I fitted my XT 10 speed set up on Friday night for 10 More at Moray. Thought I'd do a "first impressions" write up that's not from a journalist. I figured that 60 miles pounding the stuff at warp speed 8 was a good enough basis for a wee review.

A bit of background-

1- XT shifter
2- SLX cassette
3- I'll be swapping to XTR when it comes out on the race bike
4- 1×10 with e13 XCX guide and 36T rear cassette/32T ring.
5- Ultegra road chain with Sram Powerlock.

Right, first things first- no, your old rear mech won't work with it unless you bodge it. The cable pull IS different (which sadly contradicts what Madison told me) but it's easy enough to work out a way around this. Fortunately I had all 10 gears available to me.

Shifting- the XT shifter is better than the 9speed one. It's impressively better, I'd not normally notice this sort of thing as I'm not the most anal with stuff like that. The shifting is lighter, easier to do through the range but also the click is more defined. It's the usual delicate Shimano shift, though, not a Sram clunk. Pick up on the trigger is quicker than of old too, but it's not XTR quick yet. I'd say it feels almost as good as 9speed XTR. Not quite there, but almost.

Range- 32/36-32/11 was fine. I'll be honest, the course at Moray didn't warrant ever going past about the 3rd gear at the back but a usual ride with steeper hills would be very much manageable. The SLX cassette is nicer than of old and very nicely made.

Anyway, 10 speed Shimano is good. Really really good. 1×10 is wonderful for me but I can see it being not for everyone.

Yep, the cable pull is different. I assume you attached the cable slightly differently somehow?

Yeah, fudged it a bit.

I thought the 10spd chain for mtb was different to the road version? or is that just xtr?

Something like this or what?

I tried that but it didn't work. I'll get a picture when me and the bike are reunited.

The road and MTB 10 speed chains are different. But they obviously work to some degree.

In an ideal world I'd run the MTB chain. It still works nicely but I couldn't afford the full whack this month and already had road chains.

Spokes – I've just been battering up and down the road on your bike and I thought 32/11 was a little bit spinny on such a whippet of a thing. Might be interesting to try a 34t chainring?

Yeah, I reckon a different ring for different races would be good, but considering I only like the endurance stuff I reckon it's fine.

The gears went all to pot on the last lap- I think cable stretch went "balls to this" and went mental.