I've been running SRAM GX Eagle on my full suss. I broke my mech hanger and banged up my rear mech, so the local shop sorted me out with a new Shimano XT rear mech & Shimano SLX shifter. GX Eagle knackered shifting parts now in a box 🙁 .
My gears are shifting fine, but the SRAM chain & dinner plate GX Eagle cassette are worn and so the shifting is not super crisp. It works but will need changing before long.
Is there any advantage/disadvantage to switching over to a Shimano cassette and chain from SRAM, or do they all work equally well? A switch to Shimano would mean changing over to a Shimano micro spline freehub; I've got a Hope Pro 2 hubs, so it's relatively straightforward to switch over. I think Shimano overall is a bit cheaper, but that would be negated with the cost of a new freehub.
You'd probably need a compatible chainring too to reap the much touted benefits.
I’m a bit underwhelmed by my shimano 12 speed if I’m honest - but I’ve never tried Eagle. Gx 11 speed was better in mud than XT 12 speed. XT shifts fine when it’s clean it’s just noisy with mud.
I went that route though because the jump
between the biggest cog and next one down is better on the shimano route. Think it’s 45 or 46 to 51. Newest eagle is 42 to 52 which seems a lot.
Plus you can get Sram with oil slick chains / cassettes 😎
One other thought is chainring - the shimano 12 speed chain doesn’t play well with all chainrings. I’ve got a Sram crank with a north shore billet chainring which has shimano 12 speed compatible teeth.
I’m a bit underwhelmed by my shimano 12 speed if I’m honest
That's interesting, I find my 12 speed Shimano SLX shifting the best I have even had (once I managed to get it set up properly). A big improvement from Shimano 11 speed that I have on my hardtail.
there is a fractional sprocket spacing different between eagle 12sp and the Shimano 12sp. I have bikes with both.
The shimano cassette / chain shifts cleaner than the eagle, but o prefer the shifter feel of the eagle shifter...
I went full Shimano even though it wasn't necessarily the cheapest - xt mostly with XTR cassette.
It's bloody lovely. Shifting u der power is still wrong toe as a concept,but the few times I've tried it was unnervingly good!
Easy to set up, and feels nicer than my 11sp X01 tbh.
I have XT 12 spd, XX1 11 spd, XX1 Eagle 12 spd and have also had XTR 11 spd.
XTR 11 spd was nowhere near as good as XX1 11 spd.
XX1 12 spd feels even better than the 11 spd version and XT 12 speed is not as good as either IMHO.
I’d stay SRAM.
It’s funny actually - MBR keep referencing Sram Eagle being cleaner shifting than Shimano 12 Speed - but other magazines say Shimano is better.
At the end of the day they both get the job done and it’s probably down to personal preference. If I go 12 speed on my hardtail is go Sram Eagle now as I’m not hugely impressed with XT 12 speed. It wasn’t worth swapping my XD driver for Microspline that’s for sure.
That said, you’ve already got Shimano shifter and Mech so you’d probably get a more perfect shift pairing TV at with a Shimano cassette given the slight difference in cog spacing. Just it’ll cost you for the freehub and a new chainring.
I agree with MBR. I went back to eagle GX after trying 12 speed shimano XT. Underwhelming.
after both, i would if truth be told like to go back to 9 or 10speed 😉
It’s funny actually – MBR keep referencing Sram Eagle being cleaner shifting than Shimano 12 Speed – but other magazines say Shimano is better.
I switched from GX to XT about 6 weeks ago.
My 2p -
GX is like the older SRAM stuff, very positive shifting, CLACK as you hit the button/trigger whatever and when it works, it's lovely.
XT, the shifter action is much lighter, it's smoother changing with less unpleasant noises, it feels like it take half a turn longer to actual shift, but it never feels rough or like it would skip mid-shift.
The XT shifter doesn't feel as nice as the old 11sp stuff, it seems, without really studying it, to be complete plastic, but it works well and does all that cool push either way, mutlti-shift stuff SRAM can't.
They're both nice, but different, neither has changed the very concept of what Gear shifting can be or anything like that and I still maintain we'd all be better off keeping the massive range, but losing a couple of cogs.
The real test will be longevity for me, my GX setup lasted about 3 months before it started to just be a pain, new cables, new chains etc etc, endless indexing both by me and shops etc and it would never worked reliably.
I'm with hooli
I'v got GX eagle on the FS and 12 speed XT on the HT. For me the XT is clearly the better of the two when it comes to shift quality. It normally feels like a much lighter shift action than the GX as well but I suspect this may be somewhat down to me forgetting to engage the clutch on the rear mech pretty much every time I put the rear wheel on the bike (which is every time I go out for a ride).
Once the GX set wears out I'd be tempted to replace it with another shimano setup.
An alternative would be to fit the standard style freehub and use an SRAM NX 12spd cassette which slots onto the standard freehub instead of microspline. ( cheaper maybe ? ) That's what I am currently running.
I started out with an 12 spd NX setup, but lunched the rear mech, so swapped to shimano shifter + mech. All works just fine. I'd say the SRAM upshifted crisper, and the shimano downshifts cleaner. Other than that ... all much of a muchness.
That being said, I wouldn't recommend SRAM rear mechs for their lower pulley guard design ( or lack there-of ).
I regularly ride through longer grass, marsh reeds, bushes at the side of the trail, and the SRAM mech just seemed to act like a combine harvester sucking in the vegetation between the lower pulley and chain, pulling it up into the mech and getting it all bogged down. The reason being that the lower pulley has big spikey teeth and the outer metal arm supporting it has no guard pointing forward along the chain line. This means that when grass brushes along the chain, teeth pick into it and clamp it into the chain dragging it in. .
Compare that to a Shimano lower pulley and the arm has a guard section reaching forward protecting the pulley. In long grass running along the chain, this guard pushes the grass off the chain to the outside before the teeth can grab it. The result is far far far less stuff catching and getting dragged into drivetrain.
So to me, that's the SRAM/Shimano performance difference that has a noticeable affect on my riding.
SRAM NX and GX seem to break easily. I prefer the longevity of Shimano. Shifts are pretty much the same.
