Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 45 total)
  • GX Eagle 12 speed – fit and forget or faff city?
  • rocketman
    Free Member

    I like my drivetrains like my women – smooth, quiet and low maintenance

    If I buy into GX Eagle 12sp am I likely to be disappointed?

    taxi25
    Free Member

    If you get a good chainline sorted, adjust the B screw on the mech properly and adjust the gears correctly all will be fine. If you don’t do this it’ll be a pain !!

    whatyadoinsucka
    Free Member

    my mate hated his, gone back to 11 speed

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    whatyadoinsucka
    Free Member

    that said 2 friends have managed to break the derailleur on them, and its been an under the counter warranty return for both of them.. sram arent advertising this obviously, same with the sram guide levers form 2016, not fit for purpose

    zilog6128
    Full Member

    If you get a good chainline sorted, adjust the B screw on the mech properly and adjust the gears correctly all will be fine. If you don’t do this it’ll be a pain !!

    this, judging from a lot of posts on here. Been F&F for me FWIW

    russyh
    Free Member

    I found it works fine but the mech is super fragile and given it dangle precariously low is susceptible to knocks!  I managed to scoop a twig up into the jockey wheels, which normally would not have been an issue but i could never get the mech to go down the cassette again afterwards.  It was warrantied, but to me it always feels like a ticking time bomb.  Oh and the chain falling off the top jockey is bloody annoying.  Not sure i would bother again, just wish Shimano would hurry up with their new systems.

    russyh
    Free Member

    oh and me other mate with eagle had the same problem as me.  He upgraded his Gx mech to a XO1 which he thinks is massively better built!

    ogden
    Free Member

    No issues for me and I’m running it with an 11 speed chainring.

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    Tick.

    rocketman
    Free Member

    Hmm thanks for the replies fellas. I’m looking at two versions of the same bike one is 12sp GX Eagle the other is 11sp NX

    Would it be better to transplant 11sp M8000 XT onto the NX bike or buy into SRAM 12sp and make it work by throwing £££££££££££ X01 bits at it? i literally have no need for an 10-50 drivetrain but the rest of the bike is quite good.

    roverpig
    Full Member

    Just looking at the stats for my FlareMax, which I built up with a GX Eagle drivertrain back at the end of April. Initial setup was easy enough as far as I remember. I’ve not touched it in the 65 hours of riding that I’ve done since and it’s not missed a beat. Of course that’s been hot dry summer. Maybe it will be a nightmare in the winter or something, but so far so good.

    enigmas
    Free Member

    GX eagle really is love hate for me.

    When it works it shifts great and the range is brilliant. Also not had a dropped chain in 850 miles without a chainguide, the eagle chainring is simply amazing. It’s also wearing better than any other mtb drive chain i’ve used.

    That said, the mech is hugeeee and will take rock strikes all the time, though I’ve gotten better at accounting it in line choice recently. I also have a habit of catching it on the inside of steep rutty right hand corners.It’s also poorly built and slop develops over time, causing the mech to look slightly bent.

    Also had the top jockey wheel debond from the bearing and write the mech off, causing a dnf at a race. This was warrantied by sram but had to wait 3 weeks as they ran out of mechs across the county. There’s also a little play in the shifter but it works fine.

    As above i’ve heard the x01 mech is much better built and am tempted to give it a try, but it’s still the same size and it’s a lot of money to risk ploughing into a rock.

    Keva
    Free Member

    I’ve been told to steer clear by lbs.

    oldejeans
    Free Member

    there is slop from the off on the hanger mount.  Largely F&F for 800+ miles, but it started playing up recently, and the upper jockey has shat itself, and the cage was ripped open. The bearing inner has seized onto the bolt.

    Scienceofficer
    Free Member

    Mines now a year old.

    <span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>I blew up a rear mech within 3 miles of the first ride ala the famed top jockey explosion and SRAM warrantied it. </span>

    I took a long hard look at the setup and shortened the chain as much as possible and had no problems since.

    The GX chain has suffered 3 split links, and I know a fair few people that have had the same problem.

    The gear range is good and whilst a bit big, I can’t say the rear mech is any less durable than anything else I’ve had, including XT, X9 and X0. It’s looking pretty tired and bashed up but is working fine.

    In line with every SRAM mech IvI’ ever had, the jockeys don’t really like to hold onto grease and I’ve re-packed the bearings twice.

    The single biggest step forwards is the x-sync 2 chainring teeth IMO. It runs quieter, holds the chain better and wears significantly better. I’m happy to admit I don’t run the GX eagle equipped big bike much in the winter, but even so, I’ve not even hit 0.75 chain wear yet.

