Shimano Zee Drivetrain – First Look

We’ve just fitted a full Shimano Zee Groupset to our DMR Bolt long termer. A budget-minded Downhill Focused Groupset. Check out our First Look on the drivetrain.

The Shimano ZEE Groupset is firmly aimed at grassroots Downhillers and Freeriders. With budget very much in mind ZEE is a great option for younger riders and those who have limited budget or those who simply don’t want to spend crazy money on absolute top end kit.

It’s fair to say that the ZEE kit is burly and is built to withstand the hard knocks that gravity riders can throw at it. The Crankset particularly looks beastly and is available in 165, 170 and 175mm length options and comes equipped with either 34, 36 or 38t Chainrings. A solid looking crank places an immediate confidence in my mind, I don’t ever want to worry about a crank potentially failing and on visual inspection alone failure is not something I am going to worry about at all whilst running these. Saint Cranks are offered with lightweight Hollowtech 2 Crankarms whereas ZEE opt for a far less costly solid alloy. The expectation, then, is that weight is going to be sacrificed but in fact the ZEE kit only weighs seven grams more than its Saint equivalent. Hardly a cause for concern for grassroots racers. As you would expect with Shimano, the finish is pretty much second to none and visually they certainly don’t give any indication of being ‘budget’.

The ZEE rear derailleur is a piece of kit I’ve been very keen to try out for some time. Not having had the chance to try out a clutched system before I was intrigued by how much of a difference they would offer. It’s a welcome surprise regardless, that kit at this price point is equipped with such technology. The derailleur is available in both close (23-28t) and wide ratio (32-36t) options. I had some initial set-up issues that took some fettling to iron out although in hindsight I was probably being a little too zealous in trying to obtain perfection and once I started to roll out a few laps the niggling noise concerns I had with the bike on the stand had all but disappeared.

On initial testing I am very impressed with the derailleur and shifter combo. It has such a strong positive feel in each shift. The ZEE shifter offers Two-Way release only but has a very nice ergonomically designed and textured shift paddles which only adds to the positive feel of the shift. Whilst it is undoubtedly more basic than the Saint option the Shadow Plus Clutch system works fantastically well and once an initial ‘break-in’ period was carried out, noise was pretty much none existent.

We equipped our set-up with a Shimano Deore XT 10 speed Cassette (11-36t). This is a cassette I’ve been running for a long time on multiple bikes and I have never had an issue with it. Durable is an understatement and as expected it works flawlessly with the ZEE kit. A true fit and forget item.

On initial impressions the ZEE Groupset has punched well above its weight. To refer to it as ‘budget’ is bordering insulting as it raises connotations of cheap and cheerful and ‘just adequate’. This is far beyond that. Visually they look just as well finished as Saint and on the few laps we’ve had so far everything has performed flawlessly. The derailleur particularly is a superb piece of kit and places a confidence in each gear shift that I thought was only obtainable with the very best money could buy.

The ZEE Drivetrain can easily hold its own against Saint and for us the price point makes it a no brainer. If it has the durability that Saint has proven to have then this will almost certainly become a firm favourite. We’ll be testing this kit on our long termer for the next couple of seasons and we’ll keep you posted on how it performs over the coming months. First Look on Zee Brakes coming soon.

Shimano Zee M640 Shadow+ 10 Speed Rear Mech – £59.99
Shimano Zee M640 1x10sp Trigger Shifter – £29.99
Shimano Zee Chainset 10sp – £109.99
Shimano Deore XT Cassette (10 Speed) – £49.99

Check out http://www.madison.co.uk/ for more info