Singletrack

RECOMMENDED
HERE AT SINGLETRACK TOWERS, WE PUT A LOT OF PRODUCTS
THROUGH THE GRINDER. SINGLETRACK RECOMMENDED IS
THE ABSOLUTE CREAM OF THE CROP OF THE GEAR WE’VE
BEEN TESTING. IT’S THE KIT THAT WE USE LONG AFTER
TESTING HAS FINISHED. THE PRODUCTS THAT WE WOULD GO
OUT AND PURCHASE WITH OUR OWN MONEY. GEAR THAT’S SO
GOOD IT EARNS OUR RECOMMENDED SEAL OF APPROVAL.
WORDS THE SINGLETRACK TEAM PHOTOGRAPHY ROB
SHIMANO
SLX GROUPSET
Price:
From:
Tested:
Tester:
Cassette: £74.99, Cranks: £99.99, Chainrings:
£34.99, Shifters: £34.99 for the left and £36.99
for the right, Brakes: £94.99 per brake excluding
rotors and adaptors, Rotors: £29.99–£49.99
Madison, madison.co.uk
Six Months
Chipps
While it’s all very nice to play around with chichi components
like Shimano’s XTR, or its electronic shifting Di2 groups, the
majority of the world is more likely to be riding around on
regular groupsets, like Shimano’s more down to earth SLX and
Deore groups.
After its last outing in 2013, the SLX groupset was due
a redesign and it was no surprise to see the fresh SLX M7000
groupset take many influences from XT and XTR. The biggest
changes were probably in the slimming down of the brakes
and the increase of gear ratios. SLX went 11-speed, while also
heralding in wider 11–40T, 11–42T and, recently 11–46T
cassettes to give a greater range of gears, whether running it
1x11 or 2x11 (there’s even a 3x10, though we doubt we’ll see
many of those in the UK).
While XT components are often comparable to XTR,
with SLX there are more material changes to keep the price
affordable. Where XT might use alloy shifter paddles (and
XTR alloy and carbon), the SLX paddles are plastic coated
steel. Sometimes finishing touches are omitted, again to keep
costs down: SLX brake levers are alloy, like XT, but lack the
little textured dimples that add a tiny bit of grip and feel to
the levers. Many riders, though, are happy to skip these little
touches and accept a little more overall weight in return for
affordability.
Starting at the brakes, the SLX brakes have the new,
much slimmed down design, trickled down from XTR, with
a small oil reservoir, slim clamp and svelteness that brings
a single front brake, hose and caliper in at 263g without
skimping on power or performance. There’s still a tool-free
reach adjuster (though you lose the bite-point adjustment
from XT and XTR). The brakes ship with stock resin pads,
but the design is shared through the range, so upgrading to
finned metallic pads, as we have, is easily done.
The SLX shifters have the ‘Dynasys’ shifting that is
common throughout the range and shifts are accurate and
smooth, though fairly stiff and far from the efficient ‘snick’ of
XTR. There’s a lot of free-throw on both the thumb and finger
trigger before you start moving cable. And while the two-way
finger trigger remains it does lack the double-upshift that XT
has, which racers will definitely miss.
Perhaps strangely, there isn’t an SLX bottom bracket.
You can spin on either XT (£34.99) or Deore (£16.99) so the
choice is yours.
The SLX chainset is a smart affair. Slab-sided forged
aluminium has kept tidy enough through the test and, despite
the logo almost instantly wearing, I reckon the crank looks
better than a similarly used XTR chainset, whose high-polish
finish quickly shows every heel scuff and rock scratch.
Shimano still doesn’t make a dedicated trail 1x chainset,
so even with this single ring setup, with Shimano’s forged
DCE (Dynamic Chain Engagement) chainring, the crank still
has threads for a ghost inner chainring.
Talking of chainrings, the chainring is a compositereinforced
forged steel job, coming in 30T, 32T or 34T.
Shimano’s offset four-bolt system means you’re limited in
terms of aftermarket rings – and, perhaps more importantly,
a 30T ring is the smallest you can run. Something that 29er
riders or those with a lot of climbing to do might not like.
As mentioned, our SLX came set up 1x11, so we’ve not
had a chance to try any of the 16 different front derailleur
options. Shimano does make great front mechs, though, if
you like that kind of thing.
Finally, out back we have the SLX GS Long Cage
11-speed rear mech, playing over a matching 11-speed
cassette. The cassette is mostly a collection of individual full
steel sprockets, rather than the spider-mounted clusters of XT,
40