    I still have a nagging fear in the back of my mind that ‘Your mech is going to blow up any minute’ but that’s despite all evidence to the contrary, including BPW, the rough bits of the Lakes, Exmoor, Afan, a week in Spanish Sierra Nevada and more local bashing in the Quantocks and The Mendips.

    greavo
    Full Member

    I replaced my worn out 11 speed XT with Eagle GX. The range is great.  After 2 weeks I put GX on my hardtail too.  That was 9 months ago and neither has missed a beat and a lack of wear means I expect it to last longer than the XT stuff did.

    TBF the first one was a bit of a faff to set-up until I knew what I was doing wrong – I’ve only ever done my own maintenance and never set-up a full group set before.  Once I knew what I was doing the 2nd set was a breeze.

    The long mech should be a consideration but I personally wouldn’t go back.

    andreasrhoen
    Free Member

    Pals I’am biking with: the GX Eagle bikers are not really disappointed. But impression that the product was not 100% tested before releasing it. Very fragile stuff…

    Yes – range is great. And guess next versions will be more “hardened”…

    chrismac
    Full Member

    Fit and forget for me. But I have written off a mech that was only 6 months old which didnt make me happy. No idea how it happened but the jockey wheels decided to leave the mech without unscrewing

    boxxer7
    Free Member

    Bought gx eagle here after spending 4 years on XO1 11 speed, was initially impressed was a doddle to set up and shifting was just as good, then 2 weeks ago it stopped working mid ride.

    It wouldn’t get the top 3 gears so fiddled with cable tension then it couldn’t get the lowest 5 gears, changed my hanger when I got home, then the cables and it made no difference. Spoke to my mate who works in a bike shop, he recons they’ve had 3 gx derailleur do exactly the same. Replaced it with a XO1 and problem solved, its way better built than the GX one so fingers crossed! My old XO1 11 speed has racked up so many miles and is now on my hardtail so I’m hoping for a repeat now.

    all I can think of is I possibly clipped my gx on a descent but it was unmarked and looks totally straight.

    Hob-Nob
    Free Member

    I have had GX Eagle, now donated to my other halfs bike, which IMO other than the range, isn’t a patch on the ‘very’ worn XX1/X01 11spd I have run for years.

    Have X01 Eagle which is better, still doesn’t shift as well as the 11spd stuff & is considerably more ‘fussy’ to get perfect.

    But I do like the range…

    oldtalent
    Free Member

    F and f 12 months ago. Shifting only played when I had a collosal crash that bent what I thought was an unbendable hanger as it was so thick.

    New hanger and it’s all good again.

    astormatt
    Free Member

    Had mine 12 months now. Came stock on my Whyte.

    Initially had problems with the rear mech, ruined 2 in 2 consecutive rides!

    Found hanger was slightly bent, from new. Been  faultless ever since, apart from the last 2 weeks where shifting is all over the place.

    Messed around with cable tension and still haven’t managed to sort it out yet.

    Hasn’t put me off as new bike i am looking at has GX Eagle.

    neilc1881
    Free Member

    Loved mine initially, but since then it’s all gone downhill.  On my 3rd mech (first was a warranty job), bent a tooth on the cassette (5th ring), been through 3 BBs (although one was a cheapo non-SRAM one that only lasted a couple of months), 2 chains, now snapped a tooth off the 50.  That’s all since October 2017.

    I’ll be switching to Shimano 10/11spd as soon as the next thing goes wrong!

    whatyadoinsucka
    Free Member

    my last few XT 11 speed (sgs – medium) have been £46, which if i break i think ohwell

    but the GX 11s / 12s eagle are £75 at best..

    from reading the above comments, it seems if you ride off piste in the lakes, pennines or peaks then GX are a little fickle, if you stick to smooth trail centres the eagle is ok..

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    This thread has certainly made me reconsider the drive for my next build.

    I really want that wide range though.

    andreasrhoen
    Free Member

    if you ride off piste in the lakes, pennines or peaks then GX are a little fickle, if you stick to smooth trail centres the eagle is ok..

    Pretty much the feedback from my biking pals as well.

    None of them gave up on the GX Eagle yet … – but this drivetrain adds stress once leaving the shaped trails?

    Interesting enough: YT announced roughly a year ago that they tested the GX Eagle, had problems (on a Jeffsy?) and then decided to go for an other route. They use this wild 1×11 mix Shimano / e*thirteen mix – with the same range as the GX Eagle.

    But no idea if this “YT drivetrain” is really the more rugged solution. Don’t have an YT bike.

