I’ve had AXS on two bikes (Same derailleur, different bikes). Both times it’s been impressive until I need my lowest gears. It wants to skip and jump when I the last three gears…the east gears.
Was in Pisgah yesterday climbing and on some areas of the trails I needed to shift to be able to continue momentum. It then skips and I lose the momentum.
The shop and I went thru multiple scenarios last time, even switching out rear cassette and also even changing to a GX derailleur.
I’m about to ditch it and go back to Shimano mechanical.
@zac_petruska I cannot confirm or deny. Bike was built up while I was away working.
I’m going to check and make sure it’s tight and then I’ll get that checked.
I had these issues and it came down to the derailleur hanger being bent. Also, years ago I had to replace the AXS derailleur completely because too many crashes on the drive side actually bent the parallelogram. I literally ruled out ever other possible fix and that was my only option. New one worked without issue and still using it today.
SRAM 12s can be a bitch, tolerances are so tight. Old SRAM was so robust but now. A slightly bent hanger, a chainline which is minimally off from spec (for example when running a 3rd party crankset/powermeter) or slightly odd frame geometry can all cause bad shifting.
Totally understand you, I’m not overly impressed from AXS either and would consider switching to a 12s Shimano system if there was an electrical option.
I did have problems getting into my 10t cog, but I think that was my fault with setup and not XTR (or the 5 pounds of moon dust on my bike). I don’t think AXS would have had that problem, but again, I think that was more my fault. But, the 10t didn’t get used much either.
The XTR shifter feel is great, in my opinion. But I also really like the way Sram (mechanical) feels.
I am not a fan of the XTR cassette so I went with Garbaruk. I am taunted by AXS on my XC bike. But I also like not having batteries.
Yeah, I have 11-speed XTR on my mountain bike and it is really nice. I’ve had X01 11-speed on a rental, and it was equally nice. (I prefer the actuation of SRAM shifters, but that’s more a matter of taste, especially on mountain bikes.)
That being said, switching to another groupset seems extreme, especially if the cause is unknown. Whatever is preventing your GX Eagle groupset to shift properly could also impact shifting with XTR. I had beaten up demo bikes with Shimano Ultegra Di2 and the chain would drop in 50 % of the cases when I’d switch into the easiest gear. I’m not blaming Shimano for that, it was a well-used bike and wasn’t taken care of very well.
What chain and cassette are you running? I use shimano 12 speed chains and cassettes with AXS shifter and derailleur on 2 bikes and the run flawless. Make sure the B screw is set correctly.
12 speed shimano is the best shifting I’ve had going back to 5 speed friction thumbies. It just works with an occasional twiddle to cable tension & when it starts to shift a little slow, time for a chain. Getting toward 3000 miles on my XTR cassette & I bet its got another 3000 left which is good because a 10-51 xtr cassette is as rare as hen’s teeth.
I personally prefer SRAM and have many fewer shifting issues on them. They’re harsher shifting, but much more reliable in my experience. When Shimano is perfectly clean and perfectly adjusted it definitely works better, but that doesn’t last long for me.
Clearly, there’s no shortage of SRAM folks, they dominate OE spec. I, personally, just don’t get it. Lack of multi-shift on the mech groups; and I would turn your comment around IME, it’s SRAM that needs to be perfectly adjusted to work properly. I recently took out a friends bike with X0, terrible experience. I’ve done the same thing this OP has done historically. I bought a bike with SRAM and after 3 rides sold the group for an XTR set up.
Any who, it’s a to-each-their-own situation. I hope one day a third party can make a real run at the 2 big S brands, it’s long overdue.
I had to switch to Sram from Shimano due to getting a good deal on a bike.
Mechanical x01 eagle.
I cannot believe how bad it is ergonomically. I wanted to edjust the shifter so my fingers would be in a perfect position.
Nope.
One of the levers move a bit and thats it. Other one is fixed. Its position is so bad I have to twist my entire hand to shift up the casette. It is impossible to get an ideal brake-shifter position.
No multi shifts or bi-directional shifting either. Both levers only pushed forward.
And no reviewer has the minerals to scream about this.
Now I have axs, again with a bike purchase. It is a bit better, at least you can trigger shift but positioning of the levers is still crap.
Only way out is using those new remote buttons. One on each side should do it.
Selling and buying Shimano is so much money and work.
