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XT 2004 Dual Control
Review
Since South African
cycling publications seem to struggle to provide us
loyal consumers with product reviews, I have decided
to attempt my own review. I hope that this will
inspire others of you to do the same. I don't think
that we actually understand what a useful facility
this chat group is. And it is time that we start to
network about products, in particular, since it is so
difficult to decide where to spend ones hard earned
money.
So here goes…
I purchased 2004 XT
components in early February this year. This was an
upgrade to my KHS Alite 4000. I bought the following;
XT Dual Control Discs XT HollowTech II Cranks 2004 XTR
Rapid Rise Derailleur
To date I have done
5082 km which totals 236 hours of use (accurate
figures from Polar 720i Software)
Maintenance thus far;
2 Middle chain rings -
1st Chain ring - The original chain ring only lasted for
1448 km, this was initially a bit of a shock to me. I
must admit that the bulk of that riding was done in
the UK between February and April and involved A LOT
of mud riding I believe that this contributed to the
longevity (or should I say shortgevity) of the chain ring
and the chain! 2nd Chain ring lasted 3482km,
so it basically lasted for 2 chain replacements.
3 Chains - 1st Chain
(XT) - 1448km 2nd Chain (XT) - 2170km 3rd Chain (LX) -
1313km The second chain lasted well because of the
discovery of squirt lube! And this also helped the
second chain ring. This last chain had a bit of a short
life and, believe it or not this was only because of
Karoo to Coast this year. Before the race the chain
was still well within the limits of wear, and after
the race it was almost 100% worn on my chain checker!!
I have just purchased
the 4th chain (XT) and 3rd middle chainring.
2 sets of brake pads
front and rear - The original brake pads were Sintered
(i.e. metal type composite). And they lasted just fine
I got 2208km on the back pads and the front got
4292km. I replaced them with resin pads which I
received when I bought the brakes as spares. I
replaced the rear ones first and they were fine up
until Karoo to Coast where they wore out to the metal!
In one ride! I don't recommend anyone ride in wet
conditions with resin pads. And the front pads were
replaced 2 days before Karoo to Coast and they only
just made it to the end of the ride. I have replace
the pads front and rear now with XTR sintered pads.
1 Rear derailleur
wheel. - Replaced the bottom wheel on the XTR
derailleur after about 5000km, it was not badly worn,
but I am a little obsessive.
1 set of gear cables-
It must be noted here that I only replaced the cables
because my frame broke (watch this space for a frame
review) and had to be replaced and the cables and
housings for the new frame. So far the gear cables are
one of the things that I love the most about dual
control. With rapid fire I was replacing cables every
2 months to get smooth shifting, now the shifting
stays smooth all the time, no new cables.
Under maintenance it
must be noted that I have never done anything to the
disc brakes, never had to bleed them or anything like
that, they just work and work well!
Overall impression:
I really like dual
control and the way that it shifts, I removed the
thumb button that comes on the levers in the beginning
and never looked back! I was surprised how intuitive
the rapid rise shifting is with dual control! For
those of you who don't know, rapid rise works the
opposite way to regular rear derailleurs. Simply put,
on normal rapid fire shifters your shifting is swopped
around, a click with your thumb will make pedalling
harder and a click with your fore finger will make it
easier. On dual control this relates to, pushing the
lever down makes pedalling harder and hitting the
lever up makes it easier. This also means that to
shift to an easier gear takes multiple single shifts
and shifting into harder gears can be done with one
big shift that will skip a few gears. Just by the way,
Shimano recons that this is the best way to shift, and
they recon this will eliminate broken chains as the
chain is less likely to twist in the multiple shift if
it is going down the cassette. Read more on their
website. As I already said, cable degradation is far
less noticeable on dual control and the shifting is
always smooth. The disc brakes work awesomely well. I
was lucky enough to do Rhodes this year and the
downhill was a breeze. I think that the Rhodes
downhill is the ultimate test for brakes. Last year
the discs I was running started to heat up drastically
and I could even smell them burning, no such problems
with XT. The XTR derailleur has been faultless in its
performance, just sits there and does the job. It is
easy to index it from the levers while riding even
though I find this hardly ever has to be done! Then
the Cranks… There is something about these cranks
that makes you feel like you are pedalling better! I
don't know about stiffness or anything like that, (I
have never really been able to figure out how people
can feel that cranks are stiff!) but these cranks
cruise!! And it is not just me that thinks this.
Others who have bought them have said the same. But,
by far, the best thing about these cranks is the
cartridge type BB. This is so easy to strip and grease
by yourself. Make sure the shop you buy your bike or
components from provide you with the tools. Shimano
sells the tools with the stuff so you are supposed to
get them!
Final word: I believe
that my bike is far more robust since fitting these
components. First of all, I now do any maintenance
myself. It is just so easy. The bike never has to go
to the shop anymore, which means more riding time! If
you can only afford one part of this set up, buy the
cranks!!!
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