siltsunrise

Hi, I'm trying to get my head around the new-to-me shimano levers and shifters. I just decided to upgrade to 10 speed when I destroyed my sram x0 hanger bolt today, rather than wait ages for a new one. (Stripped the bike for a new powdercoat job, but the bugger wouldn't come out; had to drill and tear it out, a real PITA. I think it was because it was torx, not hex, and I wrecked it right off the bat. Doh.)
I'm looking at heaps of used and new levers and shifters and can't figure out which match which at all.
I've got a set of mechanical disk brakes, TRP Spykes. Can all or any of the i spec levers work with any old brakes?
I can grab a new pair of lx levers I like the look of cheap, and found something online saying they're i spec compatible; that's all it says. Is that true? It's these guys: Shimano Deore LX T670 Brake Lever Set at evanscycle dot com.

I'm mostly eyeing a pair (or just a righty) xtr m780 shifters, as I read the xtr lasts a lot longer than xt and below. They come with a normal looking mount, or one or more i spec options. I dunno which lever the i spec ones are meant for at all. Those actually cost way less too, so if I could get some suitable levers cheap, I'd be happy.
Thanks for any help.
Any advice on which shifters have good or bad rep is appreciated too.

cpach

iSpec (and iSpec II, and I think the upcoming XTR has a newererer iSpec) is a standard for mounting the brake lever and the shifter to the same lever while still having them independently replaceable. They have no effect on the brake compatibility. Any Shimano cable brake intended for use with V brakes will work fine with Spykes, including Deore LX BL-T670.

If you can get both lever and shifter in matching ispec versions, why not? It looks slightly cleaner and weighs fractionally less.