New SRAM X0 Eagle AXS: First Ride Thoughts

The new SRAM X0 Eagle AXS drivetrain requires a UDH equipped frame. Why? To enable a direct bolt-on mounting method that’s designed for robustness and ridiculous shift under-load capability.

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By ben_haworth

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Looks great. Lots of good ideas and some questions.

Will they continue this alongside existing Eagle AXS or is it a total replacement? For frames without a UDH, this is a non-starter and pretty much narrows my groupset choice with my existing frame.

Too cheap for me. I’m waiting for the psychic version with no shifter.

I’ll wait for the sentient AI version that’s better at gear selection than me.

The rear mech is flipping well sturdy.

Lol. I’d love to test that claim here in the Lakes…

You know, it’d be nice if they put any money towards an actual ‘proper’ sized reverb AXS. It’s 4 years old now.

This new groupset does look good, I’ll admit – as a current AXS owner – but my frame doesn’t have a UDH so I’ll never be a potential customer unless Nicolai come out with a retrofit UDH, which I can’t see happening.

Looks perfectly rational, but is it going to be an open standard, or are Shimano going to bring out the SDH next year and we’ll be locked into whatever system the OEM choses?

I’m just impressed that your chain is as filthy as mine 😀

Edit: Casette cost jumps out at me. Is there any real reason it won’t work with another 12sp casette? Appreciate it may not shift as well under power but casette and chain are £535 alone. Could be a way to save some cash.

Looks perfectly rational, but is it going to be an open standard, or are Shimano going to bring out the SDH next year and we’ll be locked into whatever system the OEM choses?

the “UDH” was an open standard allowing any normal mech to attach

this attaches to the place where the UDH hangar attaches (removing the need for the hangar)

current shimano will therefore work on anything (using a UDH hangar) that the new Sram stuff works on, but I dont know if Sram have patented the concept of direct mount.

This completely replaces AXS. They also aren’t updating the mechanical drivetrains so if you don’t have UDH then it’s mechanical only. It’s completely not backwards compatible. Even the chainline of the cassette is different. It’s wider, which means it runs into your frame if you committed to UDH Revision E 2 years ago, and they didn’t properly disseminate the information for Revision G with the Transmission information in it. Not all UDH frames are equal……

Transmission cassettes are 2.5mm wider chainline that any other cassette. With the direct mount rear mech, they have put the cassette effectively where the dropout cowl is on a regular frame, so that cassette will foul the dropout face plane of any other frame even if it uses a regular UDH hanger and other SRAM rear mech.

So there are different versions of a Universal hanger that aren’t compatible with each other? More of a Multiversal Derailleur Hanger then innit?

All the versions of UDH are compatible with eachother. The direct mount transmission rear mechs are necessarily compatible with frames designed to earlier versions of UDH.

if you don’t have UDH then it’s mechanical only

I read that existing AXS was remaining in production for us non UDH types?

Sounds utterly awful.
I’m sure STW will love it.

thegeneralist doesn’t like it, sounds like it could be good

Wasn’t the mech hanger there to protect the frame as well as the mech?….

thegeneralist doesn’t like it, sounds like it could be good

I wasn’t gonna bother, but now I’ve seen this, I’ll be putting an order in.

So replaceable mech hangers ideally give you a cheap (UDH are only about £15) part that breaks to save both the frame and the mech. Now many times that doesn’t actually work – many times over the years I’ve ended up with both a bust mech and a bent hanger, but sometimes it did.

This makes the replaceable part an (expensive?) part of the mech. But what protects the frame? I’ve heard horror stories of UDHs (and some other manufacturers more recent hangers) rotating and wrecking the seat stay. How is the frame affected if the first stage of the mech gets bashed in different directions?

