My take on the 11 speed XT isn't that it's "stiffer", it's that the feel of the lever throw is all over the place. There's a good cm or so of free stroke, then you hit a point where the lever just stops moving, so you squeeze it with a bunch more force and then it finally throws this notchy sort of shift where it feels like you broke something. Stiff is fine, but the version of the shifter that I had felt like garbage. SLX feels a bit more plasticky, but there's much less of that inconsistent notchiness.
Feb. 28, 2022, 4:04 p.m. - Dave Tolnai
My take on the 11 speed XT isn't that it's "stiffer", it's that the feel of the lever throw is all over the place. There's a good cm or so of free stroke, then you hit a point where the lever just stops moving, so you squeeze it with a bunch more force and then it finally throws this notchy sort of shift where it feels like you broke something. Stiff is fine, but the version of the shifter that I had felt like garbage. SLX feels a bit more plasticky, but there's much less of that inconsistent notchiness.