Hey peeps!


So I'm looking at building up a new mountain bike, and I'm trying to decide which drivetrain to go with. Based primarily on cost, it looks like my main options to consider are GX Eagle and SLX11. Here's my point of view.


For MTB, I've always preferred Shimano. They're always a little behind Sram in the tech race, but I feel like the result is a much finer tuned, smoother drivetrain. Sram always seems a bit clunky, especially as they keep increasing the size of their cassettes. SLX is a good, affordable option.


I work in the industry, and therefore get pretty good pricing. The SLX will cost me almost $100 less than GX Eagle.


While a 50 tooth cassette does offer a lot of range, something about having a cassette the size of a road crank makes me cringe. And SLX still offers options as big as 46t should I need the gearing. SLX also has the option of changing to a 2x. I know 1x is kinda taking over the market, but I've rediscovered recently how convenient it is to have the quick shift of a front derailleur, instead of having to jump 3 gears on the back mid-way up a hill. Also, this will be an xc bike, so I doubt I will need quite as much range as say an enduro bike.


From a resale standpoint, I know that GX Eagle is probably the way to go. That's what people want right now. The industry seems to be all about gearing range lately, even when it sacrifices performance.


11 speed vs 12 speed really makes no difference to me.


A coworker pointed out the other day that XD is a lot lower maintenance than the standard freehub body, mostly because an XD cassette doesn't really wear it's way into the hub body like a shimano cassette would. That's definitely appealing.


Weighing out the options, I definitely lean towards Shimano SLX. Is there something I may be missing?


Thanks everybody