I agree.
It’s not the most striking Groupset. It’s the crank for me.
However, new bike has been shipped with it on so I will report what it looks like in the flesh
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Curious why “refused to touch axs” but willing to go xtr di2? Most people saying this complain about having to charge a battery and sticking to mechanical
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My main complaint with electronic shifting for MTB (transmission specifically) is the slow shifting. I have mentioned this before, but for me personally, it has been clunky and never worked well (others have had positive experiences, so there’s that). I do like the spindle power meter, no hanger and clean look. But set-up is so finicky and a headache. There’s an enormous thread on MTBR and numerous Facebook groups trying to troubleshoot problems. The old stuff just works and with no disadvantage.
The old AXS on mtb is basically mechanical with a battery. Nice for a clean look but that’s about it.
I do love axs on the road / gravel. One click up, one click down a gear. So nice! Just not on my MTB.
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Considering the impact that Transmission is having, together with the patents that Shimano filed and some brands hinting at some sort of additional mounting standard coming, I was a bit surprised to see only the regular mount system being released.
Nevertheless, and I don’t know if this was actual insider’s intelligence or pure speculation, the guys at Escape Collective suggested that “the best is yet to come” from Shimano. This came after interviewing people from Shimano for the XTR release.
Maybe that’s 13s with the same derailleur? Is the shimano HG+ chain narrow enough for 13s? Hard to imagine what „best“ is. It feels like we’ve already reached a plateau some years ago and improvements only marginally improve the experience.
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I think that’s just a Wolf Tooth chainring on the existing 12-speed GRX. 
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That does not look like the old GRX RD. For one its missing a cable
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Can you read 40 somewhere? Those look big, but I can’t read size anywhere
That’s a good theory, with the RD hanger and the setup of the XTR RD (not being shifted in terms of alignment like the T-Type) I wonder if 13-speed is more easily done?
Pure speculation, but if I had to bet, my money would be on Shimano releasing a direct mount version, maybe 13spd :
- patents for a Shimano direct mount system have been filed
- in a blog post, Open cycles said something about their new frames having to be compatible with something new from Shimano in terms of dropout design. I think they since edited the post.
- the comments from Escape Collective didn’t sound all that innocent…
Anyone using the Favero Assioma MX-2 as a pedal sensor with Flight Attendant that can compare it with using a powermeter?
I probably will need to size down on my chainring sometimes and have a pair of the Assiomas for my gravel bike.
I’m pretty sure that your only options for Flight Attendant are a SRAM/Quarg PM or the SRAM pedal sensor. Unless they changed it recently.
Would be pretty shitty of them to not allow 3rd party cadence sensors, considering that on the XX1 Power Meter they’re not communicating over AXS, just reading an ANT+ stream off the power meter.
If I have some time I could go try pairing my Assiomas with the system, but the process of changing the cadence sensor is the messiest part of the whole process and I’m not super keen on going and doing it for fun lol.
I don’t know if it’s simply a mechanism to push more people to SRAM gear or if it’s a real technical concern, but I could absolutely see them wanting to remove a 3rd party variable from their support situation. I’m far from a PM expert and wouldn’t speculate on how “standard” the communication is (protocol, timing, etc.), but I know some PM’s suck. And if SRAM doesn’t want to support the sucky ones, do we expect SRAM to test/certify a bunch of competitive products and selectively approve? I’m sure they had the discussion and decided they’d rather not deal with that can of worms and accept they might sell a few less FA systems and/or might sell a few more SRAM PM’s.
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On the surface, it doesn’t seem like any crank based pwm would be a good technical fit, but spider based should work.
I get the lock in removes uncertainty, but I have a feeling that there’s going to have to be a standard way of doing what FA does without running afoul of SRAM patents. 
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Not sure if this belongs here, but I will try my luck because there are many Epic 8 owners here.
I have the new Pro version with FA. After ~1 week of usage after I washed my bike, I’ve started to experience a soft “clicking sound”. It is not regular but it happens every few seconds.
I thought that it’s coming from headset, so I removed the fork, cleaned everything, regreased and reassembled. But it didn’t help.
I have also removed swat storage and checked if every bolt is tightened to correct moment.
Funny thing is that I have the same issue with my Tarmac SL7. I was conviced that on Tarmac the issue is the front derailleur, but it’s the same with epic.
I’m also wondering if it can’t be the chain and that those flattop Sram chains do that 
Any chance someone also had this issue? It’s driving me crazy…
Is the clicking consistent, for example ever time you rotate the crank? Can you simulate it in the bike stand or only when riding?
Different bike but I’ve had similar issues on other bikes. One was a bent tooth on the (new) cassette that needed to be filed and the other time was the seat.
Interesting that it started after you washed the bike. Good luck chasing… I know how annoying it can be.
Saddle?