After seven years of waiting, Shimano finally joined the wireless shifting party, and now it seems it’s making up for lost time. Just two weeks after debuting its long-overdue wireless XTR M9200 Di2 groupset, the Japanese giant has pulled the trigger on XT and Deore Di2, too.
That’s top-tier, mid-tier, and budget(ish) wireless shifting in the space of a fortnight; not bad for a company that’s spent the better part of a decade watching SRAM hoover up market share.
We’re yet to lay our hands on either the new XT or Deore, and so rather, this is a quick run-through of the key details. For the full-nerd dive on the new technology introduced earlier this month, see Dave Rome’s review of the top-tier XTR Di2.
Dave Rome
Keep reading for the breakdown of weights and costs for the new range. And before we go any further, many of you may notice that SLX, the group between Deore and XT, has been left out. For the time being, at least, Shimano has said that the M7100 SLX mechanical group isn't going anywhere. "The choice to offer a Di2 wireless option for Deore over SLX was made as it is more widely spec’d across a range of bike models, including e-bikes," explained Jonathan Davis, Shimano's PR and communications manager.
Don’t call this a trickle-down
Shimano loves to talk about “trickle-down," the idea that high-end tech slowly filters into more affordable parts over the years. Di2, for instance, launched on Dura-Ace in 2009, hit Ultegra two years later, and finally made it to 105 a whole 13 years after the original.
But with these new wireless mountain bike groupsets, you can forget the trickle-down metaphor; Shimano appears to have turned on a firehose in order to catch up to SRAM’s dominance in the wireless shifting space.
New XT and Deore have landed essentially alongside the revamped XTR group, and most of the same functionality is intact. That’s not so much trickle-down as copy-paste. Granted, the savings aren’t in the tech itself; they’re in materials and machining, which is where XT and Deore gain some weight over the flagship race groupset. Inside, Shimano has largely kept the shifting brains the same, then stripped back everything else to bring costs down.
You’ll find both the new XT and Deore Di2 retain many of the same themes as the recently announced XTR. The systems are sticking with 12-speed cassettes and the same chains as the pre-existing mechanical versions. The now-wireless derailleurs bolt to any frame, whether it has a UDH or not. The new wireless protocol is shared with Shimano’s 12-speed Di2 drop-bar shifters, so mullet builds now await at three price points. And there’s nothing stopping you from mixing and matching between any of the new XTR, XT and Deore parts.
Still, if this is the new definition of “trickle-down,” it might be time for Shimano to rethink the metaphor. Or at least admit that SRAM’s six-year head start meant they couldn’t afford to wait another few years to hit the mid-tier.
XT Di2 M8200 - XTR functionality for a few extra grams
XT Di2 inherits most of XTR’s functionality but skips the fancy trimmings. There’s no carbon wheelset, no narrow-Q-factor XC crankset, and no 160 mm crank length option. However, the performance bones are all there, just at a slightly higher weight and, more importantly, a lower price.
On the drivetrain side, you now have the choice of the new 9-45T cassette with aluminium alloy for the two biggest sprockets and steel for the rest. That smaller cassette can be combined with the shorter-cage GS derailleur, which, like with XTR, brings reduced weight, increased ground clearance, and better chain retention. If the nine-tooth sprocket isn’t to your liking, the classic 10-51T remains; you’ll just need to match it with the long-cage derailleur. The chain carries over from M8100 (shared with Ultegra).
On paper, the shifter looks to be the same as XTR in the areas that matter; both share the same weight and have the same adjustability and functionality. Without having both shifters side by side to compare, it is hard to point to where the differences lie.
The same can be said for the rear derailleur. Based on the details released by Shimano, XTR and XT share the same technologies when it comes to chain retention, impact recovery, and Shimano Shadow ES design that is claimed to lessen the impact of rock strikes. The real difference comes from the weight of the two products: 63 grams separates the two tiers.
Much like its bigger brother, XT Di2 is also available as an e-bike-specific groupset, allowing for the derailleur to run directly from the bike's internal battery. Much like with the XTR group, for those running this configuration, this allows for some additional functionality, including AutoShift and FreeShift, the latter of which allows the rider to change gears without pedaling.
Some differences in the weights are likely due to the fact that the XTR weights are the actual weighed values, from Dave’s review, whilst the XT weights are the claimed values from Shimano. In reality, the battery is the same as the shifter weight.
When it comes to the brakes, XT 8200 gets the same overhaul to the levers as XTR M9220 Trail, including a rethink on the ergonomics. While the levers remain the same, the brakes are available with a choice of XC-oriented two-piston or four-piston trail calipers, both running Shimano’s new low-viscosity mineral oil that is said to offer better performance across a wide range of temperatures.
There is the choice of two-piston XC or four-piston trail brakes, both of which have been designed around Shimano's new low-viscosity mineral oil.
