I think Shimano should recall this product.
The problem only gets worse with use, after no more than 20 hours I couldn't even ride across a car park without it sucking up.
Replaced the middle ring with a Middleburn, now waiting for Madison to refund the cost under warranty.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Luke
a
from Sudbury, MA
Date Reviewed: July 12, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Strengths: | Shifts well | | Weaknesses: | Doesn't last long, granny wears out causing chainsuck under stress | | Bike Setup: | 2002 Sugar 3+, XT front and rear deraillereurs, Hollowtech XT crank and rings | | Bottom Line: | I'm frustrated - after dealing with the mis-aligned frames that the sugars had I have now had two granny rings wear out causing chainsuck under stress. I don't get it. My 11 year-old hardtail has its' original rings on it. Reading the other reviews I see many folks had problems with the middle ring. My issue is with the granny. Any suggestions on more durable rings that will fit the four-arm setup? | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Roberto
a Weekend Warrior
from Albuquerque, NM
Date Reviewed: July 10, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | King Cedidro | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$50.00 | | Purchased At: | performancebike.com (?) | | Strengths: | Light, smooth shifting - but who cares if they can't hold your chain when you most need them to. | | Weaknesses: | NOT MADE FOR ALL BIKES! BE CAREFUL!
Not compatible with some full suspension bikes.
I have Giant NRS and the middle ring would not hold the chain when the rear suspension engaged - even when the ring was brand new. I replace the middle ring with a much less "engineered" ring (and much less expensive) and the problem went away completely. Shimano should offer us some rings that get it done the old fashion way - with big beautiful TEETH.
| | Bike Setup: | Giant NRS with XT drivetrain | | Bottom Line: | Keep it simple stupid - these rings are not mountain bike rings. Until they change the design, I will never buy these rings again. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Matt
a Weekend Warrior
from Bracknell, Berkshire
Date Reviewed: March 12, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$75.00 | | Purchased At: | Halfords | | Strengths: | weight, looks and the price I paid for them. | | Weaknesses: | chainsuck on granny wheel and middle ring in muddy or wet conditions. | | Similar Products Used: | LX, and others | | Bike Setup: | Dean Colonel, Hope hubs and front disc, avid v-brakes (rear), shimano XT gearing througout. | | Bottom Line: | I decided to get these instead of middleburn as they were being sold at half-price. They performed well for my trip across France, but off roading, any hint of mud and these things suck big time. Needless to say, I am ditching these and buying some boone chainrings. I also found the XT levers to be cheap and nasty too. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jack
a
from the netherlands
Date Reviewed: November 5, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | Havelte | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Shimano XT 2003 cranks are ok | | Weaknesses: | second chainring causes chainsuck all the time in wet/muddy circumstances | | Similar Products Used: | BBB | | Bike Setup: | Ridley xt/xtr, duke, crossmax, fast fred 2.35 | | Bottom Line: | In general I have no complaints about the shimano XT products. Bust the second chainring really sucks. When it's only a little bit rainy and muddy outside I 'll get chainsucks all the time. I have tried other chains (KMC) but still had chainsucks. Though I only have riden 600 kilometre with these chainrings I am goiing to replace them for BBB.
I expected more quality from shimano's second-best MTB group. (Shimano refunds are welcome) | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ben
a Cross Country Rider
from Norway
Date Reviewed: August 9, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | Zilch
............. oh, it's light | | Weaknesses: | It's light! ie. aluminium | | Similar Products Used: | Truvativ chainrings | | Bike Setup: | Old setup - Truvativ crank and chainrings, LX cassette, shimano HG chain
New setup, XT chainrings on the old Truvativ crank, wipperman connex chain, XT cassette | | Bottom Line: | I needed new chainrings that was for sure.
And I've only done like 200Km on them so far.
My LBS had only alu. chainrings for 4 arm cranks, so I got the XT rings.
When the guy in the shop handed them to me, I was like, "Aluminum? really? that's all you got?" And it was.
Well, anyway, shifting is fine, no problems there.
The granny ring is fine, the outer ring is fine.
But the middle ring, that sucks!!
I've got chain suck big time!!! As soon as I put the bloody thing on and rode around the block, CHAIN SUCK!!
