Does some things better, some worse. Not a huge step up in my opinion.
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I went from x01 cable to gx transmission and itās night and day. Iāve ridden a lot of bikes over 30 years and itās damn near a game changer for me. Iāve heard of at least several people not getting the performance they expectedā¦.not sure what to make of it. Especially upshifts to smaller cogsā¦.just so smooth without that āleg shockā which sounds like ad copy but is a real thing. I donāt understand why the performance seems hit or miss.
Joe
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I have had mechanical x01 and xx1 rear derailleurs on different bikes and am now on RED XPLR on my GRoadbike and to me itās definitely not night and day difference. Mechanical works so good when itās set up right and eTap axs is cool and all but I donāt feel nor felt the urge to upgrade to wireless on my MTB. Is transmission so much better than the āoldā AXS eTap?
13spd XPLR on the other hand Iām quite intrigued by for my XC MTB.
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Iāve been a huge fan of my Transmission Drivetrain so far. Donāt think Iāve had to touch it or adjust a single thing since the day I got it. Shifting may not be ābuttery smoothā like my Hyperglide Dura Ace all the time, but itās worked in every scenario for me, under power or not. And that includes some pretty nasty conditions thrown at it so far (Lutsenā¦)
I came from AXS, Iād 100% do it again.
I went from XTR to Transmission and for me XTR performs much betterā¦ itās smooter and fasterā¦ but xx sl is cool 
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I honestly havenāt noticed much difference, original AXs X01 always worked great for me, same with Transmission!
Iāve got a bike with XTR and a bike with XX Transmissionā¦ Donāt get me wrong, itās cool technology, has a couple additive features, and looks great; however, I donāt think its a must have by any means. My XTR arguably shifts just as smooth outside of those rare instances where a shift is concurrent with a high power input. Iām also reminded whenever I get back on the XTR how great it is to shed multiples gears at onceā¦ If you know, you know!! Brakes are great on the XTR, ergonomics and controls are easy to use, no batteries to have to worry about, highly competitive weights, cheap and accessible part availability, etcā¦ All in all, I view Transmission as a ācool to haveā but not inherently better than XTR.
I would much rather spend money on upgrading my suspension to flight attendent than upgrading my drivetrain to transmission based on my comparisons of bothā¦ No question about it.
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UPDATE 4 (probably final update): SRAM representative called me and said the fork will move in lockout mode and, based on my description, the fork is functioning correctly in the lockout setting.
Ok, Iāll accept that. But if indeed the sag ring is supposed to move a distance of about three fingers wide in lockout mode when I press down on the bars, then I think SRAMās website is misleading when they say ārock-solidā lockout. Am I wrong?
Still waiting for Shimano to drop thier next Gen Di2 XTR.
Living on both sides of the electronic (road & gravel have di2) & mechanical (XT on the MTB) shiftinng spectrum, yeah electronic is great, but dialed mechanical is just as good except for the obsession thatās occasionally required to get it dialed.
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for those riding with rockshox flight attendant how long took it for it to build your power profile for the ride dynamic? I went for my first ride Today ~16ish miles bit over 90 minutes and itās still saying it doesnāt have enough data. but also says I need to ride at least 20m for it to be able to calculate its magic
as my first ride impressions, I came from a fox dps/34 stepcast and to no surprise the bike (Blur TR) felt a lot stiffer and supported, this probably has little to do with FA and more to do with the sid/sidluxe. The suspension was in lock for the vast majority of my climb, maybe more than I wish it was. I was riding with bias set to 0. It would go into pedal on rocks or bumps and such but it would go right back into lock, not sure if this is bias or the ride dynamics not ready yet
during punchy climbs during downhill or short flat sections I though it took a bit longer than I was expecting to go into pedal, but still faster than Iād have done manually if you have to switch back into open, but it does took a noticeable time to leave the open mode
overall I really enjoyed but it was a lot of money, for me definitely worth if to get rid of cables and fox, but if I was already running rockshox with a remote lockout that would be a much harder decision even if we are only talking shock and the FA module for the fork!
