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Shimano Deore XT Shadow Shifter & Mech
Jim - 30 March 2008
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Shimano have been shifting chains on bikes for as long as I can remember and for 2008 they've reworked the traditional mech cage so that it 'hides' behind the dropout to avoid stray rocks from smashing your drivetrain. This is the Shadow concept, and in addition to this there's a few nifty tweaks to further improve performance.
Firstly setup was pretty simple, firstly unscrew the gear indicator.. they might be useful for cross country but in downhill it's just another thing to snap off. There's a couple of other little modifications, most importantly the direct cable routing. As opposed to traditional Shimano mech setups the Shadow has a very clean cable routing to the mech instead of a wide gear loop to generate friction and inevitably more maintenance. There is also no longer a barrel adjuster at the mech, not a major thing but it'd be nice to tweak things at one end while the bike is clamped into a workstand.
Neat cable routing, all hidden behind a bolted dropout
In order to tuck the mech in, the top pivot has been removed; why no-one has thought of this before I don't know. This means it cant bounce off the chainstays anymore, making for a much quieter bike when the going gets rough. At first I thought moving the mech in would have an effect on the shifting, because in all the technical developments related to it, why wouldnt anyone have done it before? But on the first ride I was pleasantly surprised, gear changes are dealt with swiftly and with ease.
The new shifter assembly allows for much easier shifting up the gears, the trigger itself can be pushed or pulled to swap gears which makes grabbing the gears much easier when youre under pressure in a race, while the downshifts are dealt with as per usual with the usual push trigger. The shifter itself is very small and neat, and tucks in nicely behind the brakes without too much fuss. Of course if you want full bling and top performance there is also an XTR Shadow shifter and mech combo.
Shadow on left, LX on right. Spot the difference?
Having spent the last few months testing the XT Shadow combination, through many different weather conditions.. okay maybe not different weather conditions, its just been wet. But thats a harsh environment for any product, and one that has to be designed for cross country, downhill and freeride is a tall order for anything. But throughout the last four months the XT Shadow has behaved itself without any problems, it's been through some tight squeezes that mightve taken out a standard mech and still lived to see the tale.
There's no doubt that removing the top pivot and spring is a good idea, it reduces noise, saves damage to your frame and makes the whole assembly look much neater; I wouldn't be surprised if other manufacturers took a similar approach.
Shifter tucked neatly behind the brakes, nice simple design.
The XT Shadow retails at around £45, this makes it pretty solid value for money while still offering solid performance. It's available in either medium or long cage, the one pictured is the medium cage, so as you can see it's still a little long for downhill but hopefully Shimano will come out with a short or super short for the short ratio cassettes common on most downhill bikes. It weighs in at 228g for the mech and 127g for the shifter. Shimano are back on it with a high performance, quality product.
For more details check out Shimano.com or UK distributors Ultimate Pursuits/Madison.
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