Now I'll start by saying I've always been a Shimano fan, it's what I grew up with, always expected great performance and smooth shifting at a great price. It's like pc vs apple, I've always preferred pc, that kind of thing.
Now I've just fitted a new Shimano 12 speed drivetrain, XTR cranks, chain and shifter, SLX m7120 derailleur and SLX 45t cassette.
Chain was degreased from new and fresh Silca Synergetic applied.
This thing shifts like crap and is noisy.
Yea it shifts 'slightly' better under load than a Sram setup but the delay in the shift feels awful, the derailleur moves and the chain takes about half a second to shift over. Everything is adjusted correctly, but tension etc and it goes through all the gears fine but this delay in shift is awful. I also expected the shift itself to be much smoother than it actually is, yea it is a bit smoother than Sram in some occasions when under load but it will still clunk in certain gears when pedalling hard and still will make noise.. I'd put the shift smoothness at maybe 10 - 20% smoother than Eagle but the shift delay is like twice as bad and really detracts from the shifting experience. Imo the slight increase in smoothness no way makes up for the hugely slower shift speed, in some ways it makes it feel clunky because the shift on the back is not in sulync with when you push the shifter and the lack of syncy with your leg pressure ends up in with something that doesn't really feel any smoother than Sram and very clumsy.
To top it off the chain on the gears is noisy, you can feel every tooth as it rolls over the cassette even with a clean chain and top end lubricant like the Silca.
Finally the rhythm step 45t cassette..yes the gear ratios feel more evenly spaced but in practice it just feels off, the middle of the cassette feels biased towards the bigger cog so half the cassette just feels too low range and unusable at above moderate speeds. The high gears (small cogs) feel no smoother to shift than Sram or any other drivetrain and those are the gears I use the most.
Overall it just doesn't feel as tightly wound and immediate as Sram, it just feels loose, clumsy, unrefined and barely feels any smoother except in some gears with the huge penalty of lag. There is no reason it should be noisy either when everything is setup properly yet it is probably the noisiest new drivetrain I have ever owned, it just sounds like it is robbing you of power and not silky smooth.
Maybe the smoothness and sound will improve as things wear and bed in over time but the lag is terrible.
There is no way it will be more durable than a gold XX1 cassette and chain or last anywhere near long, it doesn't look anywhere near as trick, it's not as light, it doesn't shift close to as fast, it has clutches that get rough over time and it doesn't have the derailleur cage release to make wheel changes much easier.
Overall I'm not impressed, XX1 Eagle on my last bike was a far superior overall experience to this.
I'm certain it is the chain and cassette and possibly chainring too, as the derailleur and shifter I have already being using on an 11 speed Sram cassette and Chain with no shift lag and smooth shifting. I love the feel of the XTR shifter but in combination with the Shimano cassette and chain the shifting is poor. Hyperglide plus is way overated, the difference is noticeable but marginal but the delay and noise is a total disaster.
Now I've just fitted a new Shimano 12 speed drivetrain, XTR cranks, chain and shifter, SLX m7120 derailleur and SLX 45t cassette.
Chain was degreased from new and fresh Silca Synergetic applied.
This thing shifts like crap and is noisy.
Yea it shifts 'slightly' better under load than a Sram setup but the delay in the shift feels awful, the derailleur moves and the chain takes about half a second to shift over. Everything is adjusted correctly, but tension etc and it goes through all the gears fine but this delay in shift is awful. I also expected the shift itself to be much smoother than it actually is, yea it is a bit smoother than Sram in some occasions when under load but it will still clunk in certain gears when pedalling hard and still will make noise.. I'd put the shift smoothness at maybe 10 - 20% smoother than Eagle but the shift delay is like twice as bad and really detracts from the shifting experience. Imo the slight increase in smoothness no way makes up for the hugely slower shift speed, in some ways it makes it feel clunky because the shift on the back is not in sulync with when you push the shifter and the lack of syncy with your leg pressure ends up in with something that doesn't really feel any smoother than Sram and very clumsy.
To top it off the chain on the gears is noisy, you can feel every tooth as it rolls over the cassette even with a clean chain and top end lubricant like the Silca.
Finally the rhythm step 45t cassette..yes the gear ratios feel more evenly spaced but in practice it just feels off, the middle of the cassette feels biased towards the bigger cog so half the cassette just feels too low range and unusable at above moderate speeds. The high gears (small cogs) feel no smoother to shift than Sram or any other drivetrain and those are the gears I use the most.
Overall it just doesn't feel as tightly wound and immediate as Sram, it just feels loose, clumsy, unrefined and barely feels any smoother except in some gears with the huge penalty of lag. There is no reason it should be noisy either when everything is setup properly yet it is probably the noisiest new drivetrain I have ever owned, it just sounds like it is robbing you of power and not silky smooth.
Maybe the smoothness and sound will improve as things wear and bed in over time but the lag is terrible.
There is no way it will be more durable than a gold XX1 cassette and chain or last anywhere near long, it doesn't look anywhere near as trick, it's not as light, it doesn't shift close to as fast, it has clutches that get rough over time and it doesn't have the derailleur cage release to make wheel changes much easier.
Overall I'm not impressed, XX1 Eagle on my last bike was a far superior overall experience to this.
I'm certain it is the chain and cassette and possibly chainring too, as the derailleur and shifter I have already being using on an 11 speed Sram cassette and Chain with no shift lag and smooth shifting. I love the feel of the XTR shifter but in combination with the Shimano cassette and chain the shifting is poor. Hyperglide plus is way overated, the difference is noticeable but marginal but the delay and noise is a total disaster.
