The new XTR dropped!
What’s everyone’s thoughts? I think the new shifter is what I want in an electric/wireless system.
Here are some other tidbits;
Weights;
Shifter - 101g
Chain - 253g
RD - 414g (with battery)
Cassette - 364g
Crankset w/32t chainring - 586g
It is backwards compatible with existing product also
Upgrade kit - $985 USD (RD, Battery, Shifter)
Only thing really surprising to me is the RD mounted battery. I’d really like to see that move over to their road groupsets. I prefer it for the ability to have spare batteries over frame mounted batteries with additional cables.
I’d expect SRAM to respond by allowing adjustable shift speed on Transmission.
I like the look of those shifters, but don’t have any complaints about the SRAM shifters either.
It’s not as pretty as the m9100 IMO.
Especially the crank.
Does anyone know if the new XTR wireless would work with Sram 10-52 cassette, chain and crankset? I don’t mind replacing the chain but would like to use the sram cassette and crankset I currently have if I decide to make the switch.
For the shifter do you mean from an ergonomics perspective? I think it took me all of 30 seconds for my brain to get used to the Pod shifter so IMO having it feel like a conventional shifter is overrated, but to each their own.
As for the rest, it’s a great price in comparison to XX1 Transmission if you were buying al a carte, but will be curious to see if complete bike prices are that different.
Beyond that, given this is an XC thread then I think it’s going to be a really uphill battle against SRAM on the high end due to the Flight Attendant integration. In for a penny, in for a pound.
What stands out to me in this thought is ergonomics, tactile feedback, adjustability, double-click functionality (if desired), rapid-fire capability, and an on-the-fly trim button that can also serve as an auxiliary control—for example, to switch Garmin screens or perform other secondary functions.
What stood out to me most was the shifter—it looks really well-engineered and thoughtfully designed. As someone still running mechanical Eagle, I’d love to test both systems back-to-back to really get a feel for wireless drivetrain on an MTB. Right now, I don’t see a compelling reason to switch to any wireless system on my XC bike, especially since 12-speed mechanical has been flawless for me, and Flight Attendant works regardless. Honestly, the biggest letdown in this launch is the continued absence of a power meter from Shimano. I like the competition and glad to see them launching wireless XTR. SRAM has a headstart of 6 years so there need to be some compelling reason(s) for people like me to switch or upgrade.
watching some videos, the XTR was able to go up and down the entire range of the cassette less than half the time of Transmission XX SL.
Example; 13:10-sec for XXSL vs 6:10-sec for XTR
It is a rocket ship compared to Transmission in terms of having to slam it into gear when “racing”
Obviously have not tried this new XTR version of it, but I previously had an AXS rocker shifter before the new Pod version. The rocker was supposed to emulate the ergonomics of a classic shifter more and I found that I actually prefer the simplicity of the Pod.
My biggest beef with the Pod is the lack of an auxiliary control, specifically for wireless droppers. The fact that you need to run a second wireless controller to activate a dropper is a travesty. I’d be more than happy to re-train my brain for that to be a 3rd button on a primary control.
I want to add to this discussion that, like jn92, I’m still running a mechanical Eagle drivetrain and have never used wireless on my MTB—though all my other bikes are wireless. One of the main reasons I’ve held off is that when I briefly tried a friend’s Eagle AXS setup, I found the shifter felt awkward and unintuitive (though that was only a 15-minute trial). That said, I’ve never really had any issues with my mechanical Eagle, so I haven’t felt a strong need to switch.
I certainly hope so. It’s my only complaint with transmission and I suspect it’s just a “feature” trying to protect me from myself. I don’t mind the slight delay when grabbing an easier gear, but it is a little annoying that I can’t immediately dump the cassette from a big cog down to a small cog (transitioning from steep climb to immediate descent is where I most often see it). I don’t think it’s a performance robbing issue, just a bit of a mental annoyance.
I guess they could have a 3 way control, but at some point that’s a lot going on in one place and making the ergonomics make sense. And if you add Flight Attendant, it’s a 4th button.
