Anyone using it? Good/bad/indifferent?
I have it on my Lauf, which I've had since March. Apart from getting used to eTap when I've ridden shimano bikes for decades there's not much to say. Hoods feel nice, gears change when you ask them to, that kind of thing. The connectiviry side of things is far more user friendly than Di2.
Do you have any specific questions?
Nothing specific really, I have a fairly chunky/ugly GX AXS 12 speed setup on the gravel bike, and a discounted 13 speed setup appeals, I can just swap mech and cassette.
I haven't compared it with the MTB groupsets aesthetically but it's definitely chunkier than the GRX on the bike it replaced. I assume you're aware that the XPLR has a max cassette size of 46t?
Yeah, down a little from 10:50 but Im good with that
Is your frame UDH compatible? 13 speedXPLR is UDH specific
It's brilliant. I have the Rival version on one bike and Force on another (apart from weight they work identically, Force has hood blip buttons to which can be useful).
I'd always ridden Shimano before but wanted 1x for gravel and currently SRAM E1 XPLR is the best option for that. The shifting works well, the brakes are very good (especially from the hoods) and the battery life on the rear mech is decent (and small enough to make it practical to carry a spare if you want).
I still ride 2x12 Shimano on my road bike so it messes with my head a bit switching between the two (usually causes me to change front rings on the road bike when I meant to just go one sprocket easier on the rear) but after a few miles it generally clicks again.
I'd say the 3 main issues with it are:
1). Limited cassette range choice. Basically there's only 10-46t if you stick with SRAM (I recently fitted the 13sp Garbaruk 10-52t cassette to one bike though and it works great). I'm hoping when SRAM get around to releasing 13sp MTB groups it will mean a SRAM 13sp 10-52t cassette is an option (but then again you do need to modify the rear mech pulley cage to use the Garbaruk cassette so maybe it won't be)
2). Cassettes are expensive (only really an issue if you run multiple wheel sets or do a lot of miles and don't use a wax chain)
3). DOT fluid brakes (more an annoyance for me rather than a deal breaker)
^^^ I should add that FuzzyWuzy's experience matches mine a lot. I do like the gears, and should be clear that 'they're no bother' is a positive review in my book. Just went for a ride on that bike and did not think about my gears even once, which is exactly what I want from a groupset.
