Strange that XTR has cropped up.
It was always meant to be a cutting edge, pro race use only groupset. For which it was ideal. Didn't do anything that much better than XT, bit sharper shifting, bit lighter (about 300g for the whole group iirc) slightly spanglier finish. (I had 950/2 and now a mix of 960/970)
But then it started cropping up on everything. Trail bikes, weekend warrior bikes, shiny bikes (modified cranks on single speeds. WTF was that all about!)
And broke.
That's why shimano are doing trail and race versions of everything.
People will still fit the race stuff to their trail bikes, but they've got no excuse when it snaps.
It was always meant to be a cutting edge, pro race use only groupset. For which it was ideal. Didn't do anything that much better than XT, bit sharper shifting, bit lighter (about 300g for the whole group iirc) slightly spanglier finish. (I had 950/2 and now a mix of 960/970)
But then it started cropping up on everything. Trail bikes, weekend warrior bikes, shiny bikes (modified cranks on single speeds. WTF was that all about!)
And broke.
That's why shimano are doing trail and race versions of everything.
People will still fit the race stuff to their trail bikes, but they've got no excuse when it snaps.