    At this development stage of the GX Eagle: maybe the perfect drivetrain for low weight XC bikes?

    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    it seems if you ride off piste in the lakes, pennines or peaks then GX are a little fickle, if you stick to smooth trail centres the eagle is ok

    Not in my experience. 99% of my riding is off piste in classic Scottish mayhem plus battering it in the alps for 3 weeks each summer. Zero issues with the Eagle GX. Ive destroyed plenty of Shimano mechs with Zee being a particularly bad offender

    LS
    Free Member

    GX Eagle on my bike and I’ve been bashing it all over the Peak since April. One broken chain to report but it’s not like I’ve never done that on other drivetrains so I’ll not commit to that being a GX problem just yet.

    Shifts perfectly every time, haven’t really touched it since setup (I made sure the hanger was 100%, incidentally). Admittedly it’s been very dry and serious mud/grit may cause problems to come but so far so good.

    andybrad
    Full Member

    Maybe the nx would be better if not heavier? Or is it just as fragile?

    TrailriderJim
    Free Member

    I think this thread typifies the fact that a thread shouldn’t be the only source of an informed decision! Reviews here are like chalk and cheese. It is a damned good drivetrain, so long as you’re careful about set up and follow the SRAM guidance to the letter.

    crashrash
    Full Member

    Mate of mine is on GX mech 4 in 7 months – three failures and one damaged by rocks. Then again he has a bad habit of breaking mechs!

    I have XT8000 medium cage and been using it with Sunrace 11-50 11 speed. Changing is fine and you get all that range, and the mech was easy to set up. So its an option…….

    Toasty
    Full Member

    “Changing is fine and you get all that range”

    The GX has a 10% wider range on the bottom end, than the Sunrace 11-50, due to the 10 tooth ring on the XD driver cassettes. You could run a smaller chain ring and get the same low end gears.

    I’ve gone GX on one bike XT on the other. The one part of the GX I really like is the XD driver cassettes, I’ll probably swap my XT setup to use an XG 10-42 when it runs out.

    bigwill
    Free Member

    I’ve got one on the hardtail and it has not been any bother, just replaced the chain and front ring up to 36t from 32t, but I won’t be throwing the old chain away, still plenty wear. The 1×10 sunrace 11-46 cassette, xt shifter / xtr mech , Kmc chained Franken-drive on the other bike gives me a load more grief. The only thing I don’t like about sram is you can’t back shift on the shifter.

    Kuco
    Full Member

    Mine was brilliant till I caught the the rear mech on a post and fecked it 🙁

    andreasrhoen
    Free Member

    three failures and one damaged by rocks.

    till I caught the the rear mech on a post and fecked it

    This might be an issue with other “wide range cassette” drivetrains as well. Such a drivetrain and in combination with 27,5 wheels … and the rear mech will be in danger.

    Murray
    Full Member

    I’ve been running GX Eagle all this year. Trashed the mech a couple of months ago when the chain dropped between the jockey wheel and the cage and jammed. The replacement has a different design of jockey wheel with a ridge to stop that happening.

    Other than that, fit and forget. Really easy to set up too.

    For the new mech I splashed out on a dropout alignment tool and new hanger and made sure the alignment was perfect. For the first fit I just bolted it on.

    I’m running the Superstar Raptor 30t chainring up front as I like my old XT cranks – that’s good too.

    zezaskar
    Free Member

    Not a GX Eagle user and completely anecdotal experience, but the only guy that keeps having trouble with his rear derailleur in my group happens to be the only one with GX.

    It hangs low and seems to be made of a very ductile alloy. Lots of natural trails and bushwhacking here, but then the rest of the crew on Shimanos and older Srams go through the same and don’t have issues.

    Is it fragile enough to make it cr@p? I don’t think so, but seems not to be at Shimanos’ level of robustness anyway

    Kuco
    Full Member

    In defence of my rear mech it was me being clumsy more than the mech it self.

    andreasrhoen
    Free Member

    It hangs low and seems to be made of a very ductile alloy. Lots of natural trails and bushwhacking here, but then the rest of the crew on Shimanos and older Srams go through the same and don’t have issues.

    Maybe also simple physics…- 10er cassette or 11er cassette leaves more room for small damages. 0,2 mm “error” or so might be still in tolerance – but this bending/error causes trouble with the much “finer” 12er cassette?

    1x drivetrain is anyway more critical to those damages due to the more difficult chainline?

    Murray
    Full Member

    Looking at the Sram site, the GX cage is aluminium, the X01 is forged aluminium. I’ll probably go X01 next time for the rear mech.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 45 total)

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