Pete has been testing the Shimano XT wide range cassette over the last few months and it has come out of the other side swinging.
Cassettes might not be the most exciting product on a bicycle, but when they’re done right, they can really transform your ride. Shimano XT is arguably the workhorse of the mountain bike world, offering the best balance of performance and value.
- £99.00 RRP.
- 11-46t range.
- Alloy cog carrier.
- 11-speed only.
- Chrome-plated finish.
- Madison.
Shimano might well have been late to the party with their wide range, 11-speed offerings, but in its XT M8000 guise, there’s few that can compete when it comes to performance and value.
While I was initially unconvinced by dinner plate-sized top cogs, preferring to get my legs stronger than make the bike easier to pedal, winching a 30lb+ bike around the mountains sure does find your legs wanting. In this instance, the 46t keeps your legs warm and fresh, allowing you to put the real effort in when the going gets tough.
While this is no substitute for a potent set of pistons, if you’re looking to either upgrade your 11-speed setup, moving to wide range or replacing an existing big block, then you’d be hard pressed to find better. SRAM equivalents are definitely on-trend, but the single machined billet offerings are pricey if not bolted on OE.
Finish on the XT has barely shown a mark over months of churning through Scottish slop.
Shimano XT continues to be the benchmark based on what we’ve seen and cadence only just inferior to raw power.
For full spec on the XT M8000 range, head to Shimano MTB and for UK dealers head to Madison’s page.
How do we test products at Wideopenmag?
Great question. Everything you see reviewed on Wideopenmag is tested by a small, regular group of trusted reviewers. We pick our reviewers based on their experience of riding a wide-range of products and ability to look at products clearly and sensibly without getting caught up in fashion and hype. We pick people that can cut through marketing schpiel, ride loads and can talk to you guys in plain, honest english about their findings. You can find the reviewer at bottom of the page where a review is published.
As of Feb ’17 our testers are Jamie (our editor), Pete (our web editor), Rosie Holdsworth (fast, experienced female racer and 2016 Red Bull Foxhunt winner) and Rich Thomas (ex-Team Wideopenmag captain and life-long elite downhiller).
Brands will send us products to review (sometimes we’ll ask to review the products we’re keen to show you guys, sometimes brands will ask us to review something they think you want to see) and we’ll pick the best test pilot for the product.
Bike time is essential. We’ll get our test pilot to thrash the living daylights out of their test product and give us regular feedback on ease of installation, performance on the trail, longevity and value for money. They’ll ride in the wet and dry. They’ll ride their local loop and spend time on unfamiliar trails. They’ll often try the product on various different bikes and styles of riding.
Where you see ‘First Ride’ reviews we’ve typically ridden the product for a few weeks and have formed a decent opinion of the product’s performance … but haven’t ridden it for long enough to fully test its long-term performance over time. When you see a ‘Long Term’ review you know the product has been tested over several months and had a really thorough, long term hammering.
All of our product photos in our reviews will featured used components – we don’t shoot box-fresh, studio shots. Why? Simple. We want you guys to see that our reviews are legit. Everything gets ridden loads, gets a proper hammering and goes through the ringer before we talk to you about it.