And re-training the brain can be a challenge (at least for me). When I installed FA last fall, I decided to configure my shifting similar to how road/gravel bikes work (left shift button for easier gear, right shift button for harder gear). So, I’ve got a 2 button pod on each side for the MTB. The top right button gives me a harder gear, the top left button gives me an easier gear. Bottom left button is my dropper, bottom right button is my FA override. I’ve also got wireless blips near the stem that work the same. I’ve only done ~100 hours of riding/racing in this config and I think I like it, but the brain still wants all shifting on the right pod every once in a while (usually when I’m seeing stars). Habits are hard to break, muscle memory and all that.
I guess dropper posts, you can have a Di2 battery with a dropper.
Transmission speed depends on cassette ramps not the electronics, not sure there is much to be done
And a powermeter which shimano can’t do it seems
I remember reading/seeing something when transmission came that said the shifting was based on the position of the cassette somehow and that’s why it pauses so long going down the cassette. But after using it for about a year, I think there is something else going on. In my experience, it will jump very quickly through 2 gears if you hit the button twice in succession. It’s only when you hit the shift button quickly 3 or more times that you get the pause between RD movement. So, why are they OK jumping quickly through any 2 gears but build in a pause for 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.? I’d love to talk to SRAM engineer about why it works this way. I get that you can create some crunching if going quickly from from the big cogs immediately to the small cogs under load on the legacy Eagle Axs stuff, but you just don’t do that under load and it’s fine. I suspect it might be a byproduct of being designed to work with E-bikes where maybe it’s always under load. But that’s just speculation. I sure wish there was a mode to dump the cassette quickly, even if it came at the risk of crunching a bit if you did it under load. For me, I’m never putting a load on the drivetrain when I’m dumping the cassette, I’m just spinning the crank trying to quickly get to a gear that allows me to load the drivetrain.
That’s honestly what’s keeping me from wireless on the XC bike. I often dump 3-4 gears with a single lever movement and it shifts instantly since there is no power being applied from the rider. This is obviously very terrain dependent but applies to me on every ride. The Eagle AXS isn’t even set up out of the box to continuously shift when pressing and holding the shifter button(?!). The speed of wireless shimano xtr and the lever are intriguing.
edit: ^ this and the rainbow casette and chain
I used to think I needed to quickly dump gears, but have been on Transmission since late 2023 and never missed it. Certainly very personal, but I certainly value much more the ability to do 4 or 5 quick clicks and being able to just power through stuff while the derailleur shifts.
On the reason why Transmission is so slow, I kept hearing about the “cassette position syncro” thing since it’s inception but I think this is more urban myth than anything else. I don’t know of any encoder that allows the derailleur to be aware of the cassette status, and if you try to shift with the wheel off, the derailleur moves exactly the same way - ie - slowly
the whole idea of FA is that you don’t need to do anything anymore right..? so you should be able to do without a override button..
I currently have di2 on my road bike and love the extra buttons on the hoods to scroll through my garmin pages.. I think that would be my main function on MTB Di2 too.. (waiting for XT.. XTR is toooo expensive).
Regarding the speed, it’s a trade-off / preference / what you are used too thing. (speed over smoothness or the other way around).
I -could- probably get used to the slow transmission speeds, but riding shimano for over 30 years now, on MTB and Road, not sure if I want to get used to it..
Also the ergonomics and adjustability of the shifter are really appealing to me, way more than SRAM.
and sticking with a hanger also seems to have a function for the derailleur to swing back on frontal hits. (and probably patent related issues… saw a comment from a shimano employee in a YT video that the main reason for the long development time was to find ways around existing patents..)
Yes and no. There are scenarios where the FA fork just can’t react quickly enough which is why some people elect to use the setting to never have FA automatically lock the fork and leave it in either pedal mode or open. For example, steady state pedaling that locks the fork and hitting a rock, curb, pothole that the suspension just couldn’t anticipate.
Now, that’s manageable most of the time and a pretty specific scenario, but there is a benefit to the override at times.
