I thought this may be helpfull to some. i was looking to buy two groupsets one for each of my bikes.
I tried without luck to find real weights of SLX and XT to see what the extra money got you.
Any way i got a set of each and i have weighed them to help anyone else who may be looking for the same info.

CS-HG81 slx 365g

CS-M771 XT 337g

M660 slx 300g shifters left and right

M770 XT 278g shifters left and right

M660 slx front shifter 157g

M770 xt front shifter 149g

M663 rear mec slx 273g

M773 rear mec mid cage xt 236g

HG74 chain slx 270g

HG94 chain xt 272g

M660 3 ring 175mm slx 814g no BB

M770 3 ring 175mm xt 771g no BB

total slx 2179g
total xt 2043g

i hope its usefull to some

i got them from actionsport.de 219 euros was the best i could find

http://www.actionsports.de/gb/Components/Groupsets/Shimano-SLX-660-10-Komplettgruppe-3×10-fach::28904.html

http://www.actionsports.de/gb/Components/Groupsets/Shimano-XT-770-10-Groupset-3×10-speed::38658.html

That works out at an expensive 136g! A couple of chocolate bars will almost irradicate that expensive benefit. Thanks for sharing!!

To fair the xt stuff looks nicer

Thanks too, boring job and a tad obsessive but good to know that SLX is really no heavier and probably a whole lot stronger and cheaper.

That works out at an expensive 136g! A couple of chocolate bars will almost irradicate that expensive benefit. Thanks for sharing!!

I’d say, from experience, about £1 per gram weight saved on a bike (once you’ve done obvious things like tyres) is about the norm, so saving 136 grams for about £70 ain’t too bad really… Though of course it depends on your viewpoint, and how important it is to you to save that weight at all.

To fair the xt stuff looks nicer

Was my argument, rightly or wrongly, about 6 months ago when I needed to put a new groupset on my Maverick. That and I already had XT brakes and wanted it to all match! Haha

Thanks too, boring job and a tad obsessive but good to know that SLX is really no heavier and probably a whole lot stronger and cheaper.

VFM wise, SLX is an absolute steal. It performs pretty much just as well as XT, it’s only about 6% heavier overall, it’s 30% cheaper. It’s a massive step up from LX anyway. It is however no stronger than XT, and the durability verdict is still out in my case at least…

Interestingly, pretty much the entire weight difference between SLX and XT cassettes is down to the different lockrings! So when you wear out an XT cassette, just buy SLX next time and use the XT lockring on it instead, to save yourself £10.

Didn’t realise the difference is so small. Thanks for sharing.

A couple of chocolate bars will almost irradicate that expensive benefit.

A litre of water is 1000g. The human bladder holds 0.5 – 0.6 litre. You’ll feel like going to the loo when it’s about half full. 300 grams right there. Next time you feel like buying that expensive something, you know what to do. Just saying.

A litre of water is 1000g. The human bladder holds 0.5 – 0.6 litre. You’ll feel like going to the loo when it’s about half full. 300 grams right there. Next time you feel like buying that expensive something, you know what to do. Just saying.

or you can have the lighter bits and have a piss. save even more weight….

it is a decent weight saving but in my opinion XT shifters are far far better than SLX.

Pretty sure my XT 11-34 cassette was 296g on the digi scales. I think the 11-32 is said to be 256g?

Scamper you’re talking 9spd not 10…

Pretty sure my XT 11-34 cassette was 296g on the digi scales. I think the 11-32 is said to be 256g?

from memory, the 32 uses a four arm spider and the 34 uses a five arm spider, i.e. more weight. Though this might have been a model year issue as well. Then there will always be a degree of tolerance between items.

So how comes scampers is lighter? I was hoping the xt cassette was going to be lighter, like scampers, as my cassette is 450g

Good effort though….

Ah yes, sorry 9 speed.

Ah got the answer. Cheers xt for me next

how do the 10 speed slx cassettes cope with alloy free hubs – the 9sp slx I ran for a few months made a bit of a mess of a pro2 hub. XT is a quite worthwhile upgrade there in my opinion.

it is a decent weight saving but in my opinion XT shifters are far far better than SLX.

Agreed – have a set Of each – xt feel much better than the slx, but they do work fine

A litre of water is 1000g. The human bladder holds 0.5 – 0.6 litre. You’ll feel like going to the loo when it’s about half full. 300 grams right there. Next time you feel like buying that expensive something, you know what to do. Just saying

Ah that old flawed arguement.

The xt is a 11/36 10 speed as is the slx.

The slx is a winner on the price performance curve for me.

people should note as well the rear mecs are not equal as the xt is a med cage the slx is a long.

Jambon obsessive is fair enough!

A litre of water is 1000g. The human bladder holds 0.5 – 0.6 litre. You’ll feel like going to the loo when it’s about half full. 300 grams right there. Next time you feel like buying that expensive something, you know what to do. Just saying

Ah that old flawed arguement.

Indeed!

Just me that drinks liquid, and inevitably needs a piss or two, on a ride then? Maybe I shouldn’t eat any food either, as well as having a massive crap before a ride, for those extra few FREE grams saved? 😉

The XT is also worth more if you sell the bits off at any point.

I’m running XT everything except cranks as the SLX cranks have pretty much the same rings – much nicer than the lower range rings, are not much heavier and have no moving parts to be different unlike shifters (which do feel different), brakes, mechs etc as the BB is the same. But obviously if buying a group set you can’t mix and match.

anyone know of a good power link type thing. I used a SCRAM one but it seems the design has changed

I normally use KMC ones along with KMC chains. practice with it a few times when it’s clean and new and regularly take it apart to clean the chain and you won’t have any problems.

Great post! Thanks for the info.

Dammit I love this website. Just the info I was looking for.

I’ve heard it said that (9s)all the weight difference in the cassettes was in the lockring, reusing an old XT lockring on a new SLX cassette got the weight back down. Is that still true with 10s stuff, and are the lockrings still switchable?

Edit: top geekery, well done.