Originally Posted by veganbikes

I will argue for old XT. I have two old XT derailleurs (7 and 8 speed) running 9 speed quite nicely and yes a little more vintage but shifts like a freakin' dream. Maybe a notch down from my XT 11 speed but on par with my actual 9 speed XT rear.

I get it is vintage stuff but it is acres better than the modern stuff of that number of speeds and honestly for the average rider not a bad way to go. Having a vintage bike in the stable is fun sometimes. I love my high end bikes, Di2 is awesome, Rohloff E-14 awesome all that sort of stuff but it is fun to just have a bike to mess around on.