NeilGunton

I'm in the process of swapping out parts on a 2009 Rocky Mountain Sherpa 10 which I'm purchasing from my local bike shop. One of the items that is being changed is the crankset/bottom bracket, to a mountain range (24/34/44). I'm probably going for either the Shimano SLX or XT. The XT is over $100 more than the SLX. I'm wondering if anybody here has knowledge of whether the current XT is functionally better, more durable etc than the SLX for the touring application. I know it's a little lighter, but I'm wondering about stuff like, oh I dunno, different materials that will be more robust or better seals etc. The bottom bracket is something that I don't really like to have to mess with in the field, so I'd like to get a good one, but if SLX is very similar and the differences are mainly branding and a few grammes then maybe XT is not worth the extra bucks. My main desire is durability, not weight.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Neil