Eagle 90 long term experience

i could not get shifting on the 3rd gear right. 

i'm on axs transmission now and don't have that problem anymore

I have that problem but I dont think its eagle 90.. hear me out.. I did swap out all electronics out of the box (bike came with full XO) for eagle 90 stuff , kept the XO cassette... 3rd gear would skip  skip.. I had to jump above and below it always.. I though it was the eagle 90.. got another t-type cassete and moved my eagle 90 shifter/derailleur to another bike, put the new t-type cassete (garbaruk) and voila, no issues.. put the xo shifeter/derailleur no my original bike with the xo cassette... same issue 3rd gear.. pair the the garbaruk cassette with the xo transmission shifter/derailleur, works like a charm.. so the cassette is faulty, that ring has a defect..

Running a rental fleet equipped with 90 and using it on my personal bike for more than a year now, it gets pretty high marks from me. First time setup watching the sram video is probably the worst part of the experience but once you remember the steps, which key and setup cog fro your bike etc.. it's incredibly a consistent and efficient install. Robustness Is really where it knocks others out of the park. We have other bikes running a typical derailleur that come back unrepairable all the time. Almost never with the 90, at worst a slightly bent lower cage which is cheap and extremely fast to swap out. Compared to the AXS I would say is a worse on trail shift experience fractionally, but for the price gap and the fact you are almost guaranteed to have to deal with a warranty for AXS at some point, the 90 is a no brainer. The level of replaceable parts if needed on the 90 derailleur compared to the AXS is also pretty phenomenal. Have seen some quality issues with the XS-1270 (HG) cassette with warped teeth causing skipping. The 90 shifter is a bit lacking in terms of quality and I wish they'd get rid of that dumb 'stealth' routing angle of the cable but until there is another drastic innovation in the drivetrain world it's the go to for me. 

nope, i reused the cassette on the new bike. 

I've had mine for a season now. I'd recommend. 

Setup was kind of stupid until I followed the directions EXACTLY. Then it works pretty well. The first few rides I had to spin the barrel adjuster around for a while here and there, it would sometimes get weird with the biggest gear and kind of munchy somewhere around gears 3-5. IDK exactly why but I'm assuming it had something to do with the rear mech kind of wandering around as the new shift cable stretched out over the first few weeks. And I'm suspect that it feels best after you get the barrel set as you're riding around and the bike is at its natural sag point.

 I think its pretty awesome, maybe if you are a shifter-phile it isn't great, but it feels really smooth under load, like surprisingly smooth. (I'm coming off of pre-transmission eagle which I also thought was decent but I'm not picky.)

The only real gripe I have is the shifter. Its fine and works but it is pretty shitty. I heard all about it before buying but I assumed it was overblown. It is not. I don't think its a deal breaker but it is kind of just shitty. If they made a 110 that had 2 gear changes on the down and 3 on the up all of my dreams would come true. I don't think that will ever happen. 

The eagle 90 cam fits in an XO1 shifter pretty dang well. Just need to run a bushing in place of one of the bearings. between the eagle 90 and XO1 shifter, you have all the parts needed. Ran it for half a season before the cable tourism of the bike got annoying and swapped back to wireless T-Type. 

Allegedly, SRAM please don’t sue me*

I have heard that from quite a few internet people! Is there a thread somewhere that goes deeper? Definitely would like to try

A year on Eagle 90 that has seen a lot of miles, regular use and abuse, and no issues. It doesn't feel premium at the shifter, but I haven't had to adjust or do anything to it since changing the cable soon after initial install to get slightly lighter shifter action and it works great. I have it paired with XX cranks, a wolf tooth front ring, and an XO cassette. Rode it yesterday on a dirty bike and it was quiet and shifted perfectly. I lost the cable end a few months back and the cable is frayed and ugly after the bolt on the derailleur. But it keeps on working pretty much as well as any drivetrain I've ever had. Thumb lever action when moving into larger rings on the cassette is a bit heavy and long, but I think that's the price you pay for the heavy spring on the derailleur that keeps the chain pretty quiet when coasting and smashing. 

When I was swapping back and forth between Eagle 90 and XTR 9100, I always liked getting back onto the XTR equipped bike because the throws on the shifter were shorter, lighter action, and felt quicker. XTR bike is now gone and I'm on an XO AXS Transmission equipped bike as the alternate and moving from one to the other takes about 3 shifts to remind me which one I'm on, then I forget about it and just ride. No batteries, no nonsense with 90. In short, it works well and is reliable. If AXS gives me any issues, I'll be swapping on a 90 shifter and derailleur. So far AXS has been flawless too. If I had thumb arthritis issues, I can see a case for AXS. Otherwise, 90 shifter and derailleur seem like a great choice and are less expensive. 

I tried AXS (hated the pod ergonomics) but now on the 90. It just works, and keeps on working. The reliability and durability claims are real. I do a lot of stupid tech climbs on an e-bike and it doesn’t care. 

 It also has the least chain slap of any non-modified derailleur I’ve ever run. 

huge if true

Rode Eagle 90 in a few different configurations. One with the GX level and other with the S2000/OEM Cassette and with a GX 1click/multi-click shifter. SRAM chain length guide is nice to have but since it varies from bike to bike you can just remember a guide like shimano. Shifting was fine but never great, only felt good shifting up the range rather than down. My feel is the t-type chains really dislike any dirt/dust as I needed to constantly clean and lube for almost every ride. Keep in mind this is all on a avinox emtb. I have since switched to 11spd linkglide as I wanted something that lasts longer and I am not a fan of 12spd. I believe 11spd has stronger chains but I dont have any proof of that, hasnt broken on me in boost mode yet. I ride a lot and would rather have a cheaper cassette/chain option which is all steel. If I had to choose one mechanical drivetrain, it would be the new generation of linkglide.

I’d love to know who had the idea of the pod, that thing sucks badly 

I went to GX Wireless Transmission and still same problem with 3rd gear as I had on Eagle 90.

 Eagle 90 is no worse than GX Trans and both are awesome minus the loss of 3rd gear. 

TBH I've had that 3rd gear issue on a couple of standard Eagle GX cassettes and tracked it to a couple of specific teeth which caught the chain and I improved it by getting a little file and smoothing down the edge of the offending teeth.  IIRC, it's actually the gear above (as in fewer teeth) which catches the outer chain plate.  Presumably 90 is the same QC as GX Eagle...