https://www.sram.com/en/sram/mountain/collections/eagle-transmission
The widely predicted step from the UDH - is now that the frames exist, the new SRAM mechs attach directly to the frame.
More minimalist shifter too, moving away from just replicating a cable shifter.
I like the look of the new shifter, hopefully it’ll be backwards compatible with current Eagle AXS kit.
That looks very good, but €700 for the derailleur and €240 for the shifter is just too much.
That looks very good, but €700 for the derailleur and €240 for the shifter is just too much.
Do you actually buy anything at RRP? I certainly don't.
They need to price them like that in preparation for end of season 40% sales and Black Friday etc.
X0 Eagle Transmission is for put-up or shut-up riders who don’t have time to wonder about their componentry. The level of full legitimacy, X0 Eagle Transmission gives confidence to the most serious riders in every discipline. Light, tough, reliable and precise, X0 Eagle Transmission is built to help you prove your mettle.
Oh do **** off Sram.
but €700 for the derailleur and €240
WHAT !!!! Come on... seriously.
That looks very good, but €700 for the derailleur and €240 for the shifter is just too much.
Great that it's this expensive. The more expensive external gears are the more people will buy gearboxes and the more the price of the latter will fall
€700 for the derailleur and €240
And how much for the UDH compatible frame? This looks like more of an OEM launch for now - anyone with a UDH frame will have got it fairly recently so there won't be that many compulsive upgraders looking to change just yet.
If we're going to have a special frame for our derailleur could we not just go the whole way and go to something like the Williams Racing Products system?
To be fair it looks pretty awesome
I love the look of the cranks, always hated sram though.
Welcome to the dream made real.
Enabling Nirvana.
X0 Eagle Transmission is for put-up or shut-up riders who don’t have time to wonder about their componentry. The level of full legitimacy, X0 Eagle Transmission gives confidence to the most serious riders in every discipline.
The zenith. The lightest. The level with no level beyond.
I love the concept, hangers are a pain and I have a UDH frame. Will be waiting for the NX (maybe GX at a push) trickle down to happen first though.
I like the look of the new shifter, hopefully it’ll be backwards compatible with current Eagle AXS kit.
It is. It's the only part that is cross compatible.
Possible (read probable) silly question but ........
I thought the mech hanger on the frame was meant to be a consumable unit to help save the mech in the event of a crash. Does this approach of connecting the mech risk all of that?
I'm clearly missing something.
Just no. If spending that much, go Rohloff / Pinion to actually solve the vulnerabilities of mech hangers and exposed gears.
Not sure what fantasies the SRAM team are living out, but I think if I spent upwards of £2k on some bike bits I'd probably be single, so it certainly wouldn't be those* ones.
*well, maybe.
Possible (read probable) silly question but ……..
I thought the mech hanger on the frame was meant to be a consumable unit to help save the mech in the event of a crash. Does this approach of connecting the mech risk all of that?
I’m clearly missing something.
Sram mechs have always been made of cheese. The mech hanger never did it's job for SRAM. I've got a box of them ranging from imperceptibly bent but no longer shift properly, through to utterly mangled. I've got a similar box of shimano mechs that outlived their drivechains still working like new. Should probably bin both now that jockey wheels are no longer universal.
I was going to say ‘meh’ but then I saw the lower jockey wheel on the xx versions. A remarkably clever bit of engineering/Witchcraft!!!
Not sure I’d spend 2 grand on a group set however.
I used to look at older riders at take the piss at them riding around on their old Muddy Fox's or Mercians. Did they not know [b]new shiny things[/b] were available.
I get it now!
It's just an arms race and somewhere along the trails you mentally switch off and decide you are happy with the kit you have!* 🙂
(*QR, 26", 9sp, triple chainset for me!)
letmetalktomark
I thought the mech hanger on the frame was meant to be a consumable unit to help save the mech in the event of a crash. Does this approach of connecting the mech risk all of that?
I’m clearly missing something.
