Why is SRAM gear so expensive?

Alternatively, why are Shimano MTB groupsets so cheap?

Yesterday I saw the SRAM components PSA here and was surprised at the discounted prices. 12 speed cassettes all £200+. Meanwhile Merlin are selling the entire SLX groupset for £300.

As someone relatively new to MTB I’ve found I’m wearing out components at a far accelerated rate compared to road cycling. Due to the price of the SRAM stuff it seems like a smart move would be to remove the SRAM drivetrain off my bike and buy 2-3 SLX groupsets from Merlin and be sorted out for the foreseeable.

Am I missing anything here? Are those SRAM cassettes extraordinarily durable and worth the cost, or is just that Shimano OEM stuff is way more readily available to us consumers?

this is going to start an arguement about what the equivilent tiers are between the two companies.

Some will say that the GX level (I think that was the cheapest SRAM on sports pursuit yesterday) is significantly better than SLX… Others will disagree.

Also rumours are they are about to kill off SLX as a tier, as Deore is so good now that nobody bothered to buy SLX, so could be the cause of discounts.

I think it’s just a crafty ploy on SRAMs part

So the majority of new bikes come with SRAM drivetrains – most people will just buy and ride whatever the bike comes with – as SRAM have invented a few standards of their own it is more effort to switch to something else, so you are locked in to paying the prices set when parts wear out. I suspect they offer discounts to bike manufacturers to ensure they are on most new bikes

Personally whenever I buy a new bike I always take the SRAM drivetrain off and sell it, putting Shimano on instead

Meanwhile Merlin are selling the entire SLX groupset for £300.

SRAM 12 speed NX group sets can be had for a similar price but I think that means an 11t  smallest cog on a HG free hub

I always get the impression Sram is split between both really high end innovation components and chocolate fire-guard products.

The high end stuff is fantastic. So maybe it’s expensive to produce.

Cheap for manufacturers to get and supply with a bike, but after sales they recoup more than the cost as people are tied in…it is expensive but plenty people are paying the price so SRAM aren’t going to drop the prices.
Shimano stuff uses a lot of alloy and does wear out quicker…SRAM cassettes are steel and so last much much longer, however, the price is a fair hike higher. Mine last 3 years and I figured it works out cheaper than the Shimano cassettes that wouldn’t last a year.
I hate the pricing, but love the longevity.

The £200 cassettes last at least four times as long, X01 chains and above are the same (although with wax lube I get at least 2,000 miles out of GX chain too). So higher price of entry but much better longevity.

Shimano is much, much better at the lower end though (Deore / SLX) so swings and roundabouts.

Those 1×12 , 1×11 cassettes while seemingly high price basically sees me through 5000/6000 miles of hassle free riding if I swap the chain.

Actually seems good value. And I’m talking about the one piece block – and surely there is the cheaper NX and GX versions.

Sram are innovators. I like what they’ve done and at one point I would have only purchased Shimano.

I was always against SRAM until I bought a bike with XX1 back in 2018. I wouldn’t touch high end Shimano now but would pick them over SRAM for lower end stuff.

As mentioned above, their high end cassettes and chains last way longer than the Shimano equivalent, but at a cost. I can just about stomach the cost knowing they will last so long though.

Shimano also seem intent on producing non-serviceable throw-away components which is another reason for me to avoid them. It seems scandalous in this day and age.

I had XT/SLX on my HT and I put an XTR chain on it, I did over 3000 miles on it with virtually no wear on any of the components (Putoline). Similarly the 4 pot brakes performed perfectly. My road bike came with GX/Rival spec components and I found them to be mostly garbage, Rival brakes in particular (with the exception of the GX AXS derailleur which is excellent ). I have gradually swapped the cassette and brakes/shifters for X01/Red level components and again using wax (not Putoline because my road bike is a tart and I don’t like the gunk) I have thus far done over 4000 miles with zero wear. So in short the high end SRAM stuff seems to warrant some of the vast expense by way of durability and the AXS system is superb.

My 2012 Kona Raijin still has the original brakes , front and rear shifters and mechs , at a guess they’ve done at least 30,000 miles ?

OP if you’re certain you’re going to go to Shimano, have a look at the CUES groupset, it’s been  purposefully developed for longevity. Personally I’ve found that GX Eagle 12 sp and above are some of the longest lasting drive train components I’ve ever used. Looked after they last me 6000-7000 miles, I’ve a 6 year old XO1 mech that’s battered on the outside with a patina of scrapes and paint loss, there’s still zero play in the bushings.

Yeah the rival brakes case in point.

We have/had 4 bikes with rival – all rubbish, all stuck on in the heat and moved to hope.

AXS has been amazing for me too.

I’ve not experienced Sram cassettes lasting longer. Quite the opposite for chains actually, persistently cracking long before being worn. Shimano cassettes are steel as well. X01 is showing wear at the same rate as XT for me. Sram use a more time consuming and costly production method on the higher end cassettes than Shimano, which no doubt contributes to the pricing.

The thing about Sram’s high pricing is it’s not just the drivetrain stuff. A lot of people focus on the cassettes but it’s across the board from dropper posts to brake pads. Some of the prices are potentially justifiable, others aren’t.

£300 for the slx 1 x 12 groupset, with brakes is ridiculous vfm. I get there are sometimes issues with the brakes, but it’s a 2 year warranty. If you need it Merlin will replace and then sell them on

For me shimano lasts longer than sram.

Just thinking about chain and cassette, this is an interesting one. Current “best” practice to maximise component life is thought to be hot melt wax and rotate 2 or 3 chains. Replace chains at 0.5% and that should allow 2 or 3 batches of chains across a cassette.

However, zero friction cycling recently discovered some interesting stuff on the SRAM site about 0.8% wear. He’s waiting for clarification from SRAM on this but current working theory is that the T-type chain is so durable that it will last as long as the cassette. 0.8% sounds like running them together to the death