2003 Shimano XTR Grouppo

Author: Kevin 'Goat' MacCuish

Average Local Price - approx. $3500.00

Early this year, ecmtb.com had the opportunity to try out a bicycle equipped with the 2003 version of XTR. The bike used to test the grouppo was a blue Sycip cross-country hard tail, a top-quality hand-built bike that's both light and strong.

XTR has always been the best of the best - the finest champagne of mountain bike parts, surrounded by an allure matched only by a roadie's dreams of an OCLV frame encrusted with Dura Ace or Campy Record. Polished to a lustrous faux-titanium sheen, the new XTR is light, strong and immaculately constructed. Each component is truly a thing of beauty.

Good looks aside, it is a poor component maker that places form before function. As is usual with XTR, each part works extremely well. Shifting is precise and dependable; the hydraulic disc brakes are strong and modulate well. The drive train is smooth, silent and stiff. One would expect nothing less given the expense of owning an XTR equipped bike. The suggested retail price for the grouppo alone is around $3500 Canadian Dollars.

The main changes to the 2003 XTR involve the combined shifters / brake levers, brakes and crank set / bottom bracket.

The neatest and most controversial change has got to be the integrated brake levers / shifters. For a long time now, STI (System Total Integration) shifters have ruled the road bike world - that is, both shifting and braking are accomplished with the brake levers. Now, Shimano has brought STI shifting to mountain bikes. To brake using these shifters / brake levers, the rider pulls the levers back towards the bar as usual. To shift, the rider flicks the brake lever upwards or downwards with the tips of his or her fingers.

Keeping in mind that cross country racing is the target market for XTR, this is a nice idea; full control over shifting and braking is literally at your fingertips and is achieved with a motion that is much more intuitive than the thumb / index finger motion required to use rapid-fire.

In practice, shifting with your brake levers takes some getting used-to. Until fully weaned away from twist-shifters or rapid-fire, the potential for accidental gear-shifts while braking is high. However, with practice, most riders should be able to adapt to this new shifting / braking style given the potential benefits of being able to shift and brake without changing your hand or finger position.

The controversial issue here is one of integration. This will not be the first time that Shimano has produced integrated mountain bike shifters / brake levers. In this case however, the only version of XTR available is the integrated version - if you want the shifters, you have to have the brakes as well, and vice versa. As a result, there is some concern in the industry that this could drive some other component manufacturers out of the ultra high-end market. Personally, I have to wonder if XTR is widely enough used for this concern to be warranted.

Moving on, the hydraulic disc brakes that come part and parcel with the 2003 XTR are particularly worthy of mention. A single piece of forged aluminum, the caliper body is incredibly small and rigid to a degree that a two-piece joined caliper body can never be. Also interesting, is that the rotor is no longer bolted to the hub; rather, it is mounted on a splined post and is secured with a lock-ring. This makes for a stronger, more precise fit while making rotor removal easy. These disc brakes feel great and are more than strong enough for cross-country use.

While XTR Vee Brakes are still available, it is interesting to note that the discs are now the default choice. In fact, for the first time ever, those athletes who ride for Shimano are only permitted to use the disc brakes. This is a sure sign that disc brakes are swiftly becoming the standard choice even for cross-country racing.

The other major change worth pointing out is found in the crank set / bottom bracket assembly.

First of all, the bottom bracket bearings have been relocated to two sealed bearing assemblies located outside the bottom bracket shell, placing the bearings closer to the ends of the BB axle. The benefit of this is that the axle is better supported making it next to impossible to bend or break. The axle itself is a wide-diameter hollow tube that is press-fit into the drive-side crank arm. The left crank arm is attached to the BB axle with a splined taper in the same manner as a set of 3-piece splined BMX cranks. Given the extra-diameter of the BB axle, bearing placement and method of assembly, this entire crank set is very strong, stiff and light.

Again, the integration issue needs to be raised. While both the disc brakes and the crank set / bottom bracket combination work very well, they too are integrated units. As such, the cranks can't be used without the BB. The discs can't be used without the hubs (due to the innovative manner in which the rotors are mounted), nor without the integrated shifters / levers. This grouppo's greatest achievement is that it all works fantastically well together. Ironically, this strength can also be seen as its greatest downfall. By design, the new XTR almost completely prohibits the use of any but XTR components. Perhaps the concern of other high-end component makers is justified after all. From this point on, a bike with some XTR will most likely be a bike with almost nothing but XTR.

In conclusion, I give the new XTR full marks. It's everything that a high performance cross-country grouppo should be. Readers should keep in mind however, that XTR is not meant for free-riding or down-hilling. Those who expect to use XTR for anything but cross-country riding or racing will probably be disappointed with its operation and durability. Likewise, be aware that now XTR really is a component group; you've either got all of it or none of it.

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Posted by Craig Dobbin at July 18, 2003 09:29 PM

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