MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation

Looks like SRAM switched from the dub direct mount (3 bolt) to the road direct mount standard for the new cranksets. Probably to prevent people from using the current, flat-top chain incompatible, chainrings.

Probably to be Quarq ready, that uses 8 bolt pattern.

I feel that the overlap of people who will be running a bash ring and a power meter is very small. But true, now they won’t have to make a separate quarq compatible crankset like they currently do.

Instasram posted this, the same gimmick as the original AXS I think? Launch is probably a week away.

It was for GX. they released a similar picture 14 days before they announced it.

Anybody else here who just couldn't care any less what nonsense SRAM is up to or am I the only one?

I'm just not at all excited about electronics this, wireless that - but that is what SRAM seems to have focused on these days. None of that stuff is gonna get anywhere near my bike.

I'm in the same boat electronics wise, as I've made it clear many times, but I'm also very interested in what is happening for precisely this reason.

If you want a mechanical grouoset that is worth peanuts on the road, for any "new" stuff you have to go Campagnolo. Both Sram and Shimano have gone fully electric, 105 and Rival included. With Campagnolo only the Super record is electronic, but is is also available in mechanical form. 

While Di2 12spd mountain groups are nowhere to be seen, all the murmurs are that Sram will only have a gx mechanical group coming up. If Shimano does a road move on the mountain as well, there won't be many mechanical groups to choose from. That is my worry.

If electronic groups actually added something to the experience, I'd be all up for it. In current form I really fail to see any benefits from them. 

A plot twist in usability would be a 6 or 7 SPD group with large jumps between gears (say 30 percent jumps) with something like a classified hub to fill in the gaps between those jumps, giving 12 or 14 gears in total. In my opinion it can't be something similar to 2x systems, it would have to be more seamless. No-one will deal with throwing the chain across the cassette in the middle of the gear range unexpectedly, therefore the gap filling approach to it all. The way I see it this system could realistically only be handled electronically.

Edit: or with a gearbox. Apparently pinion is force/power limited when it comes to shifting and with enough power you can shift even under full load (without letting up on the pedals like with the gripshift). Plus you get rid of the gripshift. 

If you are stuck with headset cable routing, then every cable you can avoid, is a win on maintenance side.

The thing with that is... The cycling industry sold the unknowing consumer on something, that is more or less more expensive and more cumbersome or complicated, that gives little to no benefit, but looks cool. And because of one of these something, another something was implemented.

It's up to you to decide did the wireless drivetrains enable through-headset routing or does through-headset routing necessitate wireless drivetrains.

I'll be here in my corner with external routing and mechanical drivetrains.

It’s the word we live in now… people find it easier to ‘pair’ something than run a cable. 

I don’t mind an old cable set up, I like just leaving the phone in the van for short ride to just get away from technology all together. I’ve never used AXS so no idea if it’s good or bad. But if you don’t have to make frame with cable ports then surely that’s a good thing? And no cable in the rear swing arm would allow the suspension ever so slightly better…. 
 

either way… we will always have something to charge up. 

I'm with you on this one - the whole build up with all the MoiMoi TV videos and Craigslist BS is driving me nuts!!! Jsut show the SRAM Fanboys the goods already. I personally (do care how integrated) will never go wireless..probably will be the future but for now, workhorse Shimano XT everything.

Rumor has it that the new SRAM stuff will be revealed March 21,

That date has been thrown around before, yeah, and it fits the two week narrative from the gx release. 

You are not alone don't worry.

Workhorse Xt till the clutch wears out.  I’d argue the deore derailleur is actually better performing.

personally the drivetrain that I’m excited to try is the new cues line.  Quality 11 speed with reliability/longevity being sought after over percentage points of weight, range, and shift speed sounds pretty fantastic.  Perhaps if my passion for bikes was more driven by my personal performance on them opposed to having fun in the woods I’d be more willing to pay for the benefits of wireless shifting.  All of my racing friends who have switched seem very stoked on it (other than cost).

Been running full XT (3rd season with 5-6 rides per week) without issues..gotta bend it straight now and then but got the habit of maintaining and cleaning the chain and gears after a couple of rides. Servicing the clutch now and then helps to with wear and tear...

jesus wept,

The amount of whinging from you lot on a forum specifically about tech rumours and innovation is astounding to me.