In addition the groupset, there's a new XT Trail wheelset with an alloy rim. Shimano has kept both 29 and 27.5 wheel sizes alive at this price point. This makes XT the highest you can go in Shimano’s wheel range if you want to use 27.5-inch wheels. Much like XTR, the hubs depart from cup and cone bearings in favour of sealed cartridge bearings. Unlike XTR, there aren't different options for XC or trail riding, with one single 28-hole, 30 mm internal-width rim design available.
There is only one XT wheelset, rather than the split XC/Enduro options of XTR. The rims are alloy, and the hubs have followed XTR in moving away from cup and cone bearings in favour of sealed cartridge bearings.
Shimano said that XT Di2 will be available to purchase immediately, providing a slightly more affordable alternative to XTR. For those who are purely interested in making the jump to wireless, a standalone upgrade kit is available. This contains a rear derailleur, shifter, quick link (to reattach your existing chain), battery, and charger, everything you need if you already use a Shimano 12-speed mountain bike groupset.
Deore Di2 M6200 - wireless shifting for the people
Of the three groupsets, Deore might be the most exciting, not because it’s fancy, but because it’s cheap. Well, cheaper. For a lot of riders, wireless shifting at a low price is worth the weight penalty over the more premium groups; however, with Deore it also comes with the loss of some ergonomic functionality.
Unlike XTR and XT, this isn’t a full-system overhaul. Instead, Deore Di2 is more of a bolt-on upgrade for folks already running 12-speed mechanical Deore or SLX. You get a wireless shifter and derailleur, but the rest of the groupset remains untouched, with no new brakes, cassettes, or new-style cranks.
Deore may have gone wireless, but it is only the essential components that have been updated, with the rest of the groupset remaining unchanged.
Shimano saved pennies where it could: the derailleur cage is steel, the pulleys roll on basic bushings, and the shifter loses the multi-shift functionality (changing multiple gears in a single sustained press of a button). The other feature that is missing from the Deore shifter is the adjustability, with limited two-way ergonomic adjustments available only through the EV mounting system, while the snazzy, independently adjustable shift paddles (as in XTR and XT) are not provided. It is worth noting that if the ergonomic adjustment is something you desperately need, you could always go up one rung to XT just for the shifter. This individual upgrade would add US$50 / £35 over the Deore-spec option.
Considering that there is almost a US$200 saving from the XT to Deore upgrade kits, Deore looks to be the most attractive option for all but the weight weenies or those that want a complete matching groupset.
If there is one corner of the market that could disproportionately benefit from this specific release, it would be e-bikers who currently have 12-speed Shimano mechanical shifting. Typically, this requires the cable to be routed in less than convenient paths to traverse the battery and motor, often making the relatively simple task of changing a gear cable a time-consuming and – if you are paying a mechanic – expensive task. It’s this scenario where I see Shimano selling the most upgrade kits.
At this point, the claimed weights for the new Deore components haven’t been disclosed, which also coincides with word from Shimano that we’re still a few months away from seeing the product hit the market. One thing we can be certain of is that Deore Di2 will see an increase in weight compared to XT Di2.
As tempting as Deore may be to many of Shimano’s existing customers who have been waiting close to a decade for something new, shiny and relatively affordable to upgrade to, the wait isn’t over just yet. XT and XTR may be available now, but for Deore, product availability won’t be immediate, with exact timelines still unknown.
The Bottom Line
With XT and Deore now cutting the cable, SRAM finally has some proper competition in the wireless MTB drivetrain game, at least on paper. Matching the tiers isn’t straightforward: while Deore and GX technically sit on the same step, Deore Di2 feels more like a rival to SRAM’s older GX AXS or even the newer, cheaper S1000, rather than a direct Transmission GX opponent.
Still, for anyone running mechanical 12-speed, the path to wireless just got a whole lot easier. There is no requirement to make a wholesale switch to SRAM to ditch the cable. You can now upgrade to electronic shifting merely with a new shift and derailleur, which feels like a long-overdue move and something which will make groupset specs on full bike builds less of a concern for consumers.
If you’re starting from scratch, Shimano’s pricing has bite. XT Di2 undercuts SRAM’s GX Transmission (US$1,380 / £1,075 / AU$2,054 versus US$1,900 / £1,715 / AU$2,748), for all groupsets exclusive of brakes. While Deore Di2’s upgrade kit is roughly in line with SRAM’s GX T-Type (£570 vs £550). That said, older GX and X01 AXS groupsets are now floating around at heavily discounted prices: think £800 for GX, and £1,400 for X01, which muddies the waters further.
At this end of the market, brand loyalty might be your best budgeting tool. If you’re already running Shimano, the XT and Deore upgrade kits make a lot of sense. If you’re on SRAM, GX is the logical step. And if you’re building a bike from scratch? Then ergonomics, shifting feel, and freehub compatibility are probably going to matter more than cost alone – check out Dave’s XTR review for more thoughts on this matter.
After years of sitting back and letting SRAM run away with the wireless MTB crown, Shimano has finally shown up, not just with a halo product, but with a real lineup. XTR might be the showpiece, but it’s the fast follow from XT and Deore that makes this feel like more than just a token effort. For Shimano fans, it’s about time.
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