Yes, you lose the sacrificial mech hnager, but supposedly the stiffer, stronger setup it deals better with crashes and the mech can move out of the way (towards frame) and pivot back if impacted. It's all kind of a response to how sensitive 12s in general (not just SRAM) to bent hangers, the larger cassette and longer cage amplifies a small bend. And you can buy all the replacement parts for the mech - no prizes there though, that should be the case for all derailleurs.
I think it looks good, improves lots of stuff, just a pity the cassette/chain can't be used with the older eagle (I bet it can, and I 'll probably be doing it whenever someone else tries it first)
I was going to say ‘meh’ but then I saw the lower jockey wheel on the xx versions. A remarkably clever bit of engineering/Witchcraft!!!
Is it? I mean they're solving a problem they've created, if you don't want sticks to jam your jockey wheel, just make them solid. To poke it full of holes and then have to add an extra feature to get around stuff wedging in said holes feels a bit over complicated...
Great that it’s this expensive. The more expensive external gears are the more people will buy gearboxes and the more the price of the latter will fall
Now there's a fantasy...
I reckon this new shifter makes the EXPL reverb a much more likely thing to appear on my Shimano equipped gravel bike 🙂
Assuming it can control that (I think they are all cross compatible?)
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/24417603
I thought the mech hanger on the frame was meant to be a consumable unit to help save the mech in the event of a crash. Does this approach of connecting the mech risk all of that?
seems strong
Great that it’s this expensive. The more expensive external gears are the more people will buy gearboxes and the more the price of the latter will fall
Cost is just one reason stopping most people from buying gearbox bikes, and probably not the main reason either.
It’s just an arms race and somewhere along the trails you mentally switch off and decide you are happy with the kit you have!* 🙂
I think the 'problem' is that there are some developments that do deserve to be adopted, and some things do trickle down. E.g. my 'new' bike kicks my last ones behind despite being 'entry level' deore/marzocchi.
But now SRAM have just done a rug-pull on shimano as XD allows them to make the cassette any length they like, so they can make it wider now they control the dropout's geometry and location as well. Whereas Shimano's only option if they want to compete is to make a micro spline 2.0 with a longer freehub unless they machine the bottom few sprockets as a cluster and allow the 10t to overhang. So now what? Another couple of groupset generations where nothing is intercompatible.
I think it looks good, improves lots of stuff, just a pity the cassette/chain can’t be used with the older eagle (I bet it can, and I ‘ll probably be doing it whenever someone else tries it first)
Apparently not, the cassette spacing is wider.
Which is pointless, it's electric, just make it an option in the app you now need to configure it.
Punchy pricing, and of course in comes the absolute torrent of YouTubers redefining what the word 'gush' means.
But now SRAM have just done a rug-pull on shimano as XD allows them to make the cassette any length they like, so they can make it wider now they control the dropout’s geometry and location as well. Whereas Shimano’s only option if they want to compete is to make a micro spline 2.0 with a longer freehub unless they machine the bottom few sprockets as a cluster and allow the 10t to overhang. So now what? Another couple of groupset generations where nothing is intercompatible.
One of the biggest changes is that instead of the derailleur being 'somewhere about there, ish' in relation to the cassette, and therefore requiring b tension and limit screws, the new mech is mounted directly through the axle, in a known, exact location in relation to the cassette. The mech has the dropout as part of it too. So, SRAM can make everything to much closer tolerances, without needing make it fit hundreds of frames, mech hangers and droputs.
Is it? I mean they’re solving a problem they’ve created, if you don’t want sticks to jam your jockey wheel, just make them solid. To poke it full of holes and then have to add an extra feature to get around stuff wedging in said holes feels a bit over complicated…
😂😂
Well when you look at it that way then I’d struggle to argue!
But it’s still a clever (if pointless) bit if engineering imo!
One of the biggest changes is that instead of the derailleur being ‘somewhere about there, ish’ in relation to the cassette, and therefore requiring b tension and limit screws, the new mech is mounted directly through the axle, in a known, exact location in relation to the cassette. The mech has the dropout as part of it too. So, SRAM can make everything to much closer tolerances, without needing make it fit hundreds of frames, mech hangers and droputs.
