Aye very true Mike, I'll keep an open mind until I've see it, I wouldn't be surprised if it disappointed me, all this hyping it's been getting, but equally that's unlike Mr Shimano to not pull something pretty special out of the bag.

Il n'y a que des cons qui ne changent pas d'avis. - Only fools won't change their mind.

There are merits to both systems. Whilst riding the other weekend in Spain I noticed that there were a few people riding with HTII chainsets and SRAM mechs... That kinda says something in itself.

I agree, I'm always suspicious of those who are totally pro one brand and anti another.

I go beyond mere suspicion. Anyone who's so brand-obsessed that their favoured brand can do no wrong and any other brand can do no right is 100% OF IDIOT. Official.

There must be lots of people out there like myself whom have only used one make of gear, and cannot afford to swap bits willy nilly, nor have the chance to try out other brands. It would be a bould move when money is tight in this instance to swap makes, so its down to you guys to give us honest views on the alternative gear!! Question: is there a great deal of difference between makes(for the average rider) at the end of the day??

is there a great deal of difference between makes(for the average rider) at the end of the day??

No. Not compared to the differences in performance that can be yielded by just pedalling a bit faster ;-)

However, it does serve to spend hours arguing about it with another faceless time-rich person on an internet forum...

;-)

pimpmaster, I think that probably the answer! beats watching the s**t on telly, working or listening to the family moaning.

I used to bang on about SRAM all the time and then i tried low-normal XT & DC's and I think they're great

Now I have one bike with SRAM and one bike with XT and I can't decide what I prefer

I think both systems work well but what Shimano didn't anticipate was the backlash that their new system demanded that people could only use their brakes etc. That was the main reason I went with SRAM was becuase I wanted the option of choosing my own disc brakes.

But Shimano never stopped making rapid fires or separate brake levers so you can quite easily mix and match Shimano products with SRAM / Hope / Avid etc.

Yeah but the 'new' stuff from Shimano was all dual control and the 'new' stuff from SRAM was compatible with other systems.

New XTR, sorry no pictures just info.

Well i knew i would be disapointed. However i am sure there will be other stuff we havent yet heard about?!

Titanium toothed middle ring mounted on a carbon spider!

ker-ching

I wonder if that middle ring will be compatible with 2006 XTR cranks?

Let's hope it's genuine carbon not some plastic lookalike that other groupset manufacturers use ;-)

oooooh bitchy Mike :-)

I'll have u know all my SRAM carbon stuff is carbon :-)

2006 XTR is already being sold off. 79euros for a rear derailleur for example. I wouldn't swap a worn out Alivio for one personally being the wrong way round and all that but the 07 stuff sounds good.

where would i be without alivio.....