Shimano XTR Di2 M9200 drivetrain

The XTR Di2 M9200 series drivetrain sees truly wireless shifting for the first time from Shimano. Whilst the cranks and the Hyperglide+ shifting are familiar, the shifter really stands out as a very intuitive and comfortable thing to use. The Hyperglide+ shifting is fast and precise even under load, but still has that classic mechanical feel, particularly in the larger rings.

Shimano XTR Di2 M9200 drivetrain – Technical Details

The Shimano XTR Di2 comes, for the first time, with components holding their own batteries – it’s therefore truly wireless. Older versions had a battery squirrelled away in the frame somewhere.

Starting with the all-important derailleur, Shimano has moved to a new dual-spring clutch design to control the cage slap and help retain the chain.

The battery is tucked right in the heart of the derailleur out of harm’s way and uses a sliding door for access, while the nearby pivot plates are shaped to fend off mid-trail knocks.

As further protection, if the motor senses an impact, it can retract towards the wheel momentarily, before automatically returning to its intended position. Solid jockey wheels are employed for longevity and toughness, and you get a carbon cage. Shimano offers two cage lengths: GS for up to 45-tooth cassettes, or SGS for up to 51 tooth.

Actual weight for the XTR rear derailleur is 414g without a battery.

At first glance, the new shifter looks like the standard mechanical shifter that many will be used to – nice! Both paddles can be set to the desired angle and rotation and feature silicone grippers.

The two-step upshift is a great feature on the mechanical shifters, and that’s been carried over to the wireless offering, but you can hold the paddles down to cycle through the shifts as well. The third button on the body of the shifter is programmable through the E-Tube app.

It’s available in two mounting options: the Shimano-specific I-spec EV mount, or a standard band clamp. The shifter takes two CR1632 coin batteries and weighs in at 96g.

Shimano’s E-Tube app manages everything, such as letting you tune the shift speeds and index adjustments.

The 12-speed cassette uses titanium rings through the middle of the block to save weight, while five are steel and the rest are aluminium. It sits on a Microspline freehub, which allows a 10T smallest gear with a standard lockring, or a tiddly 9T with a dedicated one.

It’s available in 10-51T and 9-45T options, and our 10-51T weighed in at 372g. The 9-45T version offers a slightly lighter and more compact setup at the loss of a small amount of range.

In true Shimano fashion there is no carbon to be seen here: these are hollow-forged aluminium cranks, and they’re pretty light and stiff. The classic 24mm spindle is still in use along with the pre-load screw and pinch bolt securing system. Chainring interface is Shimano specific, and uses a lockring which requires its own tool.

There are two crank options. The M9220 has enduro intentions with a thicker spindle for more strength, whilst the M9200 is lighter and orientated more towards XC. Lengths range from 160-175mm.

The aluminium chainring (CRM96) is available in sizes ranging from 28-38T, and ours was very light 64g. The bottom bracket and chain are carryovers from the previous generation.

Shimano XTR Di2 M9200 drivetrain – Performance

Setting this all up was a simple affair thanks to the lack of any wires – you simply bolt everything on. Pairing the shifter to the derailleur only takes a couple of button presses. Getting everything connected the E-Tube app on my phone was a little more frustrating, as it’s not the most intuitive, but I got there in the end.

Tuning the rear derailleur feels pretty normal – you set the limit screws appropriately – while indexing involves holding the button on the derailleur for ‘adjust’ mode and using shifter clicks to fine-tune as required.

The B-tension is set using the markings on the back of the derailleur cage and cassette. I did find the chain length needs to be perfect for the markings to line up correctly though.

Aside from needing the Shimano specific tools for the XTR bottom bracket, chain ring and pre-load cap, bolting on the cranks was as easy as everything else.

Let’s start with the shifting performance – it’s a joy to use, and if you’re coming from mechanical Shimano you’ll find it very familiar. With adjustment both on the I-Spec EV mount and the individual paddles, dialling in the perfect placement is easy.

The Hyperglide+ shifting does a good job even under load, at least in the middle and towards the lower end of the cassette. Across ratios with larger steps, such as 51T to 45T, it can be a little clunky and slow to change. At least in this aspect, SRAM’s shifting is a little more refined.

The derailleur is very responsive, and holding down the shift paddle results in rapid changes – too rapidly to count, really, as the chain can only move as quickly as the ramps on the cassette will allow. I found slowing these changes a little in the app actually made this feature more usable.

Derailleur battery life is excellent – I’ve needed to recharge after around 300km of fairly average enduro riding – though of course it really depends on how much shifting you do. When that time came I found the latch and battery cover a little tricky to remove, while getting the cover back was just a faff – especially if grit has got into the sliders. You’ll probably be on your knees or flipping the bike to line everything up properly and get it all latched back together.

The clutchless rear derailleur is a bold move from Shimano. Clutches have long been standard to dampen cage movement and reduce chain drops, but they can get sticky with age – which affects shifting – and can interfere with suspension movement too. Moving back to a sprung system alleviates this problem and, for 95% of the time, it’s quiet out on the trails. Hits a hole or bump which stalls the bike, though, and that classic ‘thunk’ is back as derailleur hits chainstay. It’s only in very rough terrain though, and it feels like a fair compromise otherwise.

Shimano XTR Di2 M9200 drivetrain – Verdict

For those already on a mechanical Shimano drivetrain, the upgrade kit is £800. It includes the shifter, derailleur, battery and charger. If you’re not and want the full set from scratch, the cranks (£250), bottom bracket (£60), chain (£60), chainring (£130) and cassette (£400) add another £900 for a total cost of £1,700.

You could save some money buy mixing in XT parts from the next tier down, especially as the weight saving with XTR is minimal, but you’ll miss out on better coatings on wear items such as the chain and cassette.

Of course SRAM T-Type AXS is the direct competition here, with the top-of-the-range XX T-Type AXS groupset coming in around £500 more at £2,200. Whilst the shifting under load is arguably smoother with the T-Type, the pod shifter configuration is not as intuitive.

The Shimano XTR Di2 M9200 series drivetrain sees truly wireless shifting for the first time from the brand. Whilst the cranks and the Hyperglide+ shifting are familiar to any Shimano users, the shifter really stands out as a very intuitive and comfortable thing to use. The Hyperglide+ shifting is precise even under load, but does still have that classic mechanical feel to it, particularly when in the larger gears. The derailleur movements are fast, crisp and precise, which is partly down to the new dual-spring clutch-less cage, however, it does provide that classic derailleur “thunk” in the roughest terrain. Overall, the drivetrain is a great offering, but I think it doesn’t quite match the refinement compared to the T-Type offering from SRAM.

While this doesn’t quite match the shifting refinement of T-Type from SRAM, it’s still got an awful lot to offer – especially as it’s considerably cheaper. It’s a reliable, easy to use and crisply effective system.