[Closed] 12 spd XT - whats the real world feedback?

do i need a 12 spd specific chain and chain ring or will 11spd work?

Yes. You do. Well, chain anyway, some chainrings work fine.

What I’d like to know is how long all those alu sprockets last on the cassettes?

XT 12 speed is 50% better than XT 11 speed. Its night and day.

Isn’t it 9.09090909% better?

Seriously though it’s great. Shifting is really good especially under load.

Very impressed by it, but only had about four rides so jury is out on durability still.

Real good, just seems to work without fuss. I went down the sunrace cassette route so I didn’t need a new freehub body and the cassette was cheap

Just a few months into a xt shifter and mech - mainly on a wheel with a Sunrace 12s cassette. I changed as GX mechs dont seem to survive long for me.

Note that I also swap to a wheel with a GX cassette. It all works fine with either cassette.

Chain wise - I still have a supply of GX chains so am continuing to use those.

Oh - and of course the double up shifting is a nice bonus. I had kind of forgot that existed!

And I think your 11s chainrings would be fine.

About 9 months on XT now. I can't comment on going partway as I replaced everything. My one piece of advice ... if you gave a boost back wheel, go for the middle width chain line crank set. I had shifting issues before I did.

Not entirely convinced by it yet. SLX cassette, KMC chain and XT rear mech set up on a test e bike. 75% wear within a couple of months. Eek! It's an e bike so wear rate is higher. However, in the mud and, it has made some horrible grinding noises to the extent that I had to stop riding as I thought either the motor or freehub bearings were tearing themselves apart.

Weirdly, I prefer the lighter shifting action of the older ten speed set ups. The older stuff definitely copes better in poor conditions in my experience.

Cheers

Sanny

Only used it once so far but so far so good. Nice shifting on it and pretty quiet.

I went for a sunrace cassette originally but just waiting for a (hope) hub to arrive which I have ordered to come with the microspline freehub. Thought it would be an opportunity to upgrade from a none boost hub with spacers to a boost hub.

As a result I'll be using a shimano cassette and probably just go slx 10-51t. I'll have a 12speed sun race 11-50t cassette that'll fit a standard shimano freehub that's only been used once if it's of any interest to anyone on here

I’m using sramano- shifter and rd are xt, chain, crank and cassette are SX/NX.

Works much better than the crappy SX shifter/rd the bike came with.

Probably won’t change anything else until it wears out.

Had a few missed shifts today, combination of sticky mud and a bit of cable slackness after recent install I suspect.

Not necessarily directed at the OP but,

Isn't alot of the work shimano did to the 12sp groupsets related to the chain and cassette to improve shift quality?

Seems a little pointless to move to shimano 12sp and not take advantage of that, looking at the previous replies, anyone saying they are unconvinced seem to be running either non shimano cassettes or chains.....

Looking at all of the replies I’m amazed how many are changing and then not actually using it as designed. It is incredible value for money, I changed the whole drivetrain to XT M9100 and after eBaying the old bits the total outlay for the equipment was £100. Everything works perfectly.
No point criticising shifting quality or anything else if you’re running a bastardised version of it!

Thanks for the feedback so far, all seems positive

Someone mentioned a new crankset in one of their replies, I’m assuming you can just use existing XT boost crankset, or is the chainring spacing different to account for the extra cog?

The chainring is different (teeth profile not position I think) for 12spd. There are now non Shimano options available.

RE Chainring

I’m running the XT 12sp cassette, chain, mech, and shifter with -

XT M8000 cranks and a Shimano 12 speed specific chainring from Wolf Tooth

I didn’t want to change my cranks.

RE Chainring

I’m running the XT 12sp cassette, chain, mech, and shifter with –

XT M8000 cranks and a Shimano 12 speed specific chainring from Wolf Tooth

I didn’t want to change my cranks.

That’s what I’d be looking at, all runs fine and no issues? Did you try it with the 11spd chainring?

Fwiw, I have XT cassette and shifter with SLX mech and chain and RF cranks with superstar ring

It still works amazingly well. I think the parts I've chosen give the key benefits.

Isn’t alot of the work shimano did to the 12sp groupsets related to the chain and cassette to improve shift quality?

That might well be the case, but would mean a new rear wheel in addition to the drive train components for me.

Had superstar licenced microspline I’d have probably gone the whole hog...

The teeth on the chainset are specific to the new chain and cassette so I was under the impression you need the lot if you want it to work properly.

I have an absolute black oval ring, but it is specific to shimano 12 speed.

Whole thing is working really well so far.

Just back from my first run on it, I’ve got the xt cassette, chain, derailleur and shifter running on Sram X1 cranks and chain ring. First impressions are good, smoother and quieter than the 11 speed it replaced, seems a crisper, quicker change as well, even under load, although the old drivetrain was obviously older and more worn.

Had superstar licenced microspline I’d have probably gone the whole hog…

Hijack - have they passed comment on their plans for it?

CBA to ask them myself, obvs.

We've been running it for ages now both personally and on demo bikes.

Lifespan seems fine. No worse or better than older generations of Shimano kit (given like for like construction) overall.

Mechs are a little fragile with some issues that seem more common - stuck clutches after a relatively short period of time & lower jockeys dropping the chain and getting jammed (A-la SRAM's GX mech problems from when they launched, but without the explosion) being the two most common.

Overall those issues aren't enough to damn the whole groupset though, as the frequency is still relatively low and so were able to warranty from our stock at the moment rather than having to wait on Shimano. SLX Mechs seem to be less prone to the sticking clutch issue. We've warrantied the same amount but sell way more SLXs. SLX is also only a smidge heavier mech, and the cranks are lighter, so the choice set up for value if going all Shimano and buying seperates would be (IMHO)

SLX Cranks
SLX Chain *
XT Cassette
XT Shifter
SLX Mech

Thats giving you the best weight, lifespan, shifting at a lower price than full XT. The only downside of the above is that the SLX is blue, so the colour OCD has some issues as it matches exactly nothing else you would have on your bike.

* XT is fine too but I cant tell the difference.

Looking at all of the replies I’m amazed how many are changing and then not actually using it as designed. It is incredible value for money, I changed the whole drivetrain to XT M9100 and after eBaying the old bits the total outlay for the equipment was £100. Everything works perfectly.

Not when you have 3 wheelsets, with XD drivers and 3 XX1 or X01 Eagle cassettes, which are considerably more durable than anything Shimano make (and still lighter IIRC).

Full Eagle drivetrain with an XTR rear mech here 🙂

@Sofaboy73

No issues so far with the Wolf Tooth chainring set up. I didn't try the ll speed chainring.

Shifting is so much better than the 11speed XT I replaced.

Yes Shimano 12sp is the biggest jump in shifting performance in years IMO, but I still have 11sp XT on my other bikes (with a mix of cassettes, mainly Sram GX) and it's still perfectly good enough. I will happily keep those 11sp for the foreseeable.

Im a bit out the loop these days with BB standards. I have a new Banshee Rune making its way to my gaff as we speak. It has a 73mm threaded bb apparently.

Any ideas what BB / Crank ill need.

Cheers all

Standard HT2 compatible threaded BB and M8100-1 (standard/boost 52mm chainline) cranks should be fine (at least mine are on a banshee prime). Go for m8120-1 (55mm chain line) if you plan on running plus tyres.

Edit - 1x2.5mm spacer on drive side BB cup unless you are using the splined iscg mount from banshee in which case you don't need any spacers.