Not entirely, there's still the hub manufacturer, although you'd hope that making the freehub and end caps of the hub the right length would be easy. Which is pretty much the same as the current system. And while it's probably vaguely defined, UDH still needs the frame manufacturer to build it at the right angle (which was never that critical, it's out as soon as the bike sags anyway). The only thing that might be different is the thickness of the hanger but it still needs indexing so that's moot too.
And there's now 2x different B tension screws depending on chain length!
Called Magic Wheel, the XX derailleur’s lower jockey wheel has a wheel-on-wheel design. If its rotation is blocked, the outer portion can continue to turn on the inner section, reducing the chances of a chain jam.
If anyone else's skipping reading, and wondering:
"That oversized bottom pulley in the Inline Cage is called the Magic Wheel because its outer ring rotates independently from the inner spoked hub. Should a stick become lodged between pulley and cage, Magic Wheel takes over, and your chain can continue threading through the derailleur without a damaging jam or bind."
If the jockey wheel can spin from the edge then why bother having a bearing in the centre?
I thought the mech hanger on the frame was meant to be a consumable unit to help save the mech in the event of a crash. Does this approach of connecting the mech risk all of that?
I’m clearly missing something
No the hanger was consumable to save the frame not the derailuer.
Daft daft daft money .. id rather spend that within a frame with a pinion gearbox .. Anyone got Zerodes number ...
id rather spend that within a frame with a pinion gearbox
I did. I wouldn’t again.
Which is pointless, it’s electric, just make it an option in the app you now need to configure it.
The point is that they have gone 55mm chainline and matched the cassette to it in order to drop 52mm cranks.
The spinning jockey wheel thing is done that way as having it permanently spinning like around the edge that would trash the wheel very fast as its just two plastic surfaces running over each other. This is designed to work for as long as it takes for you to notice the stick in there.
Place your bets on which member is gonna pre order first.😁
Won’t be me… working in a bike shop I can’t afford that wizardry. Maybe after the summer I’ll go GX AXS though
It’s just an arms race and somewhere along the trails you mentally switch off and decide you are happy with the kit you have!* 🙂
(*QR, 26″, 9sp, triple chainset for me!)
I hear you and agree with the sentiment although my implementation of it has allowed 27.5, 1x12, 200mm dropper, boost spacing.
I am glad I didn't stick to 2005 from a riding enjoyment point of view. 🙂
id rather spend that within a frame with a pinion gearbox
I did. I wouldn’t again.
Burn the heretic!!
@tomhoward
Why not?
You're the first person I've seen to say that the pinion gearbox isn't the cure to all cycling problems.
I said similar after test riding a Zerode Taniwha.
Loved the concept, the mass centralisation etc. Couldn't get on with the high friction twist shift, not the 30° of backlash when clocking the cranks.
The debate's an interesting one. This sort of high end gear has no real impact on most average MTBers. It'll be fitted to the very tippy toppy range of boutique frames that none of us buy anyway, and 99% of folks will never ride a bike with it fitted. The fact that it has a different cassette spacing or mount for the derailleur isn't going to stop designers fitting mechanical systems to bikes lower down in their ranges that we all buy with drivetrain technology that's available today, in fact I would suspect that gear like this (and mechanical XTR for example) are probably sold at a loss, especially as at this end of the spectrum the pressure to make teeny cosmetic changes to it year on year is tremendous.
You can see why Shimano has gone the other way to produce an "everyman drivetrain" with maximum compatibility that's long lasting and doesn't need constant updates to keep it attractive to a small group of folks who must have the latest and greatest. Leave the wireless stuff to SRAM who undoubtedly do it better than Shimano ever have anyway
Personally I love the tech, it's always cool to see engineers push the boundaries of what's possible, regardless of whether it's in your budget and I'm hoping that the prices of current wireless stuff will start to come down as a result of this release GX/XO1 AXS is on my radar as my current stuff wears out, with newer shinier stuff to attract the magpies, I'll be on the lookout for a bargain
.
somewhere along the trails you mentally switch off and decide you are happy with the kit you have!*
Very true.
Though I have some of the best suspension available to man, I'm quite happy with a mish-mash of 11sp Shimano & Sunrace transmission. If my mech takes a hit, I just bend it back. It's not so finnicky that I can't continue to shift reliably.