Honestly, what kind of wizardry justifies a well over 100 percent rise in the RRP of a chain? I know SRAM chains are supposed to last well, but still…

According to the embargoed video that I watched, current AXS and mechanical drivetrains aren’t going anywhere. IIRC the guy hinted at new stuff coming too. It’d be commercial suicide to stop supporting consumers that have current bikes that don’t have a UDH, given that the vast majority of bikes out there don’t. Maybe things will be different in 10 years time….

Many things putting me off as an electric shifting convert. Overall price is obviously the biggest & also lack of cross compatibility – it’s only going to work with a flat top chain, that costs how much??

Just annoying that they’ve opened up use of the UDH, and tried to closed options on chains and cassettes – or am I missing something.

I’ve axs on two bikes (and another form of electric shifting on another) and really happy with them, but I cirtainly couldn’t justify the ‘upgrade’ for the stiffer rear mech and slightly better shifting under load. Shifter also seems like a step backwards – more like the archer components v1….

Ill wait another few years for the price to drop and compatibility to improve.

According to the embargoed video that I watched, current AXS and mechanical drivetrains aren’t going anywhere. IIRC the guy hinted at new stuff coming too. It’d be commercial suicide to stop supporting consumers that have current bikes that don’t have a UDH, given that the vast majority of bikes out there don’t. Maybe things will be different in 10 years time….

Exactly. Even SRAM aren’t stupid enough to stop supplying chains/cassettes/mechs etc to thousands of customers who haven’t or can’t upgrade to the latest AXS stuff. The ‘old’ Eagle AXS stuff isn’t going anywhere soon.

phew.. cant work on any of my bikes
massive relief that it works just as good as my xt drivetrain that cost 10% of this probably

Just how long will a £500 cassette last?

And you’ll only be able to run those flat-top chains, too. Which are not great.

…and I’m annoyed about dropping £70 for a new SLX cassette every year.

Really makes you think 🙄

Just how long will a £500 cassette last?

Based on how long previous iterations have lasted, kin ages.

and I’m annoyed about dropping £70 for a new SLX cassette every year.

How many miles are you doing to have to replace a cassette yearly?! 😲

Based on how long previous iterations have lasted, kin ages.

Yup, I don’t exactly do the most miles but I’ve got 2000km over 3.5 years on an X01 cassette and XX1 chain and they’ve still got a huge amount of life left.

How many miles are you doing to have to replace a cassette yearly?!

Tbf, it’s probably not yearly. It’s not the miles, it’s the incline. It’s up or down here, very little rolling terrain. I spend most of my time climbing in gears 1-3, so they wear much faster than the rest.

With now both SRAM and Shimano having 12 chains and cassettes that can shift very well under full load, why does SRAM’s top of the range cassette cost £645 and the chain is £160, where the XTR one costs £330 for the cassette and £60 for the chain. Why such a difference? It’s insane!

STD. Sram transmission development

 

sorry feeling childish

So does this stop working in a much more efficient time than the older version? 😉😂

Those prices are batshit mental.

April 1st already?
FFS look at those prices, and it doesn’t shift as well as XT?
APF 🙁

So the main benefit of this kit is that it allows you to do what Rapid Rise did 16 years ago?

Oh, and why kudos for 1x? I’m on board with it but still not convinced it’s any real kind of improvement as the manufacturers seem to spend all their time increasing range back to what we always could do with 2x or 3x!

I’ll out myself as no fan of Sram though, which may cloud my judgement.

it costs £1,715

How much more fun will it make my ride if I fit it instead of Deore?

Oh, and why kudos for 1x? I’m on board with it but still not convinced it’s any real kind of improvement as the manufacturers seem to spend all their time increasing range back to what we always could do with 2x or 3x!

Ha! I’m sorry, I know a good amount of mtb’ers are opposed to any sort of progress or improvement in technology and bikes, but this is just utter nonsense. 1x not an improvement over 2x or 3x. Come on now… 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

it costs £1,715

The launch price of X01 AXS, in 2019, was £1900.

And here we are, a few years later, with a GX AXS available for a few hundred quid.

GX AXS available for a few hundred quid

With cassette and chainset?