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Quality difference between Shimano Alivio and XT derailleurs (mastodon.social)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by lightrush@lemmy.ca to c/bicycles@lemmy.ca
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This is the reason a #Shimano XT #derailleur costs more than a Shimano Alivio. On the left you have the whole-body slop of an Alivio M3100 derailleur. On the right you have the same of an XT M8000. There's noticeable slack in all the pivot joints of the M3100. There's no noticeable slack in the XT. It feels like a single piece. The result of this difference is misshifts like going one gear higher then back to the desired one, or otherwise some shifts taking longer between gears.

There's a second video in the original post showing the XT derailleur.

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[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

If it works for you, there's no need to upgrade. If you ride only occasionally and mainly in flat terrain, it won't make a huge difference.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I ride often and live in a hilly area. I'm just cheap, LOL.

(My front derailleur is a 3x so a 7-speed rear isn't as low as it sounds, BTW. It's an old mountain bike that I turned into a city/utility bike with slick tires etc.)

[-] Amuletta@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago

If the gearing is set up right, you can ride up mountains with old style freewheels. For 23 years I rode a mid 80s touring bike with a 13-30 six cog freewheel on the back and 28-44-48 chainrings. That kind of half step gearing gave me close ratios and only one or two duplicate gears. The bar end shifters could be operated even when I was out of the saddle.

Did a few tours in the rockies and rode it to work nearly all year 'round.

this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2025
59 points (96.8% liked)

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