Today's bargain

[Splatter Paint]

2 XT Octalink ES71 bottom brackets (RRP £34.99), used but smooth bearings with zero play for £7.06 the pair. It was from eBay and the guy lives in the same village as me so I popped over and collected them this morning. I can now take the 'orrible Deore item off my bike and replace with one of these, great.

SP

 

[MCsanandreas]

NICE!

 

[IDB1]

Did you give him the odd 6p though. . .

 

[zetecmk2]

result!!!

 

[dyna-ti]

result!!!

Absolutely cant go wrong there

 

[Splatter Paint]

Well what a waste of time that was. I cleaned every spec of dirt off the new XT units and set about removing the current ES51 (Deore LX?). I put them on the scales for comparision - how much did I save? 15 grams. 15. one, five. :roll:

Although now I have a nice machined aluminium drive-side cup, instead of a plastic one, I can't help thinking that sometimes upgrading is pointless. No doubt somebody will say "Ah, XT superior bearing quality", but really, would Shimano even bother to buy different bearings?

I'm still pleased with my purchase and now have a good stock of spares, but was expecting a bit more improvement really. Has my snobbish look on lower end compontents been my downfall? Have I been sucked in by the hype and marketing? :?

SP

 

[dyna-ti]

No
XT is a good reliable groupset that has stood the test of time.