A couple of weeks ago I rode Gorge Gravel (65mi, in Oregon) and blew up pretty spectacularly. I finished, but only just barely. Training hasn’t been going great this year with a couple of early illnesses and some travel for work. There are a couple of learnings I need to take away from this experience, one of which involves pacing. This is especially important to me as I’m due to ride a five day stage race (Oregon Trail) in a couple of months. My goal for all events is just to finish and have a good time (at least after the fact).
So, pacing. My Checkpoint has the normal XPLR 10-44 right now, and I’ll switch to a 36t ring for Oregon Trail. What’s on my mind right now is maybe also picking up a 10-52 cassette and derailleur and swap them in for just this event. That’d give me a 4.5mph low gear at a comfortable 80rpm and maybe keep me from overdoing it on the steeper hills?
Cost aside, any thoughts on the advisability of this? This is kind of a half baked idea in my head so any kind of experience would be interesting. There are probably things I haven’t really thought through.
You’ve basically got really fast XC MTB gearing with a 36x10-44 or 36x10-52, which is probably great for most people in some of those gnarly, hilly gravel routes.
Highly recommend the eagle axs setup for gravel. Unless the larger gear jumps really bother you, there is really no downside. It’s all I run for road and gravel, I just swap front rings depending on course. I’m personally not a fan of the xlpr group, it was the first thing I changed on my checkpoint when I got it. If you look at the stuff people are running at the pointy end of gravel races, it’s a bunch of eagle axs and transmission. The new xplr is a little better w the 10-46 range, but I’d still go 10/52 with the mtb stuff if I had to pick one. Lots of guys with 5+ w/kg ftp’s running 10/52 (including pros), seems silly that way weaker riders (me included) would choose tougher gearing on hilly courses.
Lots of riders are doing this. Very common for bike packers with their added weight. The only downside is bigger gaps, but IMO those only matter at high speed where aerodynamic drag dominates and power required goes as the cube of speed. I still have 10-44 on my gravel bike but have 10-52 on my mtb and it certainly works great there.
Yep, and it’s become one of the more popular groups for racing as well. Less common on new builds because SRAM wants their “gravel” XPLR group represented and that’s part of the arrangement with the big OEMs (trek, specialized, etc.). But if you look at the smaller and more forward thinking companies, many of their builds have gone to the mullet approach (road shifters with MTB RD/cassette). For Allied and Lauf, the only options you have for their gravel bikes are mullet builds or the new Red XPLR 13 speed. Maybe that will change when 13sp trickles down to Force and Rival, but I still think mullet 10/52 is a better path for most riders/racers unless they never see hilly terrain.
Personally I have a XPLR RD and cassette and Eagle RD and cassette. I switch b/t the two. I have a 48T chainring
I use the XPLR 100% of the time while training (not in hilly area) and most of the races. When I do have a hilly race coming up I take off chain and put on Eagle RD. Then usually swap to my lighter wheelset (or switch cassette). It seems daunting but I can honestly do it in 10min. I live in a small apartment so this makes me feel like I have a road ready / flat course race bike and a hilly one. I ride a crux fwiw.
That being said if I could only do 1 option I would just run the Eagle full time. The reason I don’t is I actually did find the bigger jumps a little annoying when doing training/intervals. So for me its worth having both.
Also some of it does depend on how fast you are trying to go. I ran a 40T with 10-44 cassette on some hilly races before and I was so nervous I would spin out the 40T but in reality it was fine for the pace I wanted to go during that race anyway. Point being if it is super hilly and you are ok coasting hills or having a higher cadence on flats 36T could work just fine too.
Pretty much the same, though I do live in a hilly area but use the Xplr group because I ride that bike on the road a bit, especially when the weather isn’t great. But yeah the mullet setup is better for me in general for most gravel riding.
I was used to a 10-52t Eagle Mullet set up on my Checkpoint SLR. I then picked up a Lauf Seigla last year with 13sp XPLR. I took the 13sp XPLR set up out for it’s first ride in hilly eastern Ohio and realized I was immediately missing the range of 10/52t. I immediately ordered SRAM Eagle Transmission XX set up with new rear derailleur and 10-52t cassette. Also bumped up the front chainring size by 2T. I figured it would be nice to have the option to switch between 10-52 Transmission and 10-46t 13sp XPLR, but to date have simply left the 10-52t set up on, even on the road. Having the wider range at both the top and the bottom is just too valuable, so my 13sp derailleur and cassette have been collecting dust.
The x-sync chainrings are fine for both XPLR and Eagle, so no compatibility issues there.
You need to run an eagle chain with Eagle AXS RD and cassette. I’ve heard that you can also run the eagle chain on XPLR, but the official word from SRAM is that you need to use the flattop chain. Either way, you are likely going to need a different chain length so a different chain is required.
I wax my chains, so end up buying 3 chains for every drivetrain/chainring combo (so I’m not waxing every time I need to swap chains). And you can often get away with a single chain length for a couple chainrings that are close. I can run the same chain for 42 or 44 tooth rings, but need a longer chain to run a 46.
Thank you. This makes sense. Either way you are having to break the chain in order to swap the rear der so changing chains is just part of the process. I might switch to Eagle after Unbound this year.
If you’re doing the 200, there are a few spots you’ll be wishing you switched already …
To make the swap, it’s rear derailleur, cassette, chain, and a spacer for the cassette (xdr road freehub requires a spacer for mtb cassette, it’s cheap).
Should be solid. The 100 course has much less climbing per mile and nothing particularly steep. I rode both courses last week and the stuff closer to emporia (the 100 course) is night and day easier than the terrain further north. Not just the hills, but the chunkiness.
Thank you. I’ve been freaking out more about the tires than the gearing. I’m currently planning on running Panaracer GK X1 plus in 45mm. I usually run Pirelli Gravel H in 45mm but the fear of the chunkiness scared me into going with reinforced side wall GK’s.
I did Oregon Trail Gravel race in 2023 - a great event, you’ll have a great time!
I’m not sure which direction they are running it this year but I know they made a few changes from ‘23 to ‘24 so not totally sure how it compares.
I ran Force XPLR with a 38T / 40-44 cassette. It was “just” enough (I was around 3.3W/kg at the time - female rider). I never ran out at the fast end but there were a couple of quite steep sections that were a true grind during the week. I never had to get off and walk though.
I now have a different bike with 40T / 10-52 which I use for bike packing and I definitely appreciate the extra few easier steps on steep inclines or when the bike is loaded up.
I would think that your 36T / 10-44 would be all good for OTGG - don’t overthink it - unless you want something shiny and new - in which case the newer XPLR RED with the 10-46 could be a good upgrade if your frame is UDH.
I’ve got Eagle on my Gen1 Checkpoint with mechanical shifters & Ratio 12sp conversion.
The Eagle gives you about 10% lower gearing, which would be like running a 32 or 33T cog up front.
I’ve run the Rotor 11-46t, and I don’t think you can get a 48t or 50t cog on the XPLR. You’d need an Eagle RD. You’d need an Eagle cassette, not a Transmission cassette and a 1.8mm spacer for your XDR (or Shimano HG w/ the PG 11-50t cassette).
What crank are you using? Another option would be to run a front derailleur and a 2x crank ( subcompact/gravel/adventure, GRX, FSA something, or directmount rings, Praxis Buzz 48/32 110bcd). You’d need a MTB front shifter and to run a cable.
I’ve tried mounting 1x next to another 1x on a 110bcd using my hand to move it over while stopped - you can’t do that because the teeth are too wide. You can use non-1x rings to do this if you can find a small enough ring for your crank.