I don't even need to be pedalling hard, and it just sucks my chain right up into the derailleur.
I thought, it'd just use them for a short while and then replace the whole crank and BB next time they wear out, and from what I read on here, that isn't going to take long.
If I can, I'll stop my bike and check where the joiner is on the chain, and it's always in a different place.
To with I was wondering if it was the joiner link on the chain catching for some reason, but I've only ever found it once down there were the chain suck occurs.
I don't know!? I give up.
Maybe the chain doesn't like the rings so much, but I still don't like these crappy chainrings.
The old truvativ rings I took off were alu. as well, but they were of better quality than this shimano rubbish.
Bottom line - fin something better than Shimano chainrings. IMO | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Benton
a
from Atlanta
Date Reviewed: July 21, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | Ocoee Whitewater Center | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$60.00 | | Purchased At: | cabria (replacements) | | Strengths: | Light weight alloy (doesn't rust) | | Weaknesses: | Light weight alloy. If you ride your bike as it should be ridden, the the teeth just chip off at an amazingly fast rate. Especially the middle ring. Hell, even the granny gear wears faster than it should in my opinion. I can see substantial wear on my new middle ring after only 10 rides. That's not right. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XT/LX/DX 8 speed | | Bike Setup: | Airborne Consair, Marz 105 mm with ETA (awesome shock), XT/XTR drive train. | | Bottom Line: | My personal belief is that 9-speed allows for what manufacturers refer to as "planned obsolescence." In other words, the faster wear of the rings means more money for the bike component manufacturers. I was shocked to find out that LX and XT replacement rings have the same part number from Shimano. How about that? You think you are getting better a quality crank set when you buy XT? I don't think so. You are getting slightly lighter crank arm with the same rings. I have no solution for those in search of reliable chain rings on a 9-speed. What happened to the good ole 8-speed days where rings lasted years - not months. My next experiment is to try Ti rings from Action-Tec. I will probably have to move to another crank set to do it. Tip: To get the best deal on replacement XT rings, buy a discounted LX crankset on-line and pull the rings off to save money.
Bottom Line: Aluminum alloy is an inexpensive metal that is lightweight, soft, and has a very short life span.
http://www.actiontec.us/ti&steel.htm | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TienShan
a Cross Country Rider
from San Jose, CA
Date Reviewed: June 24, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | El Corte De Madera | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | Performance Bike | | Strengths: | Shimano's technology advance is mind boggling.
It makes hard wax look like metal.
Or the other way around, it makes metal work like hard wax. | | Weaknesses: | Break easily under casual riding not even riding hard. | | Similar Products Used: | 93-Shimano XTR and now BlackSpire. | | Bike Setup: | Dean TI frame, bar and seatpost with Shimano XT, AVID Arch Rival brake, Manitou Mars Elite | | Bottom Line: | This is a follow up to my previous post.
I have replaced my chain ring with Blackspire for a few months and hopefully this will outlast Shimano's XT.
I have sent my XT middle ring back to Shimano for replacement since it broke during normal riding within the warranty period. I have not heard a word from Shimano.
It appears I might as well throw it into garbage can instead of sending it to Shimano and hoping it will honor the warranty. Also Shimano makes it extremely diffcult for customers to contact it. For customer support or warranty you can only send mail, no phone calls and no emails.
I don't know why Shimano even bothers mentioning warranty for its products since it does not exist. Maybe it's a marketing or sales trick.
Extremely disappointed - a big corporation with such awful (or none at all) customer service. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
ben herbert
a Cross Country Rider
from sydney
Date Reviewed: May 7, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | great north walk around epping, turramurra | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | light. the middle ring only weighed 42 grams. changed well at the start | | Weaknesses: | had some chainsuck problems within a month (200km) in sandy riding conditions. mostly chainging from middle to granny gear. | | Similar Products Used: | no-name steel rings on no-name bike- no chain suck though | | Bike Setup: | epic marathon all 03 XTR, except XT cranks | | Bottom Line: | The XT chainrings are quite light, but unless you're racing I doubt the weight is that much of an issue. I badly bent my chain last weekend when the chain sucked changing from middle to granny. The guy at my LBS (Chatswood Cyclery Northside)rides an Epic too and has had the same problems. He suggested changing the middle to a much harder wearing steel ring. The granny was quite worn as well, so I changed both the middle and granny ring to Shimano steel rings. The steel middle ring weighed 88 grams compared to 42 grams for the XT alloy one. The Shimano steel rings were a perfect fit on the XT spider and I had no problems getting it all assembled. With a new chain the drivetrain is running as smooth as butter again. Long may it last!
