Hi guys, ever since I reviewed the Eagle drivetrain and the e*thirteen 9-46t cassette
I kept getting this question: should I upgrade to a 11 or 12 speed drivetrain?
So here is my 9 step attempt to answer that question.
Number one has to be the range.
Eagle technology introduced by SRAM gives you the 500%
in a nicely spaced out cassette from the 10 tooth all the way up to 50t.
And you're going to need an XD driver for this.
e*thirteen introduced recently their more
affordable 9-46 tooth, this is an 11 speed cassette that gives you slightly more
than that 500 percent range, 511% to be more exact.
Looking at a gear calculator reveals that 500 % actually means the same range
as a 2x10 speed drive train with 24-38t dual chainring and a 11-36t cassette.
And with a slightly wider 511% range the e*thirteen 11 speed is the winner here.
Number 2 has to be compatibility.
All Eagle components are compatible with each other
and you see my mix and match drivetrain here
X01 shifter, then I have an X01 chain
then I have a GX cassette and a GX rear derailleur.
So between XO1, GX, XX1 you can mix and match them all and they will be just fine.
You don't need a new chainring for Eagle even though they recommend it
same with cranks, and the only other option in the marketplace today
is a 12 speed cassette from SunRace which is 11-50t that would work
on a Shimano freehub. This one requires an XD freehub.
Now if you decide to stay with 11 speed
for the 500 percent range you have a lot more options.
You see my bike here using
an XTR or Shimano shifter, then I have RaceFace cranks, and I have
that's a KMC chain, and then you have the e*thirteen cassette, and you have an XT
or Shimano XT M8000rear derailleur. The reality is you can use any 11 speed chain
you can use any rear derailleur here
whether it is GS like this one is, or a medium cage, or SGS.
And not only that: if you have an 11 speed SRAM drivetrain you can actually keep that one
and still make it work on your 9-46 t cassette.
So quite a few more options if you decide
to stick with the 11 speed. So that's another one for the e*thirteen.
Number three has to do with cost.
Whereas for the 11 speed all you might need is a cassette
I know is not a cheap cassette, it's quite expensive actually, but it can probably
have it for about $200 or even less. On the GX drivetrain you have to fork up
enough money for cassette, for chain, rear derailleur and shifter.
If you add them all up for a GX that comes up to about 375 dollars
There is more cost with the 12 speed as opposed to this no matter how you look at it.
Number four is brand loyalty. And the ability to actually purchase the
whole drivetrain from one company. Eagle was designed as a whole system optimized
for range, low wear and maximum performance.
It also includes a complete drivetrain.
The 500% with the 11 speed is made up of mix and match components.
You can still use a Shimano drivetrain if you like their shifting
or you can reuse an old SRAM 11 speed that would work just fine.
Just use an extended range cassette, e*thirteen or any of the other ones available in the marketplace.
There are advantages to both approaches but because SRAM provides the
whole system I would get this to the Eagle 12 speed.
And that brings me to performance, number five.
After riding both drivetrains for the last part of the year
I can tell you that I got used to both of them.
So Shimano, as expected, is very smooth
no surprises there. A bit of a surprise if I can call that was
the smoothness of the shifting with this 9-46 tooth cassette.
If you look at my review
of the cassette itself or the riding you will see, it is
just as smooth as Shimano, absolutely no differences.
Once you get past the shifter differences
the Eagle cassettes or shifting Eagle cassette is actually very nice and smooth
both up and down the cassette.
Issues with these drivetrains - on this 11 speed with the KMC chain
that I'm running right now, I am dropping the chain on the 42t.
I did a video talking about what I believe to be better chains for the 1x systems.
Just use the link on screen to get more details on that.
On the Eagle drivetrain, if you've watched my review you know that there is an issue here
shifting to the two largest cogs that are narrow-wide profile.
But with all that being said I would call this a toss between the Eagle and the 11 speed drivetrain.
And that takes me to number 6, durability and weight.
What you're looking at here is
a GX cassette but all the Eagle cassettes are built very similarly.
This one is 450 grams and it's made out of steel with the 50 tooth made out of aluminum.
Durability - remains to be seen
but if you are to believe other reports online, the durability of this drivetrain
is not bad at all.
e*thirteen is made out of steel all the way up to here
and the last three, the biggest cogs, are made out of aluminum.
Now the weight comes to 342 grams which is really, really good, something that even the most
expensive Eagle cassettes cannot touch. However if you read online you're going
to find people complaining about the old versions of these cassettes
talking about premature wear of the top three or one of the three aluminum cogs.
This is heavily dependent on your riding style and maintenance
but I would still give the durability to Eagle 12 speed.
Number 7 is appearance and the Eagle cassette
is huge, it is the biggest cassette that I've ever had but it doesn't
necessarily look that out of place on a 29er. A 9-46t out back or 46 tooth
maximum cog doesn't look too different than
something like a 10 or 11-42t that we've been using for a few years.
So the looks go to the e*thirteen 11 speed.
Second last criteria is clearance, clearances around the derailleur and the chainring.
For chainring - many of the new frames will limit
the max you can install, usually to 34t.
If that's the case the e13 can provide
the ability to pedal at higher speed because of the 9 tooth cog.
Also we have chain ring clearance to the ground and obstacles.
This might not be as critical, for instance a 34t chainring is just 5mm closer
to the ground than a 32t chainring.
Breaking a derailleur is never fun so I will
measure how close the ground they get, measured from the wheel axle trying to
eliminate the wheel size discussion.
Then I will measure how far out they perturb
to the side, this measured from the face of the derailleur hanger.
And in case of this XT GS, and that would be true for any GS type of derailleur from Shimano
22 centimeters.
With the chain shifted on the biggest cog it only comes out
about 2 centimeters.
Maximum extension is here with a chain on the 9 tooth cog
or 11th speed, and that comes out to 3 centimeters.
On the Eagle - 23.5 centimeters so you have an extra
centimeter and a half here at the bottom of the cage.
The profile of this is about 3.5 centimeters
With the chain on the 12th speed this comes out a bit more, about 5 centimeters
or about 2 inches. So Eagle is a 1.5 cm wider
and the cage is longer than a Shimano GS or a medium cage.
Mind you, if you are using a Shimano
long cage or SGS, it will come within 5 millimeters length of the Eagle 12 speed.
But with overall clearances being better on the 9-46t
this one goes to e*thirteen 11 speed.
And as you're scratching your had thinking why 12-speed when I can get the 500% in 11 speed.
Let me bring you to my last point, number 9, Gear Ratios.
I mentioned earlier how a 500% gear range pretty much
covers a 2x system that we used to use.
It gets very interesting to look at
the two side-by-side, the Eagle with a 32t chainring
and the 11 speed 9-46t with the 32t chainring.
and that is because even though they both cover the
same gear range, the gaps between gears here is finer on the 12 speed
as opposed to the 11 speed.
In riding the two I can't say that I noticed the
finer gaps between gears on the Eagle however depending on your riding style
this might be important.
So I'll give the win on this one to Eagle 12 speed.
So there you have it guys. We've talked about
gear range
compatibility
cost
brand loyalty
we talked about performance
durability
appearance and clearances around the drivetrain
and finally we looked at the gear range
and the gaps between them.
With this video I hope I answered at least
a few of your questions.
If you have more questions please don't hesitate
to reach out to me in the comments below.
If you want to check prices for any one of
these parts use the links in the description.
As usual don't forget to
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and until next time
I'll see you on the trails guys.
Cheers!