Hey everyone how's it going?
One of the first world problems that we're dealing with today is the range of our 12-speed drivetrains.
Yes shimano has 510%, SRAM has a 520% today
but none of these two is actually the widest cassette range for 12 speed.
That would be the e*thirteen HELIX R, let's check it out!
There's a lot of talk about the range of this cassette which by the way is 9-50T for 556%
but for me the biggest innovation is the fact that they've avoided the patents of Shimano and SRAM somehow
and they made this cassette compatible with both 12-speed drivetrains.
As you know I'm always using a mix of Shimano and SRAM
and this can be the absolute perfect cassette for my many configurations.
Just like in the past the e*thirteen cassettes are made in Taiwan
and when you're ordering the cassette you're actually going to get two boxes.
That's because the first one it's gonna have the 9-36T steel cluster, see it here - Helix Race cluster , 12 speed,
nickel is the color and coating.
And the second box is going to include the aluminum cluster the 42 and 52 cogs and I decided on the gray color.
And you do have different part numbers here
so in case one of them wears out you can just order that part.
This type of design is not new for e13, back in the days of 11 speed
they had the 9-46 tooth TRS+ cassette,
It uses the XD driver because this was back in the day when the SRAM XD driver was the only freehub accepting a 10 tooth cog
and e13 took it one step further, they start at 9T over here.
The 12 speed HELIX R is built very similarly
and as you pick this up this feels like quality,
this is machined from one piece of steel just like SRAM does it.
And the 9 tooth cog actually has NINE TOOTH written on it as if they were pretty proud of it.
If you're trying to use this with the Hope hub there is a big warning there to read the instruction carefully.
In the box, you're gonna get the instructions and you can see XD and XD-R road are the only two freehub bodies accepted.
For XD-R road you have some shims over here.
Whoops, this is some sort of a sticker that came off from the big cluster
I wonder where that was, okay maybe it was here not that sticky obviously I don't think we're gonna install it
and a little bit more grease you're gonna need grease to put on the freehub body
and you're also gonna use grease at all these contact points.
The HELIX name was introduced for a new line of products that are compatible with both SRAM and Shimano
and they actually have a couple of versions of this:
this is 12 speed for 556% range but they do have an 11 speed version of that Helix
so that will be 9-46 tooth for 511%
These cassettes are not eBike compatible because they are meant to be super light
this 12 speed with anodized aluminum cluster comes up to 364 grams
that is 20 grams heavier than the 345g specified by e*thirteen
but the same as a SRAM XX1 and about 10 grams lighter than XTR.
To install this cassette we're gonna need an XD driver, this is the sram freehub for 11 and 12 speed.
We're gonna need a chain whip and I'm gonna try to follow their instructions.
I'm gonna use the provided grease, 3mm hex/Allen key
but if you're not comfortable torquing this to 3Nm you can use a torque wrench.
And the very first step that is not mentioned there is to remove this set screw.
This keeps the two parts together obviously we're just gonna install the aluminum cluster to start with.
So remove this little tiny bolt and put it aside for now.
Now the first step specified here is greasing the XD driver both the splines at the bottom as well as the threads.
Here we go, I also put a bit of grease here on the splines of this big cluster,
the idea is that it just fits into place,
you see how it went down like in two steps and now that is fully bottomed out, here we go, 3 steps!
You can finally tighten this bolt, you can use a torque wrench as that 3Nm is not a lot of torque.
Next you're gonna wanna get this dome ready to go and I mentioned that teflon bushing
there is already some grease underneath here you're gonna have to grease it on the inside that's what touches your XD driver.
And in this step is where the instructions are a bit dated again
that's the picture of the old cluster, the new cluster has these little tabs that will interconnect with the aluminum part,
make sure you put grease there and here again everywhere where the two components touch each other.
And now we're gonna push down this small cluster on top of the first making sure it's lined up with that open position
Here we go!
Next we're gonna have to rotate this top cluster into the locked position
and in order to do that e13 recommends using a chain whip.
I think we can use a cassette tool as well I'm gonna try the cassette tool first.
I like the cassette tool method better because I could push down on the cluster and rotate it
and now we can finally install this tiny set screw.
Remember this is only supposed to be 1Nm so it's probably bringing it close to snug and that's about it.
When installed that set screw is just above flush with this cog.
And looking from the back you're gonna see where the grease was applied at the contact point between the two clusters.
Cassette is installed, ready to go, and it looks great.
It looks premium but man, that gray color, I'm sorry looks more like copper than the gray that I see on any other components.
And pointing at that, that's the SRAM Eagle, the first drivetrain where I'm going to try this
because that uses a 10-50T cassette, this is a 9-50T
so I shouldn't have to do any adjustments to the derailleur.
After a few rides using this drivetrain what I can tell you is that for some reason
the HELIX R cassette plus this SRAM X01 just feels quieter.
It's kind of hard to explain, shifting is really good
and all I needed to do after replacing the X01 cassette with the Helix
was to adjust the barrel a few clicks, that's all it was needed.
Shifting it's good and I'm going to try to show it to you on this little incline
this is a very stiff hill and shifting on larger cogs works just fine no hesitation whatsoever on any of them
no difference when jumping between the steel to aluminum cogs either
No surprises shifting down the cassette either from the largest cog all the way to that tiny 9 tooth, quick and reliable!
so compatibility with the SRAM 12-speed drivetrain, 10 out of 10,
highly recommended, works like a charm!
Next I'm going to take the HELIX R cassette, actually the whole wheel, and install it on my Yeti ARC
this is a bike that i reviewed not too long ago.
This bike has a 55 millimeter chainline meaning that the shimano drive train had to be absolutely perfectly set up.
So I had to adjust the B-gap a little bit.
Same hill, interestingly same adjustment required a few clicks here on the barrel adjuster.
And here is full Shimano drivetrain with the Helix R cassette.
Downshifts with the Shimano chain are no different quick and reliable
maybe a bit noisier than with the Shimano cassette
but remember we're doing this on a pretty steep uphill so pretty heavy pedaling while we're shifting here.
And once on that 50T cog, you can back pedal as much as you want and despite the 55 millimeter chain line of this bike
chain is not gonna drop.
For up-shifts, I was definitely curious to see that Hyperglide+ in action
and I would say that is probably very close to how it works on a Shimano cassette but maybe not as smooth.
And if you are thinking gear steps, the e13 it's a bit closer to SRAM than it is to the Shimano cassette.
Compared to both, the Helix has a bit wider jumps here at the beginning of the cassette
but then the last three cogs 36-42 and 50T are identical to what the old SRAM 10-50T Eagle provided.
Because of the 9 tooth cog I could go down a size on the chainring,
replace my 32 tooth with a 30T and take full advantage of the wider range of this cassette.
Because they use the SRAM XD driver for installation,
a HELIX R cassette makes the upgrade from sram 11 speed very simple:
you use the same XD driver, install the cassette and then choose your drivetrain, SRAM Eagle or Shimano 12 speed.
I have raced this over the weekend on a terrain that required a lot a lot of shifting most of it under load
and HELIX R with the SRAM Eagle configuration worked absolutely flawlessly.
Mixed with the Shimano drivetrain I would say that the e13 provided about 90% of the performance of a pure Shimano drivetrain
so thumbs up for that configuration in my books as well.
So there you have it guys, wide range good shifting on both SRAM and Shimano,
so for me this new 556% range cassette gets thumbs up!
Have you guys ever considered configurations like this?
Have ever used the HELIX R? Do you have any questions for me?
I would love to hear in the comments below.
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and until next time hope to see you folks on the trails.
Cheers guys, cheers!