This seems like a step in the right direction. I've tried a few 12 speed options and the ones where I could possibly justify the price have failed to impress, or even driven me further into retro-grouchism. For the last year the only off-road bike I reach for has been the single speed, and the only on-road bike has a 1x downtube friction shifter with a 10s Microshift Advent X 11-48 cassette (only 424g!) and a cheap Sunrace RDM900 that has some quirks but has so far really impressed me. That derailleur and cassette combined cost me about half the LG700 cassette MSRP, so while I'm sure Linkglide functions better and lasts longer, the cost/benefit balance is not exactly simple. Especially when comparing to Microshift's complete groups, I think Shimano finally has some competition at the end of the market where they've never had before, which is probably (maybe?) a good thing.
Now that we have ~$850 'entry level' bikes coming with Tourney, brands like Microshift, Sunrace, Sensah and L-Twoo building mostly positive reputations, and department store BSOs coming with complete mystery gear, Shimano will have to run with this philosophy and push it even further if they want to be the drivetrain mfr for the 'every person'. Crossing my fingers for a Linkglide 9 or 10s clutch Alivio 11-46ish option soon.
in the meantime I've still got an off road bike with M8000 if I decide I need some gears on the trails again, so I'll try to keep that going until I can't get parts. That generation XT stuff have been OK for me, it never lived up to the expectations older Shimano 9 speed stuff left me with, but much better than the 10 speed SLX/Deore setup that felt like it needed adjustment every ride.
Thanks for the review Andrew. Glad to see Shimano hasn't abandoned the tried-and-true, and isn't solely focused on keeping up with the Joneses.
Feb. 23, 2023, 8:58 a.m. - BadNudes
This seems like a step in the right direction. I've tried a few 12 speed options and the ones where I could possibly justify the price have failed to impress, or even driven me further into retro-grouchism. For the last year the only off-road bike I reach for has been the single speed, and the only on-road bike has a 1x downtube friction shifter with a 10s Microshift Advent X 11-48 cassette (only 424g!) and a cheap Sunrace RDM900 that has some quirks but has so far really impressed me. That derailleur and cassette combined cost me about half the LG700 cassette MSRP, so while I'm sure Linkglide functions better and lasts longer, the cost/benefit balance is not exactly simple. Especially when comparing to Microshift's complete groups, I think Shimano finally has some competition at the end of the market where they've never had before, which is probably (maybe?) a good thing. Now that we have ~$850 'entry level' bikes coming with Tourney, brands like Microshift, Sunrace, Sensah and L-Twoo building mostly positive reputations, and department store BSOs coming with complete mystery gear, Shimano will have to run with this philosophy and push it even further if they want to be the drivetrain mfr for the 'every person'. Crossing my fingers for a Linkglide 9 or 10s clutch Alivio 11-46ish option soon. in the meantime I've still got an off road bike with M8000 if I decide I need some gears on the trails again, so I'll try to keep that going until I can't get parts. That generation XT stuff have been OK for me, it never lived up to the expectations older Shimano 9 speed stuff left me with, but much better than the 10 speed SLX/Deore setup that felt like it needed adjustment every ride. Thanks for the review Andrew. Glad to see Shimano hasn't abandoned the tried-and-true, and isn't solely focused on keeping up with the Joneses.