I've been having problems with my Shimano parts - shifters, mostly, but my rear mech is slightly bent too.

I currently have three broken Shimano shifters (1 XT, 2 XTR), all cracked in the same place. They were fitted by different bike shops. Shimano USA don't have a phone number or an e-mail address. Basically I'm fed up of dealing with Shimano, and really fed up of replacing parts every few months.

So, the question is, should I go to Sram? The new X.0 stuff looks rather tasty. I can get X.0 shifters and rear mech for about £150, vs. however much a set of XTR shifters cost. I'd also need to get a new set of grips, of course, but that's no more than £20 (for ODI Lock-Ons).

So, anyone had any experience with X.0? Should I or shouldn't I?

While I'm still feeling all angry and bitter about the way Shimano / Madison carry on with their warranties, I'd wholehartedly endorse Sram components, despite never owning any.

Have ordered X.O shifters and rear mech from work, the shifters are here, lovely looking and feel nice in action, and a great tin too(!) but the rear mechs are on back order until the 3rd week of August, which might be worth knowing if you are thinking of doing it soon.

might as well try it, if it don't work, you've lost no more than you would with sh!tmano

Never used the new pimpy stuff but SRAM 9.0 is excellent. Thrououghly recomended and the X.0 Looks to be following that fashion :)

I bought old stock STX RC shifters 18 months ago, and have continued to work fine with zero maintenance.

I buy the cheapest gear I can get hold of and bash the f**k out of it until it breaks.

Why not try some cheapo Deore shifters? I think you can get them for £25 now, and see if they break, and if they do go for SRAM.

Where do they crack anyway?

I've got a cheesey gripshift shifter on mine, I think it's 3.0. I hate that damn tiny allen bolt that holds it on the bar cos I don't at the moment have an allen key miniscule enough to fit it. I'll be getting Deore next time I upgrade anyway, but that'll mean a new cassette (I'm only 7 speed), new hub, probably a new mech... erm, shit. That sounds expensive. I hope the plastic piece of crap doesn't break :(

Apparently the rear mechs are available over here now, for the princely sum of $150/£100 - ouch. My nearest bike shop rang me up today to say that the replacement XTR lower assemblies work out $10 more expensive than the whole pods, and that if I took my bike in they'd try to get the shifters warrantied. If Shimano won't warranty them (I'll find out as soon as I feel like driving 100 miles round trip to the NBS), then Sram it is, I reckon.

if your shimano rear mech still works, you can pick up a Sachs "Extreme" gripshift in 8 or 9 speed shimano compatible for around £15. This is what I use, and it works just as well with XTR as it does with Deore.

Well I'm more than happy with SRAM 7 on the rear.

The Rocket shifter wors well enough on the front as well.

still wanna know where ur cracking these shifters..

Sounds like you have them done up too tight on the bars. Which is not a good idea!

I'm cracking the shifter on the plastic cover that goes around the underside of the shifter (the one with the hole in it so the thumb paddle can go through it). They aren't especially tight on the bars - tightening on to the bars wouldn't have this effect, as far as I can tell, and they're a decent distance away from my brake levers.

Strange though - I all the years I've been MTBing, I've never seen a broken STI - for you to have broken so many seems strange... There's not someone who secretly dislikes you living at your place and breaking them at night is there? :)

I dunno, it's weird, isn't it? I'm thinking it might be my barbarian hands, but the shifters certainly haven't been abused. I *really* can't be bothered to drive to the bike shop for another few days, though.

I've broken a couple of XT shifters, (both right hand ones). I put it down to too much friction in the cables, which put too much pressure on the ratchets and ripped them to bits.

Easiest way is to go Singlespeed.... :p