Hey all, so I’m mainly a roadie and have Di2 Ultegra on my road bike, just not a fan of the SRAM road groups. However I quite enjoy my EAGLE on my MTB and with how awesome electronic has been on the road I am considering Eagle AXS upgrade. My groupset currently consists of all Eagle GX components, aside from my X01 chain. I am already on my second GX mechanical derailleur after a stick bent the body of my first one beyond repair
I have a few questions about Eagle AXS most of which surround durability and service. I know electronic shifting is awesome and don’t really need to be sold on the concept, but I realize things wear out. Clutches wear out, jockey wheels and bearings wear out, and MTB parts get banged up. How durable is the Eagle AXS stuff when it comes to impacts and some falls, seeing as the RD is super expensive to replace. Also how serviceable is the derailleur, I know the clutch won’t last forever, neither will some other moving parts, so I want to know if this is going to be more of an investment for me, or just something I’ll end up wearing out in a hurry.
I don’t ride a ton of MTB, 500-1000 miles a year, but still want to make sure my $850-$1000 is going to serve me for a while and that I won’t have a sloppy derailleur after a year.
Appreciate everyone’s input especially longer term users and early adopters who have had a chance to really use their stuff.
I’ve had AXS XX1 for over a year. Raced with it some and had some shunts. Once striking a rock so hard that the d-hanger fractured. Derailleur was fine and I’ve put about 2000 km on since without issues. It has a feature that moves the derailleur if it’s struck laterally. The motors are STRONG.
Pulleys are serviceable, but I wouldn’t crack the body open unless you know what you’re doing.
Battery life is very good. It feels like a month goes by until I have to charge it. I’ve never changed the shifter battery.
It all just works, so my next bike is getting AXS also.
Gotcha. My concern is if I clip it on a log or something while rolling forward. Also one reviewer mentioned his clutch was feeling not so hot after about 6 months
I haven’t noticed any troublesome play in the clutch. I’ll definitely will post something if that changes.
I’m not hucking down gnar regularly. Remember that it’s a $700 replacement part when something goes wrong. For that reason I have XT/SLX on my beater bike. If you want to stay SRAM then I’d be running the NX/GX mechanical if replacing derailleurs is a regular thing. If you’re doing XC/Marathon on less technical courses, then rest easy with AXS. It’s so slick and it’s very good.
I’ve got Eagle AXS on three bikes now, a Niner Air 9 RDO, a Trek Supercaliber and now on my Trek Checkpoint gravel bike.
Overall it’s been very good. I’m not super hard on my bikes but things have held up well and no major mechanical issues. Shifting is very, very good, but not quite Di2 level IMHO.
The only major issue I had was during Leadville when I lost the ability to shift going up the long Columbine Climb. I detail this in another post but something happened that the shifting went dead for about 30 minutes spontaneously. As I neared the top of the climb it started working again without issue for the rest of the race. During this time I had also lost my heart rate monitor reading on my Garmin, which also came back when the shifting started, so some weird electronic gremlins were at work. It never happened again and most of the devices I used that day have since had firmware updates including the AXS derailleur. Local bike shop reports they’ve had others report similar things but it doesn’t seem that widespread, otherwise you would see forums full of such complaints.
I wouldn’t buy another mountain bike without AXS right now, so I think you will be super happy with it.
I don’t really shred the gnar, very much an XC style riding on my fuel ex (I try to pedal whenever possible so air time and jumps are minimal since they cost pedaling time), but I do go down at times. Don’t expect to have many issues though, just weary of a $1000 kit that is going to get beat up a fair bit. Di2 on the road bike can last forever since it’s not really getting covered in dirt, or bounced over roots and rocks, or getting stuff flung into it.
AXS eagle user here and put probably 8,000 miles into it so far. I have raced XC on it all last season and it was flawless. I finished a brutal MTB 100 (Marji Gesick ) that took 17:30 hours that had numerous crashes and a muddy thunderstorm for the past 1:30 hours. It performed perfect throughout. I’ve taken it on a MTB vacation to Scotland where it rained every day and my bike was ridden hard, wet and plenty of crashes. It’s also the bike I have on the trainer so my AXS sees constant use. I haven’t replaced any parts or serviced it past cleaning. AXS is amazing and I will never have mechanical shifting again.
Maybe I shouldn’t admit, what the heck, I may know of a few instances where AXS got clean with a car wash . Maybe. Perhaps. It definitely happened many times @MI-XC = definitely a badass.
From a maintenance standpoint how is AXS? Since the derailleur is expensive, I’m curious how serviceable it is. I assume the pulleys and their bearings can be replaced, how about the cage if it breaks?
Also wonder how this does with tangles, i caught a bendy stick into my first GX mech and it twisted the actual body of the derailleur to the point it had to be replaced.
Side note, if anyone has expeirence with Reverb AXS since that seems to be the “hotter” electronic gadget for MTB, people said Eagle AXS is nice but apparently Reverb AXS is a game changer
Two of my riding buddies have these posts on their bikes. They love them and no problems with performance.
On Edit:
One buddy has about a full year on one post and hasn’t touched it. He’s afraid of rebuilding suspension type parts so I’ll probably end up taking it for a weekend at some point.
Am finishing a new build and keep looking at the plain old Reverb post in the box and thinking: Should I trade that out and spend $400 more for wireless? Then remember I’m cheap and know how to bleed the remote and lines and put the Credit Card away. That cycle will repeat until I finish the damn build
I’ve got two Reverb AXS droppers and so far I’ve had no issues at all, but a lot of times with droppers the issues happen a year or two down the road so time will tell.
Yes - great experience with it so far. I love the fact that I didn’t have to worry about cable routing etc. As it’s on a Spark with twinloc, I couldn’t use the standard remote, so I’m using a blip box / blip button to actuate it:
Interesting. My mechanical eagle shifting has been flawless for close to 4 years.
How is the rear derailleur battery life on AXS? That’s probably the one thing that gives me pause about AXS - having to remember to charge batteries (I still use old fashioned wired headphones!).
The app reminds you when the battery has less than 2-5hrs left. It just happened to me while out on my lsd-ride last Sunday. Garmin said it had 50% battery left then when I got home and uploaded the ride the AXS-app on my phone said 2-5hrs battery. It’s the first time I charge the battery since I got the bike in October last year. However it’s not been used that much about 350kms and about 20hrs.
Amazing. I’d say 30+ hours, but I don’t know because I’ve never ran out of battery. It depends how much you shift. I usually charge it after the end of my training week (Sunday) as a regular habit, but I’ve let it go for weeks and it was still in the “green”. I carry an extra battery along with my big ride gear as a “just in case” but have never needed it.
) that took 17:30 hours that had numerous crashes and a muddy thunderstorm for the past 1:30 hours. It performed perfect throughout. I’ve taken it on a MTB vacation to Scotland where it rained every day and my bike was ridden hard, wet and plenty of crashes. It’s also the bike I have on the trainer so my AXS sees constant use. I haven’t replaced any parts or serviced it past cleaning. AXS is amazing and I will never have mechanical shifting again.
