STX Shimanos ginger step kid?

[mikee]

stx was like top of the low end stuff , like all shimano stuff it works very well when set up and most of it looks nice tho those 600 levers are horrid
in stx or lx form

to sum up good solid kit , just not xt or xtr (enough)

 

[Maxipedia]

to sum up good solid kit , just not xt or xtr (enough)

Yes, but they were available for half the price of XT and a third of the XTR price and got the job done.

What the levers are concerned, I guess I agree, but I still have an odd attraction to all of them (I have 1 set of STX-RC, 1 of DX and 2 LX's). I always wondered what the hell Shimano thought when bringing those up. Not that they are bad, but they are weird looking...

Mx

 

[mikee]

i think the levers were a cost cutting measure

certianly look it

 

[merckx]

It's shiny, whats not to like.

nail on the head it looks cheap, partly because it is.

still,it did the job for mid range bikes, operation was fine.

 

[brocklanders023]

Am I missing something here? From what I recall when STX came out DX was dropped. LX moved up to DX level and STX replaced LX. LX always seemed to be the entry level decent groupo in the early 90's meaning that STX then replaced it as the first port of call?

Never had STX bitd as I was drifting out of the sport at the time but had a C16 with the posh version a few years back and it was very nice kit.

 

[Groundoggy]

STX was below LX and therefore irrelevant to me. Entry level stuff that should be ditched for XT if you still have the bike.

Wow, so nothing in the world of bikes is relevant if it was unfortunate enugh to be placed below LX? Interesting!

I find this statement especially arrogant since it took me about 5 years as a kid to raise the money and get a bike with an STX rear derailleur and shifters (the rest was Alivio and Acera) and boy I couldn't be happier! Actually, thinking about it, I never enjoyed and cherished a bike more - it was a gloss red 1998 Marin Palisades Trail. To a lot of people from here an STX equipped bike was the pinnacle of they could get and afford back then.

I would suggest to try to look sometimes beneath the badges, as there are lots of interesting things to be found. We all should be more grateful for the simple stuff. I say that because parts that are by far less functional than the STX workhorse get an aura of attention mainly because of their badges...

Please take no harm in what I say.

Otherwise, thanks Legrandefromage for clearing things up a bit. I almost forgot about the rings on the early chainsets, even though (or maybe due to the fact) that I came from the basement where I worked on a bike before writing the post before and I had both an STX and an LX crankset before my very eyes.

Have a good day everybody!
Mx

...and now that you're all growed up if you still have that old frame you should upgrade it to XT components if you want to take it out on the trail routinely and give it the abuse it deserves. That is unless you haven't outgrown your paper route yet and you are still relying on dwindling paper route tips for your bike schwag.

Not trying to be elitist at all. It's a simple fact that 'price point' bikes existed. Some of those frames equipped with lower end STX type parts are decent enough frames but I wouldn't want to restrict the frame to stock components that simply aren't as high quality as XT. Maybe the front derailleur isn't too bad. Doesn't mean the XT isn't just a tad better.

XT parts are great parts. XTR you pay a premium for. That is my main point. I might not place a premium on replacing DX/LX stuff but surely an STX component level can be upgraded to XT at a reasonable price today.

A bit retro snobbish perhaps - but reality is that few true top end frames were equipped with STX. The bikes you DO find with STX you better take a close look at because it might be a decent frame with lower end parts or it might be just a crap frame with lower end parts.

 

[Maxipedia]

Ha-ha, would it surprise you if I say that you speak from my heart? I guess we are all a tad retro-snobbish around here, butI gave some arguments above why I feel obliged to defend the "honor" of that STX grouppo.

I would do just what you said: upgrading the bike, keeping a theme etc. If only the bike was still around... At some point it got stolen, I found it, but minus the nice original paint and at some point I decided to part ways with it. That was circa 10 years ago. The irony is that a policeman got me into trouble (if he did his job properly, the bike would've kept its paint - long story) and it ended up being sold to a policeman. If I ever stumble upon another one, I will definitely buy it.

I share your opinions about nice frames with lower end parts, upgrading philosophy and XTR. Thanks for the post!

Going back to STX, I mentioned this before on this forum, but it is worth being brought up yet again:

As I said, STX Special Edition equipped bikes were pretty much the best you could find from 1994 to 1998 over here and they only came on one bike, the so-called "Nec's Bike Volcano". I never managed to fully check it, but there is a legend about how the producers of that bike (who were selling huge amounts of low-end "MTB's" back then) mistakenly equipped a few of the aforementioned bike with full M900 XTR instead of the regular STX and sold them for the same price. Apparently to them it was just another Shimano groupset with a name from three letters, "something with a T and an X". Supposedly all of those bikes were bought by people in the know, our local MTB pioneers, who got them just for the components, as you might suspect. I hope that one day I will be able to investigate this, but it will be hard as some of the involved people unfortunately passed away...

Mx

 

[poweredbypies]

Going back to STX, I mentioned this before on this forum, but it is worth being brought up yet again:

As I said, STX Special Edition equipped bikes were pretty much the best you could find from 1994 to 1998 over here and they only came on one bike, the so-called "Nec's Bike Volcano". I never managed to fully check it, but there is a legend about how the producers of that bike (who were selling huge amounts of low-end "MTB's" back then) mistakenly equipped a few of the aforementioned bike with full M900 XTR instead of the regular STX and sold them for the same price. Apparently to them it was just another Shimano groupset with a name from three letters, "something with a T and an X". Supposedly all of those bikes were bought by people in the know, our local MTB pioneers, who got them just for the components, as you might suspect. I hope that one day I will be able to investigate this, but it will be hard as some of the involved people unfortunately passed away...
Mx

Yes they were dragged outside lined up against a wall and shot by the management

 

[REKIBorter]

STX was all I could afford BITD. Got the job done and looked good.

 

[Maxipedia]

Yes they were dragged outside lined up against a wall and shot by the management

I don't mean to spoil your fun - maybe I would've written the same, but the guy I am talking about had a horrid car crash in 2003 and his impact on Romanian mountainbiking was huge, as was his heart. May he rest in peace!

I still hope the above makes for a good read! I'm not sure anyone from the company would admit such a terrible faux-pas, so asking them would be pointless...

Mx