My bike is still out of action, and it’s starting to get me down. I know logically that we’re getting into the depth of winter and that I probably wouldn’t ride it that much if it was fully operational, but that doesn’t stop me illogically wanting to ride it anyway.
I’ve been reading reviews on various mountain bike websites, as well as trawling through the parts sections on Evans Cycles, Dales Cycles and the Edinburgh Bike Coop’s websites. From what I’ve read it seems that the old maxim holds true even for bike parts: “buy cheap, buy twice”. All three shops have an extensive collection of parts to suit every budget, but as I seem to have already been stung by what amounts to a fairly cheap FSA OEM crankset I’m not anxious to buy a budget set just for the sake of saving a few bucks.
I’ve just about settled on a Shimano M770 XT Hollowtech 2 Chainset which is at the upper end of the market, but not into the ridiculous money range. At the time of writing Evans are currently selling the OEM version for £127.99 and the original retail version for £164.99. As both versions include the bottom bracket and all the other required parts the only difference appears to be in the packaging.
As I said in my earlier post it’s not just the front chain rings that are a bit worse for wear. The rear cassette has suffered a bit of damage as well, either as a result of the front rings causing the chain to slip, or as a result of a damaged chain. Currently I’m considering the Shimano M770 XT Cassette which is an exact match for the M770 XT chainset that I mentioned above. Again the cassette is available in an OEM version for £39.99 or a retail version for £56.99. I’ll admit that I haven’t put as much research into the cassettes as I have with the chainsets, but I can’t see there being too much to chose between them.
It goes without saying of course that any replacement cassette and chain ring will have to be accompanied by a new chain to match. To be honest there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference that I can see between the various chains, but the Shimano HG93 Chain at £17.99 on Evan’s site seems an OK choice to go with the M770 XT parts that I’ve spoken about.
At the moment these three parts will set me back £185.97 in total if I go for the OEM versions. Then it would be simply a matter of getting them attached to the bike and adjusted… Simple…
GreyKodiak 
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Try harder McDowall!