Iām about 5h into riding with FA and it has ābuiltā my power profile. In the app it says it is constantly monitoring your riding and adjusting the profile as you go on. Iāve read somewhere that FA āsucksā in the first couple of weeks as it builds your profile and only gets better.
I have only been pounding my local XC loop, which is a 25-30min loop thatās relatively flat but with some punchy sections. IF is usually 0.9 but RPE is much higher as Iām not used to MTBāing anymore.
My power profile in the FA-app is a bit whack at the moment because of this one sided riding. Up to 322W it stays open and from 322 to 440W pedal efficiency is prioritized. My FTP currently is only 308W so thatās why I set it to bias +1. Iām sure as I ride more gravel climbs and more steady state efforts it will adjust the profile accordingly. You can also set the power zones manually if you find the measured magic is off.
But for now Iād just let it be and leave it alone. As you accumulate ride time on varied terrain Iām sure this system only gets better and better. I like it a lot and would buy it again in a heartbeat.
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Where are the Cervelo ZFS-5 120ās? It looks like most online retailers show Out of Stock. Have they stopped production? Iām going to ping Cervelo directly to see what they say.
What size are you looking for? Mikes Bikes has a size small (GX) for 43% off right now.
Any thoughts from Supercaliber-owners about flight attendant on that bike?
It might not be so useful on a short travel bikeā¦?
Do you know if he 100 can be converted to a 120?
Yes, same frame.
Yep, I think thatās the only one I found, but I ride a medium. Thanks.
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Iām about to replace the stock RS entry level shock on my '23 epic evo and wondering if a fox 120 will fit in there without anything hitting anything or being too close to comfort. Anyone go that route?
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Hey all, I wonder if anyone has thoughts on how to optimize my current setup.
Background: Iāve been racing XC/Endurance races since 2014, at times targeting long 100+ mile Backcountry races, and other times shorter 1-3 hour races. Most of the time in Italy, France and Spain. Bike setup evolved from 2014 ibis ripley V1 - 2016 Yeti asrc- 2019 BMC fourstroke- 2021 Specialized Epic. Iāve held a few seasons around 5 w/kg and Iām a very good descender, But Iāve always been a bit off the climbing pace in races, so you can see my trend towards lighter/more efficient bikes. I am noticably faster without using a lockout, and I donāt want to go back to lockout levers.
My current '21 epic is still stupid fast and I love it for racing and training where I used to live. However I just moved from Barcelona to Santa Cruz, California. The Epic is obviously very out of its element on the trails here.I can commute to work on the local trails. While Iām in the States for the next couple years Iād like to do more XC races like Lutsen 99er/Leadville and more technical ones like Breck epic, downieville etc.
My question is how to solve for daily riding in Santa Cruz, more technical races like Breck epic and more XC races like Leadville, Lutsen 99er etc. The options as I see it:
- Keep '21 epic and buy a trail bike for daily riding.
- Convert my '21 epic to Evo with flight attendant ( $3,500ish)
- Buy new generation FA bike that can handle Santa Cruz trails and racing. Allied BC40 seems like the best option on paper, $6,200 for framet & suspension. S-works epic is stupid expensive and framet comes with remote lockouts.
I demoed a '24 epic pro this weekend and honestly it was pretty disappointing compared to my '21 epic. Very fun bike on descents, and great for the recreational rider/racer, but pretty sluggish in XC scenarios. Flight attendant sounds like it would solve that, but no demos available.
My gut tells me to build up a BC40+ flight attendant, potentially with 110 Sid SL for racing and pike 130mm for daily riding. Having more than one MTB is kind of a PITA(I also have a gravel and bikepackng bike), and itās nice to train on the bike you race. But the evoād epic may be enough.
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