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Not quite the same. Bitex weighs about a quarter of an XT, and also gets you centrelock, cartridge bearings and about 40 more points of engagement. Definitely things I'm happy to pay extra for (I currently own both for the record)
Turkish-
Bitex weighs about a quarter of an XT, and also gets you centrelock, cartridge bearings and about 40 more points of engagement.
Not true (not even half true, unless Bitex is sub-170g), not true (I linked to centerlock XT), not necessarily a good thing (cup and cone has lower contact pressure for given bearing external dimensions), not a thing worth paying for on anything other than a trials bike. But yeah, knock yourself out if you want to save 6oz by using weaker hubs :)
Shimano hubs are not unimprovable, but if they did them in a proper range of drillings and pretty colours they would put half the boutique hub manufacturers out of business overnight.
gbj_tester
Or even 18 times the price of FH-M785. You don't hear a lot of people complaining about short service life or expensive maintenance on XT hubs :)