"Thanks to the tucked 'Shadow' profile,"
There is no "tuck" on Shimano's HG+/LG mechs, they are "Shadow" in name only and I think Shimano is doing a disservice to their original improvement to use that name on the new stuff. The HG+ B-pivot design/shape is basically the same as SRAM and everything else that isn't real Shadow.
I did the measurements, and both Deore and XT 12sp have maybe a couple mm more clearance than GX 12sp at the parallelogram in the small cog and pretty much nothing on the big cog. It's nothing to write home about, especially compared to how much the 10/11sp Shadow design moved the B-pivot backward and inward to create a significant decrease in overall stick-out and an actual useful increase in clearance.
On the good side, Shimano's build quality, especially at the bottom of the range, is so much better, that I have way more faith in, say, an SLX 12sp mech outlasting a GX* 12sp mech by a large margin. I have much more faith in both my Deore and XT 12sp mechs shifting well for significantly longer than my GX 12sp mechs, despite virtually identical likelihood of impacts. And that's not even considering the SRAM clutches are weaker to begin with and being non-adjustable makes those mechs basically disposable parts.
*(GX ASX is slightly different, since they had to upgrade the made-of-butter-and-goes-loose-after-400-miles B-pivot hardware to match the X01/XX1 hardware to better handle the robot action, and it's a worthy upgrade for a GX mech if you do it early)
Feb. 24, 2023, 8:05 a.m. - Justin White
"Thanks to the tucked 'Shadow' profile," There is no "tuck" on Shimano's HG+/LG mechs, they are "Shadow" in name only and I think Shimano is doing a disservice to their original improvement to use that name on the new stuff. The HG+ B-pivot design/shape is basically the same as SRAM and everything else that isn't real Shadow. I did the measurements, and both Deore and XT 12sp have maybe a couple mm more clearance than GX 12sp at the parallelogram in the small cog and pretty much nothing on the big cog. It's nothing to write home about, especially compared to how much the 10/11sp Shadow design moved the B-pivot backward and inward to create a significant decrease in overall stick-out and an actual useful increase in clearance. On the good side, Shimano's build quality, especially at the bottom of the range, is so much better, that I have way more faith in, say, an SLX 12sp mech outlasting a GX* 12sp mech by a large margin. I have much more faith in both my Deore and XT 12sp mechs shifting well for significantly longer than my GX 12sp mechs, despite virtually identical likelihood of impacts. And that's not even considering the SRAM clutches are weaker to begin with and being non-adjustable makes those mechs basically disposable parts. *(GX ASX is slightly different, since they had to upgrade the made-of-butter-and-goes-loose-after-400-miles B-pivot hardware to match the X01/XX1 hardware to better handle the robot action, and it's a worthy upgrade for a GX mech if you do it early)