Hi everyone, in these days with Shimano asleep at the wheel and SRAM getting all the attention
for their 500% range that they provide with the Eagle drivetrain but in a 12 speed format,
what if you have a perfectly fine 1x drivetrain 11 speed that you want to continue to use?
Well luckily we have a lot of options today to increase that gear range and today I'm
gonna explore one of those.
What we have here is the e*thirteen cassette, the new TRS Plus 9-46t 11 speed.
Packaging is rather low key but this is 80% recycled material so that's pretty cool.
There isn't a whole lot of information on the box aside from the name of the company, you know that
it is a cassette, and there are a few other things written down here and there but you
can't really read it.
The useful information is all in here, that is the part number for us, this is the TRS
Plus cassette, the latest incarnation of it to be more specific, which is 9-46t
and it is an 11 speed cassette.
This is made in Taiwan just like all the SRAM components for instance and when I'm saying
the latest incarnation of the TRS Plus that is because this is the only cassette that
exists today.
They used to have a 9-44t and a 9-42t 10 speed.
All those disappeared, this is the cassette they produce today together with TRSr or RACE
which is about 35 grams lighter and about $100 bucks more expensive.
Just open that tab and here is the cassette.
Also here the contents are listed: 1x complete cassette, 1x cassette lockring which is this
one here, and 1x cassette removal tool which is on the other side.
Taking the cassette out shows me that I have a pretty sticker here, and this is the cassette
assembly instructions but if you look carefully here you will see TRSr mentioned.
Now mind you that cassette is exactly the same with this but in 35 grams lighter package.
There is no common parts used between the two but installation and removal will be the same.
Installation listed over here in 6 steps, actually 8 steps, there's two more over here.
And you have the removal right here in 4.
Also down here it's a little bit of grease, as they recommend using plenty of grease when
you install this cassette, so that's a nice touch.
Locking ring is unique to their design, you can see Locktite applied over there on the
inside.
This has to be tightened to snug+45 degrees which is 1/8 of a turn or 25Nm, and this
is the tool that you should be using.
And that brings me to the cassette which has a quite impressive range to weight ratio,
even compared to the most expensive offerings from SRAM.
This is advertised to have 339 grams, comes to 342 grams on my scale.
330 without the locking ring, and 181 just the aluminum carrier.
These two parts are service items so you can order them separately in case you just wear
out one side of your cassette to extend the life of your drivetrain.
They do provide the tool for their custom locking ring and use a bottom bracket tool
with it or an adjustable wrench would work just like that no problem.
And then what you're going to need is one chain whip to actually install this cassette
and you need two chain whips when it comes to uninstalling it from the freehub.
As soon as you remove the shrink wrap from the cassette it comes apart.
This is made out of two pieces, this is made out of steel and you can see it here 11 speed, TRS+,
which makes me wonder if they have a 12 speed cassette in the works.
And also here you have, aside from the serial number, probably, e*thirteen Components, name
they go by.
If they were to put down the range this would be 511%.
33t, 39t, and 46t cogs in this aluminum carrier.
Everything else from 9 to 28t is made out of steel.
The two parts interconnect very similar to the way you would attach a lens hood to a lens.
If you have a DSLR out there and you take a look you'll see that this is no different,
actually it is very very similar.
On the other side the graphics look very similar to the current SunRace for some reason, you
can see TRS+ e*thirteen, and again this is the only TRS+ cassette they make today, US
patent pending, and over here somewhere you can see 9-46t 11 speed.
Looking inside the mechanism, you will see that it is similar to a SRAM, look at that.
But it's similar but is very different at the same time.
Now by mentioning SRAM in that sentence I kind of alluded to the fact that you do need
an XD Driver to get these cassettes installed and yes, if you have a Shimano freehub you cannot use this.
Now this is very simple to install but I will leave the installation and riding impressions
to part 2 of this video.
Yes the cassette needs the XD Driver to be installed but it works just fine with SRAM
11 speed as well as Shimano 11 speed drivetrains with medium (GS) or long cage (SGS) rear derailleurs.
So yeah, pretty creative solution, a lot of design work to push the limits of that XD Driver freehub.
And if you add the 5 year warranty and to the mix and the fact that they have a good
reputation for customer service, we might have a very good solution to extend the life
of our 11 speed drivetrains.
And this is all I have for you today guys, let me know if you have any comments below,
use the links to buy any one of these products, don't forget to like the video, subscribe
to my channel, and until next time I will see you on the trails guys.
Cheers!