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Back in the summer I gave 11 speed a bash thanks to an Evans special buy.
I cannot get excited by the extra gear, I'm no more appealing to women, my friends don't think I'm any cooler etc
What gets me though is the weight of the cassette ..... I know it has an extra sprocket but jebus its heavy.
Without going down the SRAM route what are my options of retaining being able to change it up to 11 but without the weight. I may be priced out of XTR but are the Sunrace 11 speed cassettes worth a punt?
I use a 10 speed (black) SR cassette and that's been good albeit noiser than my SRAM/Shimano stock.
Go sram, the gx is the right price and weight. Simple stuff really.
SRAM GX is the same weight as XT 11-40 and he'd need either a new hub or at least a new freehub.
Last time I looked it was much help lighter, got the weights their daffy? Xd freehub is also lighter in most cases.
Found them
The 2 sram version s are 325g or 390g
Shimano start at 430 then up to 445.
Looking at the amount of material left on the cogs there is no way they will ever match the weight.
My xtr 11 speed was 330 on my scales.
GX is 30g lighter than xt but looks to be about £20 more, plus the additional cost of xd driver.
DT xd driver is 47g the shimano sram version 49g hardly ground breaking weight savings vs cost
hardly ground breaking weight savings vs cost
Would be if the gx had the same range as the shimano, the 10-42 is significantly better for range than the 11-40 and the XD driver won't end up chewed like the shimano version.
Win win for me, lighter more range and more robust. Worth the extra cash as I don't need a freehub every cassette.
tried removing the biggest cog?
Maybe win win for you, but the op did state 'without going down the sram route'
Yes but he didn't give any reason, if it's the irrational fear of sram time to get over it. Shimano have made no sign of weight reduction in their design so its XTR for silly money
Gx cassette is around 80-90£ xtr around 100-120£. not that much difference really.
Sunrace 11-46 vs Sram GX was pretty much exactly 100g heavier including their corresponding drivers on Hope pro 2's. Not the end of the world. I have kept the 11-46 in case I really don't get on with the gearing and can't go any smaller than 32 oval on 104 bcd cranks. Sunrace, like XT, has an aluminium largest sprocket.
XT 10s cassettes + optional expanders work fine with 11s M8000 shifter and mech and Sram NX 11s chains. I downgraded my boat anchor 11sXT to the old 10sXT cassette and a £20 40T expander rather than go GX. Works a charm. Backpedal works too in 1st! Old school.
I had a few used 10s XT cassettes lying around after switching to 11s in Feb.
... tbh, I think if you want to lose drivetrain weight over XT M8000 without going XTR or SRAM, your answer is probably M785 - possibly with an expander and aftermarket cage and just live with shifting never being quite as good as it should be.
I'm really quite surprised at how heavy the Shimano 11 speed stuff is. I like SRAM anyway and run it for preference, but I've looked a couple of times at going M8000 for a new build if it all needed buying together. Real world price on the GX cassette is around £75. With the X1 shifter and GX mech it's a cracking combination.
I can't tell the difference between running a 10sp XT cassette and an 11sp XT cassette on my bike.
The Sunrace is a little lighter (I think), a little cheaper, and is very well made.
I've got 2 of them now.
Is it a double? 11 speed isn't really giving much benefit for most people if it is. If it's single then making the leap to SRAM does make more sense- 11 speed on an old style freehub is a bit of a bodge job really
(the SRAM freehub is generally about 20g lighter as well, if you care)