Got my hands on the Sram GX shifter on my new bike this morning. As a long time shimano shifter user, it seemed, well…not as good. No double shifts, single direction downshifting as opposed to using thumb and forefinger, and a pretty industrial clunk.

There’s obviously no ispec compatibility (which is fixable, I know). But rather than spend 20 quid on a little bit of machined problem-solver, why not use that money towards one of the new Shimano 12-speed shifters?

Found this enthusiastic fella on youtube who reckons it’s pretty much cross-compatible.

Is there something he’s missing here?

is it actually not working or you’re just not keen on the feel? I know what you mean about coming from Shimano but I’ve found GX to be absolutely fine in use and very reliable

Not keen on the feel, really. I’m used to shifting with thumb and forefinger and shifting up to three gears with a single push (two max on the new shimano, I think). It was just a thought given that GX requires a problem-solver to get a reasonable bar position with m8000 brakes.

Looks like the latest iteration of ispec means I may have to buy some extra bits to get 12-speed shifters to play nice with an M8000 lever, though.

To be fair, the shifter is the major weakness in the GX group. It’s horrible. X01 is a million times nicer and does address some of your functionality issues as well as simply being a nicer thing to use but it’s also very spendy. At the end of the day though, SRAM and Shimano ergonomics are just plain different and not everyone values trigger pulls instead of thumbing etc.

I’ve heard this compatibility thing before. I’d take it with a pinch of salt until trying it yourself (with the cheapest shifter you can get). I may be panning it incorrectly, but after playing with a few of these sorts of claims I’ve come to the conclusion that different people simply have different definitions of what is and isn’t acceptable performance and how much effort they’re prepared to invest in not doing what the manufacturer intended. Personal opinion, obviously…

Point taken – I wasn’t entirely convinced, although he seemed to get it shifting OK.

I’m sure I can soldier on with the GX for now, but it seemed attractive to gradually migrate everything over to new XT as things wore out and the new stuff started getting cheaper.

Maybe this time it’s actually right, but I’d definitely get an SLX rather than XTR shifter to try it unless you’re secretly planning to replace the whole group in the future. Eagle is already picky enough about tension and alignment without adding a shifter that almost but doesn’t pull the right amount. I’d bet on missed shifts and unexpected double jumps.

I’ll be ordering a mix of SLX/XT 12 speed soon, but I’m of the opposite opinion. I much prefer the feel of Sram shifters compared to the Shimano I’ve used in the past. Hoping the new 12 speed stuff will change my mind though.

We have 3 sets of GX Eagle in the house at the moment and all of it has been perfect from new. I’m just about to replace the shifting cable and chain on one of my bikes for the first time.

Well, I’ve ordered an SLX 7100 shifter from the Germans, so we’ll see…

I’ve just bought an XTR shifter to try with my XX1 mech – I’m intrigued to see if it’ll work. I do have an XTR mech on order as well but I think that’ll take a little longer to try so I’ll experiment in the meantime and let you know if it works.

When are the SLX shifters arriving with the German stores? July?

This month, apparently.

shifting up to three gears with a single push

Been a long time since I’ve used shimano so forgive this but…

Is that up shifts (to smaller sprocket) as well as down? I’m guessing just down since it’s a ratchet release to shift up.

Does [gx] Eagle not do this? I’ve had sram x0 9 10 and currently 11 speed and the lever shifts 2 or 3 gears at a time for all of those.

Just down. I think the latest ones (12sp) can only do two. TBH three was always quite a long thumb push for my Trumpy hands.

GX doesn’t appear to do this, unless I’m being spectacularly thick.

running a gx eagle shifter with a m9100 rear mech, works perfectly so see no issue with the shimano shifter and sram mech.

I’m the opposite to the above, prefer sram shifters, even gx feels great to me.

11 speed XT and XTR multishift in both directions. Immediately missed it when I used a SLX shifter.

I’ve just set my XTR shifter up with a XX1 mech and it kinda works but not really. You either have to hold the downshift button for a long time or it won’t upshift. It will shift perfect at one end of the cassette but not the other. The cable pull looks like it’s a tiny bit different. I’d not recommend it.

Cheers MB. Mine has arrived (I went for the XTR as well rather than wait for SLX). Will give it a go this afternoon and see how it fares.

Worst case scenario is that it sits in its box for a bit waiting for the rest of the drivetrain to wear out and get replaced with Shimano.

Funnily enough, seems to work pretty well on my setup (X01 mech, GX cassette) (well, in the stand, anyhow). Full range with no stutters or missed shifts. Seems quite fussy over cable tension, but that may be an Eagle thing any how.