Geeky freaky indeed! Bang on!
Penultimate section of the YD300 route. After that we had the massive climb up from Rylstone then a lovely long descent through the grouse moor.
And Shimano makes great drive trains, no question about it. I was and am very happy with my Shimano mountain bike groupsets.
In this specific instance, though, you canāt have everything, a 12-speed Shimano offroad drive train with electronic shifting. Iām sure thatās in development, and perhaps Shimano felt it had to react to SRAMās eTap Rival offensive earlier and shifted development resources to the road side.
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Likely thereās a bigger demand for wireless for drop bars. Iād be surprised if the next XTR group had cables though
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I think there is less demand and less competition for electronic groupsets on the mountain bike side, too. Their mechanical groupsets are well-regarded and they arenāt lacking any features compared to SRAM.
While SRAM has released an electronic version of GX Eagle, I donāt think that has had the same impact as Rival eTap AXS. Also, in Japan mountain biking is much more of a niche sport, it is all about road riding. So it seems Shimano wanted to release their new road 12-speed groupsets first, because they did not want to be behind another year or two. (Campagnolo has 12- and 13-speed groupsets on the market, SRAM has 12-speed everywhere, even Rotor has them beat.)
On the mountain bike side, Iām very happy with Shimano. I just went with SRAM for my road bike, because I wanted a 1x12 drive train and vastly prefer SRAMās hood shape and ergonomics.
Iāve done the YD300 three times plus we live just south of the Dales so know the area well. I reckon you are rollingdā¦ over on the BB forums, Iām Whitestone on there. We got the train to Dent at the weekend and rode back nice and steady with a bivy by Malham Tarn. Only forecast to be 2C but it went to -1 or so, all the puddles were well frozen in the morning.
If you donāt mind the weight you could go 12 speed and keep the shimano freehub with either NX eagle or Deore 12 speed cassettes. Theyāre 11-50 or 11-51 so you miss out on the 10 tooth cog but if you donāt feel like you need it on your M8000 setup then it could be fine (but relatively heavy).
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Hey there bobw. Yep it is I, Rollinā¦
Sat night was bloomin cold wasnāt it? Slept up by Starbotton. Brrrr!
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That was an option I was mulling over, canāt say Iāve ever thought 32x11 wasnāt enough off-road. But as I say itās a moot point with the short-lived direct mount mechs! Just gotta hope the new cable does the trick.
I have looked at pricing various options and no matter how much I want AXS I suspect the money would be better off on better wheels/forks at the upgrade point.
I have 30:11 as my smallest gear (11-speed Shimano with a 11-46 XT cassette), and it is enough even for onroad riding, mostly. I can pedal until 36ā38 km/h, which is enough for most purposes. I would like to have a taller gear (32:10) to have a lower cadence at these speeds, but honestly, it is alright. I donāt reach these speeds often on road while pedaling.
Agreed, I think this is the right way to spend your money. I got eTap AXS, because I wanted a 1x12 drive train and the only 12-speed dropbar drivetrains from SRAM (and Shimano) are electronic. If SRAM offered a 12-speed mechanical drivetrain and the price difference was substantial, I would have gone mechanical, no question about it. Wheels make a big difference as does the fork.
I upgraded from an old mid-range fork that was in dire need of an overhaul to a well-maintained top-of-the-line XC fork from 2018. Holy moly, the difference is amazing. This thing soaks up small bumps and imperfections. Just wow.
I recently broke my derailleur and my shifter was getting pretty long winded, so I was looking for some new stuff. I found a NIB GX AXS for sale on a local FB group for damn near half off and pounced on it. This replaced GX mechanical. After having both, I quite like AXS, but if my budget was limited to either AXS or maybe nicer wheels, the money is better spent on the wheels or a fork. I paid $350 for the axs conversion and quite frankly, I think id have buyers remorse if I spent much more. It works great, but so did mechanical GXā¦ That said, on road, Ive been on Di2 for a few years exclusively and cant see myself going back to mechanical on the pavement.