FIRST RIDE:
Well, I was asked to do a ride report so here it is...
One of my riding buddies and I built up a 2013 Specialized Epic with the new XT M8000 on Wednesday night and WOW. Trying it out around the street while getting all the tuning done, it was immediately noticeable just how good this could potentially be.
We got everything tuned up with the XT Cassette and the shifting felt so smooth and precise in the stand that we were incredibly excited to get it out on the trail, because obviously, in the stand and on the trail are two TOTALLY different things.
Thursday evening we got out on the trails after work and had one bike (2013 Epic) set up with the new XT M8000 and a 2015 Epic WC set up with X01. The set up of these bikes is exactly the same aside from drivetrain and frame.
Easton EC70 cockpit, MAgura MTS brakes, Roval Carbon wheels... well... everything was the same haha
PARKING LOT TEST:
We tested both around the parking lot, side by side, and the shifting is a completely different feel.
The only complaint we had about the XT right off the bat was how firm the shift levers are, which proved to not be a problem once we hit the trails as it gives great feedback on just when you're shifting.
The shifting of the XT was VERY good, it's very smooth (in spite of the firm shift levers) and it is SO QUICK. The shifts are IMMEDIATE, there is no lag between clicking the shifter and the shift.
Granted all of this was just in the parking lot, not moving very quickly, so we took it with a grain of salt.
The shifting of X01 is very good already and is the best i've ridden from SRAM. I've loved this drivetrain the entire time i've had it, as it's very precise and it just plain works.
Well... Just to give a sneak peek at how the ride went... I may have a sram drivetrain for sale soon... we will just say that.
TRAIL TIME:
Now it was time to head out, so we started out with me on the X01 and him on XT. It was a great start to the ride just getting a feel for it. I could hear how smooth his shifting was from behind him, which was pretty cool.
About a mile into the trail we decided to really start putting it to the test on our 6 mile loop. The next 5 miles of our test loop consisted of a plan of trying to get it to mess up in some way. He was shifting under full sprint load, late shifting in steep punchy climbs, every bad shifting technique we could think of to try and get the drivetrain to mess up or atleast have a bad shift...
NOTHING! We tried and tried to get the drivetrain to even lag in the shifts and it was FLAWLESS the entire time.
So the first loop was pretty cool because we took the hardest route we could think of and no chain slap, not chain drops, no successful attempts at a bad shift in any way.
So the second trip through the loop we just tried out the shifting for how it would be ridden on a regular basis. Just regular shifting at a good pace.
We cut out into the start of the loop and took it pretty fast and the shifting performance was absolutely PHENOMENAL. Buttery smooth and the features of this drivetrain really made themselves know throughout this loop. Like the double upshift capability and the ability to down shift 4 gears at a time (with X01 I can dump 5 at a time, but my thumbs are too short for that anyways haha).
During this loop we were really paying attention to the differences between drivetrains and they were definitely there.
With the x01, the shifting is precise but has a slightly clunky feel to it and I have thought this from the day I got it (I was on a shimano drivetrain on my previous bike). That's just how I viewed it, as it definitely hits the gear, but seems to not go to that gear in a very smooth manner.
With the XT the shifts were almost un-noticeable. It was pretty awesome. The only difference you could tell was in cadence and on the topic of cadence, i'll elaborate more on in a second.
But the shifting quality is suberb, shifts are SUPER fast, incredibly smooth and with laser precision.
The time with this shifting performance difference was most known, was in our sprinting sections. We had one section where we cut out on to a double track fire road and put the hammer down and were shifting under load. The X01 was just as i described it earlier, clunky and precise and it just plain works!
The XT was also exactly how i describe it... PERFECT. The shifts were still just as quick under full sprinting load. It's just great...
So through the last couple of miles of the trail after this sprint we decided to put the hammer down and see how it would shine... and as it had the entire ride, it shifted perfectly.
The Cassette i could see being a factor in all of this performance, the shifting points seem limitless and the attention to cadence that shimano gave is VERY apparent.
When shifting, it's incredibly smooth and the cadence change is so different from the SRAM it's unreal. I've always felt that with the x01 cassette range, the gear changes were a little off, and well... shimano fixes all of that.
We had the 11-40 cassette and WOW. Shifting was buttery smooth and the cadence change is so much better you hardly notice the change, except you are moving at a different pace.
I CANNOT recommend this drivetrain enough. It's incredibly affordable when compared to X01 and it's performance is outstanding, ESPECIALLY for the price (Which is about as much as an X01 cassette... FOR SHIFTER, RD AND CASSETTE)
Go order one and get out and enjoy it!