I still think they will sell a bit of 1x rival, but generally agree that 2x would be the main reason to go rival. But even then, this is more of a OEM branding thing. If you want 2x, you can still use apex shifters and just get the rival 2x bits.
Same for me for the most part. I just want it to function well. For me, the weight of a groupset isnāt whatās holding me back. Sure. If money was no object Iād get top of the line everything. But I just want the bike to ride well and shift well. I have my rival axs on my lauf (with the ugly lauf fork) and the shifting is great. If they had apex axs at the time Iām sure I would have chosen that option.
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Absolutely.
This should be a huge seller to OEMs doing gravel/adventure bikes. That segment is almost exclusively 1x already and getting a 1x12 group to hit entry level prices is a win, IMO. Last week, youād have to do a Ratio conversion to Rival 11 speed or similar.
Bike shops getting ready to dump their current āentry levelā bikes before the new ones with Apex axs show up. Going to be great if youāre a buyer here pretty soon.
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Escape Collectiveās podcast made the interesting point that this further democratizes quality shifting. All the electronics, motor, battery, shifting logic etc. are shared across AXS, so Apex should basically shift identically to Red.
Re: Apex vs. Rival, the only functional difference (besides stamped vs. forged bits) is that Apexās pulley wheels run on bushings, not bearings. Probably a couple-watt penalty, though not something the target consumer is likely to notice or care about.
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Now, what Iād really like them to make is an adapter thingy that turns a mechanical shifter into an electronic one. 
Maybe where instead of pushing a button, the cable pulls some sort of button. Or just a part that swapps out the shifter paddle for a button setup. If there isnāt enough space for the battery etc in the mechanical shifter, Iād be happy to put some sort of transmitter box under the stem or so.
This is what I was wondering - so it should shift identical? I kind of assumed it would as the guts have to be the same for economies of scale. The pessimistic side of me thought maybe they would purposely make the shifting slower to artificially create a performance gap.
Iām in the camp of not caring whether my RD says APEX or RED if the performance is the same - I can always change out the jockey wheels.
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just use sram blips.
Iām pretty sure one of the articles / releases said that Apex Wireless is 1x only and cannot be paired with a front derailleur. Iāll update this post if / when I find the reference.
EDIT:
SRAM says you cannot pair an Apex AXS rear derailleur with a 2x front derailleur of any type.
Yeah, sounds like youād need to get a rival RD to pair to FD, but can still run apex shifters from what Iāve read. The RD is the system master for SRAM. Iām a bit surprised that the APEX RD doesnāt support the FD pairing. Might be to create some differentiation with Rival or might be that itās programming/logic is based on eagle MTB RDās (which could never pair to a FD).
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Thatās true for the rear derailleur. The parallelogram for 1x is different than 2x because of the different chain length requirements. Same reason none of the mountain groups can be used 2x.
The shifters should be fine (unless Sram artificially limits them via firmware, which seems unlikely). Youād need a Rival/Force/Red rear derailleur, in addition to the front.
Itāll be interesting to see the various weights of individual pieces (once people have real production pieces in their hands). A ābudgetā 2x set-up that avoids the worst weight penalties is probably something likeā¦ Apex AXS levers and brakes, Rival f/r derailleurs, Rival 10-33/36 cassette, and a Force (or 3rd party) crankset.
For budget 1x, Apex AXS levers and brakes, Apex Eagle AXS RD, Garabaruk cassette, and 3rd party crankset.
I think this is mostly a question of availability: my read is that Apex is primarily meant as a groupset for bike manufacturers. For its intended market, gravel bikes, it seems like a slam dunk: it offers great 1x12 shifting performance, electronic shifting will definitely be something that attracts customers and the pricing is very reasonable. Given that gravel bikes are often the second or third bike, I reckon that customers are often more on a budget. On the other hand, bike weight matters less, and the extra chunk Apex AXS packs is not that big of a deal. If you are a weight weenie, you know anyway youāll have to spend tons more to get something much lighter.
I reckon Rival could be positioned more as an upgrade or something sold as a separate groupset.
Alternatively, you could think about whether it made sense for SRAM to merge Force and Rival into a single groupset instead.
Up until now Rival was very popular, because it was the cheapest electronic groupset (it still is if you want 2x). I also think SRAM should do away with their SX mountain bike groupset and just leave that to NX/Apex.
Yes, this. IMHO this is great, and I like that SRAM hasnāt gimped Apex AXS in any way as far as I can tell.
With mechanical shifters, it actually does make a difference whether you go for e. g. a Deore trigger shifter or an XT trigger shifter. With electronic shifters that does not matter at all, a button press is a button press. (I wish bike manufacturers would do the opposite of what they have been doing for the longest time, spec a higher-level RD but lower-level shifters.)
Absolutely makes a lot of sense for gravel bikes. I just recently got a gravel bike with rival axs xplr and love it. Iām sure Iād have been happy with apex axs.
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Pretty sure you canāt just use the blips, they have to pair through a main shifter. Or is that wrong?
Blips pair to the rear derailleur, and the Apex AXS RD is fully compatible with blips. In fact, @dcrainmakerās loaner came with two blips.
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Correct, totally compatible with wireless blips. But isnāt compatible with the older wired blips/clics (via the blip box).
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I think youāre right. At least thatās what the YT reviews I watched about the blips said. You have to pair through a main shifter to the derailleur, but then you can just use the blips and derailleur on their own.
Definitely intrigued by the Apex RD. If itās a GX I wonder if you could put a Ratio Technology cage on and get XO1 weight and cassette capacity for a significant savings. It may also be a great option for mountain bikers to go close range (Explore) and do the weight weenie thing.
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Wait, can you clarify this? I get that the wireless blips pair to the RD, but was under the impression that they need either AXS shifters or a BlipBox to work. So you couldnāt just buy a RD and wireless blips and run it. Or is that not the case?
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So hypothetical (for ethical reasons), you could buy a RD, wireless blips, and a blipbox, pair everything, then return the blipbox, and it would work? As long as you never pressed the pair button. Or buy the cheapest AXS shifter available and keep it around as a ābackupā to repair if necessary.
What Iām imagining is a frankenbike with mismatched groups. Currently running 1x mech 105 11sp. So I buy the stuff above (RD, blips, shifter) plus a 12sp cassette, and place the wireless blips on the bars and it should work? So the 105 shifters would control brakes, wireless blips to control RD.
Edit: would the GX AXS shifter work? It looks to be the cheapest.
Thanks for the info. Might give it a try if the groupset gods donāt smite me for combining SRAM and Shimano into one groupset.