Twitchology

I remember my beloved old Trek 830 in junior high - that bike was a tank, but the crappy Alivio derailleur always threw its chain under duress. Cut to current day and I'm looking at cheap mountain bikes, with all these new and crappier component options such as Altus, Acera, and *gasp* Tourney. I don't remember any of these being around when I bought my old Trek (stolen from me a couple of years ago). Perhaps I'm not up on my Shimano history. Has Alivio moved up the food chain with these new groups occupying the crappy spot, or is it the same quality it was years ago? If so, how poor do these lower component groups perform?

Scooby Snax

I've got a beater that has Alivio, other than feeling a little more heavy handed than my LX shifters, It seems to work well. Shifts fine IMO.

McGuillicuddy

No, they aren't. Today's Alivio feels and looks alot like the STX I had on my last bike (before some worthless fluffer stole it!).

Twitchology

What are your folks' feelings on Altus and Acera?

seely

Technology trickles down. My feeling is that anything that is 7spd though is crap and shouldn't be bothered with since you can't upgrade to 8 or 9 due to the hub spacing.

Truthfully it all shifts fine, its just how you take care of it and if you know how to shift. I have a friend with some Alivio on a mid-nineties GT, and it was shifting like crap so he brought it to me. I replaced the chain, put the drivetrain in the dishwasher, straightened his derailleur hanger, replaced the cables, lubricated/cleaned out the housings and tweaked his limit screws.

Truthfully after that its hard to tell the difference between Alivio and LX, like I said, if you are shifting right. Definately give the upperhand on durability/smoothness to Deore/LX/XT/XTR however.

Tom Pedale

My experience in the cycling industry taught me that the cheaper Shimano drivetrains were not designed for heavy usage. This made sense since most of them were used by recreational riders that would not put a lot of miles on them. The best value was in the middle about the STX/LX range where you got reasonable weight, closer tolerances and better shifting without paying a big premium to save a few more ounces. Also, it was always easier to find a rear derailleur that shifted well vs. a front derailleur. I've often felt that if I was running derailleurs of different quality levels, on a mountain bike, I'd want the higher quality derailleur in front.

mindbogger

I hope you weren't cleaning plates at the same time.

seely

Lol no... really is a great way to clean a crankset/chain/cassette though.

seely

Actually I'm going to have to disagree with you here a bit Tom. Its been my experience all front derailleurs are the same. They all are just a plain metal cage with a ramp, that just "mashes" the chain right or left. There really is no difference between a Deore/LX/XT/XTR front derailleur other than weight... operation is identical. So I see what you are saying about them shifting poorly but I don't think anyone could honestly notice a difference in shift quality between even a Deore and XTR front given that the mechanisms and construction are nearly identical, and how primitive the operation of a front derailleur is in the first place!

a2psyklnut

Well, the parrallel plate motion of the XTR is different, but I agree with you seely,

Between a Deore and and LX or Alivio or...... pretty much the same.

I have a Deore FD on my Enduro SX and an LX on my other bike.

L8R

Tom Pedale

I think on a long term basis the action of pushing the chain across the bigger front chainrings is harder on the derailleur mechanism, so my feeling is that a better quality derailleur will work better longer. I agree that when the derailleurs are new or have reasonable mileage on them, the shift quality of various models does not vary significantly.

Midman

My wife has a 2003 Alivio rear on her MTB, and I have 03/04 Deore and XT on my 2 MTB's. I ride her bike regularly for testing. IMHO- there's a much larger difference between the Alivio and Deore than between Deore and XT. Even when properly adjusted, the Alivio rear is just OK in shifting and requires more frequent adjustments than better Shimano rear deraileurs. In front- I think Alivio is only slightly inferior to Deore and XT. Keep in mind that the Alivio will not hold up as well as better components under hard riding conditions.

khuon

But that's only on the FD-M952. Anyone know why they dropped that feature for the M960 group? I have personally found that it does make for smoother and more reliable front shifting than LX or XT and was disappointed to see they didn't cary the technology forward. I actually think my front shifting on my MTB surpasses even the double chainring front shifting on my RB with Dura-Ace (FD-7700).