Primoz, man, like I said, theres tonnes of brand new XX1 out in the world, go buy it so you no longer have to worry.  I can only assume you have tried AXS on your mtb, strangely everyone Ive spoken to that owns it, absolutely loves it.  Ive seen many online complaints, but I dont put too much stock into that, cause often its people weirdly expressing opinions about something they know very little about

those of you who are getting annoyed with the hype of new SRAM kit, may I suggest unfollowing any of it on social media, and maybe stop visiting a webpage dedicated to new tech and innovations.  Whether youre into SRAM or not, we can all agree, its prolly one of the biggest new releases in quite some time right?

Not that deep bro

I mean, I'll be interested to see if there's anything new that we haven't seen already or didn't anticipate, but it does feel like sram may have overdone the whole spy shot marketing thing a little. It does feel awfully protracted. But, in the past sram has taken a lot of flack (often justified) for releasing new stuff that had hadn't been thoroughly tested and had issues they should have caught in testing. They seem to be getting better about this in recent years. So if them getting their stuff out in the wild with their athletes (and resultant spy shots) for a long time before they release a product is a consequence of more thorough real world testing, then who can fault them for that? Personally I'm not interested in anything battery operated, but it's likely the trunnion mount will trickle down to cable units eventually. 

Just finished the John Hall podcast (3+ hours goes by fast!).

He confirmed the production Intense DH bike will be aluminum.  Potentially more aluminum Intense frames in the future?

https://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/members/sedona-mountain-bike-festival-pit-bits/gold-steezl

Doesn't look like a 35mm stanchions' Lyrik.

I think it's just the skinny tubes of the frame that makes it look bigger than 35mm. But I could be wrong. 

Ah I prolly just need a snickers bar.

My apologies everyone!

Not that anyone cares... I have gx axs and I'm on my 3rd derailleur (first two were warrantied for clutch failures). I originally had it on my enduro bike because that's the bike I put all the fancy stuff on... but I also travel with it in a bike bag often and liked the ability to remove it from the frame easily and not having to wrap it in a pool noodle to protect the rear triangle.

I digress... I have since removed it from my enduro bike and moved it over to my ebike and if given the choice, I would not buy AXS for my bikes going forward.  IME, the clutch is not as strong on the gx axs derailleurs as it is on mechanical.  I also find that I can shift faster with mechanical shifting in general and when there is a problem with shifting or indexing, it's easier for me to deal with on the trail using a barrel adjuster.  I do prefer the ergonomics of the axs shifter, and it doesn't bother me as much when it's on my emtb because I'm already managing a battery over there, and my ebike (ep8) already sounds like a clattering hunk of trash when hammering technical terrain.  

Long story short... not everyone prefers axs.... especially in it's current configuration.  

One last rant/conversation regarding this.  I do hope that the new axs stuff fixes what I believe is my biggest annoyance with sram drivetrains which is wandering b-tension and excessive non-tensioned (bottom) chain slap on low pivot frames.  I believe that these are related and far worse on some frames then the others.  I am hopeful that the new direct mount attachment method will remedy this.

The thing is current generation XX1 axs derailleur is twice the price of the cable actuated one and do we need to pay twice the money (probably the new one will be more expensive than twice) for a premium product because they stopped producing the cable version? If they do then they have to make the GX more premium because the quality difference between gx and xo/xx1 is quite obvious. The sport is very expensive as it is and i don't think we need to make it more expensive by reducing product options.

my guess is that its just too difficult to justify the costs of carbon tooling for a DH bike. even trek and spesh have gone back to AL for the latest iterations of the session and demo. 

Burgtec Cloud saddle?

Wait till you see the pricing on the new XX SL AXS. 
 

the chain alone is $240 USD haha 

I have no doubt the price will be $$$, but I'm skeptical of this. Maybe something was lost in translation going from aussie bucks to freedom dollars? XX1 chains are ~$90 bucks. Current flattop RED chains are $75 at msrp. It would be pretty egregious to have a literal 160% price increase. 

Also—XX SL AXS? Are there going to be different SL and regular tiers of XX? 

Crap camera lens and the distortion on the edge of the frame making the fork appear thicker.