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What's your setup and why?
Shimano mech or Shimano shifter? SRAM chain or Shimano chain, SRAM cassette or Shimano cassette?
Sram cassette + chain. Shimano mech + shifter.
In theory I thought matching the chain to the cassette would be the best way to go. Not sure how much it really matters.
Why? Because Shimano were a pain in the arse with microspline licensing when they first launched, and Hope still only had XD freehubs. It works well enough so I'm unlikely to change unless supply of reasonably priced GX cassettes dry up.
Shimano SLX Cassette and chain
SRAM GX AXS derailleur (SLX pulley/jockey wheels) and shifter
AXS shifting etc with existing SLX drivetrain
I've got Shimano cassette and chain, GX AXS mech and shifters. The bike came with full XT but I prefer Hope brakes and my semi arthritic thumb prefers electronic shifting and dropper so I dumped the XT brakes, mech and shifter and replaced with AXS and Tech4.
The other bike has full Sram with AXS as I was building from scratch but already had an XX1 eagle cassette knocking about.
Oem: Nx eagle cassette, chain, cranks and chainring, nx shifter,
Post production: slx mech.
Nx mech was always needing adjustment, committed harikiri into rear spokes. Slx mech faultless last 2 years. Works no probs w nx shifter
Eeb with slx mech, SRAM gx cassette and multi click shifter xtr chain.
Ditched Shimano cassette, shifter and brakes for SRAM.
All working perfectly
XTR cassette, mech, chain and shifter on SRAM XX1 cranks and a Wolftooth chainring for this exact setup. Lighter than pure XTR and cheaper, but with essentially proper shifting through matched chain/cassette and mech/shifter.
Bought full X01 1x12 group set a couple of years ago. Didn’t get on with shifter so went to XTR shifter and got it set up perfectly.
Then went to X01 AXS last year and found I still didn’t like the shifter, so went back to mechanical and sold the AXS on.
Still works flawlessly and pretty much the sweetest shifting and performance on any bike I’ve got or had.
My hardtail has a gx shifter and cassette, kmc chain, unite chainring and deore mech. No reasoning behind bringing a shimano mech in other than availability and price at the time (post covid bike boom/parts drought), same for the chain. I even had an aliexpress cassette on there for about a week but that turned out to be a terrrible idea (no real surprise).
I have no real preference on 12 speed mechs, I think they are all pretty crap from both big players, we’re probably asking too much of them with the range. If I started from scratch again I would probably go back to 10 or 11 speed. My best ever setup was on 10 speed, XTR shifter, Saint med cage mech with one up rad cage and expander cog - that was bombproof and smooth. Gutted I sold it on when I stripped the old bike down.
2 bikes with GX Eagle cassette, chain and shifter with SLX mech. Works perfectly. Went with the SLX mech as GX ones were in short supply and very expensive when I needed replacements a year or so ago.
Shimano chain, cassette and mech, SRAM xx1 crank.
Because you can't get XTR cranks with a decent power meter (unless you take Garmin Rallys, but I'm not a fan), and the XX1 dub pm is lighter than the full xtr crankset.
XTR remainder because Shimano 12-speed drivetrains run about 5w more efficient at ftp for me than SRAM.
XTR shifter, XX1 rear derailleur, XX1 chain & Zitto XX1 9-50 cassette on the Rise
Shimano shifter and mech. Sram cassette and chain. Much prefer shimano but too tight to buy the new free hub to go full shimano
Shimano mech; SRAM shifter, chains and cassette. At the time I did this, SRAM were having their lower jockey wheel problems, plus I had an XD driver for my Hope hub.
GX AXS shifter (with paddle upgrade) and mech running with XT cassette, chain, chainring. Fancied trying electronic shifting to see what the fuss was about. Consistently brilliant.