Originally Posted by
badger1
OK, I'll play one more time! Points in order.
1. The stock 16 Expert's gear range is 109.9" to 22. Changing to 11-36 would give 109.9 to 24.5. I'm not sure of the significance of this? Hard gear is the same, easy gear is so close as to make no difference; you could climb a wall with either. And, for practical purposes, the range on the Pro 1x11 is the same: 98.9 down to 23.6. Anyone who wants to could cheaply/easily change the 36 ring to a 38: 104.4 to 24.7 range.
I was suggesting that with a 40T cog in the Expert's cassette, it would allow many people to use the expert in the same manner as the Pro, that is as a 1x setup, but you would have that emergency bail out gear ready just in case you need it.
Yes the Pro does 1x a bit better because it is purely a 1x setup, but it does come with a $300 price difference, when many people would already be thinking the Expert is very expensive for a hybrid.
2. SRAM vs. Shimano -- personal preference. GX and XT groups are both great. Would I prefer new XT 1x11 on the Pro? Probably, but I've been using SRAM on one bike for years; no problems/no complaints.
3. The XG1150 cassette is a little more than the XT8000 (e.g. today the former is 160 or so on Chainreaction, the latter 120 or so). I don't see that as terribly significant.
Okay I made a mistake here and thought the 10-42 Sram cassette was much more expensive than the XG1150 actually is, so this weakens my argument by a fair degree on this point.
4. Personal preference. I have no idea whether people in the market for either bike would care about 'gear indicators'. I have them on both bikes; haven't looked at them in years. Drop down a cog: harder gear. Shift up a cog: lighter gear. So a non-issue for me.
This is just another little niggle for
some potential purchasers of the Pro.