Been trying to get the Red E1 shifters for 6+ months through my LBS (yeah, I know I coulda gotten them online, but was trying to do him a solid).
May just wait for the new Force levers now, depending on when they are released.
A 2 year refresh cycle seems quick since they updated Force in 2023 per the article. I’ve only heard good things about the new Red levers so this should be a killer set up at a “reasonable” price.
Ugh, still no cheaper 13 spd cassette. Not wanting to put a $550 cassette on my trainer. Will likely already need a second soon for another set of wheels.
SRAM is putting the pedal to the metal. What I pity I just replaced one faulty Force AXS shift lever, although if the new ones are more expensive, maybe I’m not sorry. 
A father at my daughter’s school has the new Red groupset on his road bike and being the bike nerd I am, I asked him. Predictably, he loved the new levers and especially the brakes. So it seems that SRAM has a winner on its hands and it is good business to offer this new design at lower price points.
Once SRAM offers 1x13 speed groupsets at lower price points, 1x is going to make serious inroads into regular road cycling, me thinks. I wish I had that as an option when I specced my Strada 4 years ago. (Even XPLR hadn’t been released yet, so I picked a 10–36 cassette.)
I think it’s going to take a while to convince roadies to go to 1x simply because many of us tried it in the past and found it inferior. I agree with you that the new technology makes it completely doable, and I now ride 1x (and have done so without issue in both pan flat Houston and the hilly front range in Boulder), but almost everyone I meet is shocked and skeptical when they realize I ride 1x. Maybe marketing it as lighter and more aero will do the trick!
True, with every additional cog, the compromises get smaller.
When I went 1x on my road bike, it was the minimum viable product if you had mountains around. A 10–36 cassette gave me almost/about the same range as two chainrings up front and a 11–28 cassette in the rear. Some of the mountains near Sendai (where I used to live) were a bit too steep to make this comfortable and I would have wanted another gear on some occasions. This was only on the longest climbs and when I wanted/had to climb them in zone 2. On shorter and/or shallower climbs, the gearing was perfectly adequate.
A 10–46 would have solved that: you get the same or more range as a double chain ring up front and an 11–34 cassette.
The gear steps for the 10–36 and 10–46 cassettes are identical for the first 11 gears, too. And the 10–36 feels no different to me than Shimano’s 11–32 11-speed cassette that I used to have on my previous road bike.
I moved from Japan (mountainous) to Austria (hilly-to-mountainous) to Potsdam (flat as a pancake). I replaced my 10–36 cassette with a 10–33 cassette and don’t really use the 33-tooth cog. If I had 2x, I’d be in the big chain ring 100 % of the time. I think I’ll get a slightly bigger chainring to “gain efficiency” (= buy new gear to play with).
Just practically speaking, I reckon most drop bar bikes are allroad/gravel-light bikes and I see 1x as more accepted, and the acceptance will grow from there.
I’m not sure if I should be bummed or not - I literally just purchased Shimano 12-spd last week because I thought that SRAM Red E1 was just so silly priced (I am a Shimano guy anyway).
I hope its not priced where I am kicking myself over it haha
I also am building a 1x road bike currently - 52 x 11-30, it should cover everything in my area I hope, if not a 11-34 will but I don’t want to purchase another DA cassette unless I need too. I think 1x is the future of road biking.
Here is to my dreams of Shimano doing some kind of hail-mary and releasing a 14-speed where current users only need a RD and Cassette!!!
As for your purchase, don’t worry about it. Shimano 12 spd stuff is awesome, especially for the road. You’ll be good for years with that stuff.
Just like computers back in the day, some purchases become almost obsolete the minute you make them. The only thing that matters is if your purchase fills your need and if you are using it.
Your right!
I also did a ultegra/dura ace groupset build for about the price of just SRAM E1 shifters!
It all ended up being 2370g (1x setup) for about $1375!
I have a bridge to sell you
I think Shimano has enough on its plate:
- 12-speed MTB Di2 drivetrains
- 1x12 GRX drivetrains
- wireless groupsets
Yea they are pretty behind, lets hail-mary all the platforms
- 14-speed MTB Di2 drivetrains (Road RD able to take the MTB cassettes)
- 1x14 GRX drivetrains
- its hybrid wired system is actually a reason I like shimano
In all seriousness I kid, the new sram stuff looks very nice and I have borrowed a friends bike that has the E1 levers and they do feel like a great upgrade to the last generation.
SRAM is doing all the right things to keep everyone else face down on the ground.
Sounds ideal to me. 