Originally Posted by
BikeWise1
FWIW, I loathe Wippermann chains. I do not get the allure. Every single time someone brings me one of those to install, the bike that used to shift nice with the KMC I previously installed comes back with shifting issues. The one I installed on my DA equipped Waterford turned a beautiful shifting bike into a serial chain thrower.
Tried SRAM, too. Not impressed.
KMC or Shimano. (Yes, I know KMC makes Shimano's chains
)
KMC used to make Shimano's chains, but not anymore, according to our Shimano rep.
On the topic of shark-toothed cogs, they're shark-toothed when brand-new, so it's not easy to determine cog wear by appearance. In the bigger picture, the SRAM PG-950 cassettes are quite affordable and make a great cheap daily-driver cassette if you're not concerned about weight. If you're still on the fence about whether to replace the cassette, at least it wouldn't cost you that much.
If the RD does need replacement, I suggest the non-Shadow RD. I think they track the cogs better, having tried both. XT has outlasted Deore in my experience, I just retired another 2-year-old Deore for slop in the parallelogram pivots on my own commuter. It was bad enough to cause occasional chain jumping. In your case, if you did want XT, you'd want the RD-M771 SGS (non-Shadow, top-normal, long arm).