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
mr ploppy
a Cross Country Rider
from Australia
Date Reviewed: April 25, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | nice shifter - when new | | Weaknesses: | 2nd ring wears out - really quickly | | Bike Setup: | xc hardtail full xt | | Bottom Line: | looking at other reviews it seems the 2nd ring is the main problem here. Ive worn out mine inside 1000 miles. sure the chain was massively stretched and I have bought a replacement but the 2nd chainring is totally stuffed. problem is - where can i get something stronger that will bolt straight into the xt set?
I would rather sacrifice a few extra grams of weight to get something stronger made of steel than keep replacing this. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Royce Volker
a Weekend Warrior
from Onida SD
Date Reviewed: March 28, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | porccupine rim | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Shimano makes the best components on earth,hand down! | | Weaknesses: | none | | Similar Products Used: | race face,sugino,cannondale | | Bike Setup: | cannondale jekyll,xtr and race face drivetrain all high zoot goodies. | | Bottom Line: | Anyone that knocks a set of XT's has never owned a set of race face rings and cranks.I have a set of race face with 3 hours ride time on them and they are already junk,the set of xt rings on the old giant 980 carbon full susp. I used to ride are in much better shape with about a thousand miles on them.Stay with Shimano and be happy. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Wade
a Weekend Warrior
from Woodbury
Date Reviewed: February 17, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Usually work okay. | | Weaknesses: | Quality Control. | | Similar Products Used: | LX | | Bike Setup: | I've had XT rings on Voodoo, Lightspeed, and Turner | | Bottom Line: | I've only had on problem and that was the MOST aggravating. We built my Turner with brand-new XT drivetrain. Had chainsuck from day one. Two years later figured out it was the chainring. Bought a new chainring and SUCK was gone.
Obviously a bad middle ring right out of the box.
No troubles with the replacement or any ring before or since, but that one caused considerable consternation.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Garner
a Cross Country Rider
from Albuquerque
Date Reviewed: November 4, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | king of the mtn (sandia peak), amassa back (moab), ringwood NJ | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | cyclecraft NJ | | Strengths: | lightweight, large ring is great only when a salsa guard is used | | Weaknesses: | I have replaced the Middle ring once all ready and it is showing wear. Now I broke a tooth off the 22 toother and can't use it. I spent a lot of time on the granny in moab, but claening the drivetrain every day and relubing it. I read reviews and saw that mostly everyone else is having this problem. I am wondering if there are stainless rings available for the XT set-up. I need to get this thing soon and I am sure that I will have to settle for another shimano ring that I will have to replace in a few months. If you know of stainless rings let me know. | | Similar Products Used: | LX on another bike, no problems yet | | Bike Setup: | Trek Fuel 90, Hayes brakes, XT crank upgrade, | | Bottom Line: | Shimano has to stop making crap on their higher end components. I'm 150lbs. and should not be going through these rings like this. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeroen
a Cross Country Rider
from Nijmegen
Date Reviewed: September 23, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | works for one month | | Weaknesses: | very weak | | Similar Products Used: | LX, STX-RC | | Bike Setup: | TREK 8000XC, XT front and rear derailleur, XT crankset | | Bottom Line: | The same story: after 1000 km, the middle ring was completely worn out. Chainsucks all the time. Before I upgraded to the XT crankset I had a STX-RC, which came on my 2nd hand Trek, and I've used that for 5000 km without any problems.... I bought BBB: that one ought to be better | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TienShan
a Weekend Warrior
from Woodsied, CA
Date Reviewed: August 29, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | El Corte De Madera | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | Performance Bike | | Strengths: | none. I can't believe chai |
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$ 60.00
