So I’m switching over to electronic shifting on my MTB - GX AXS. Here’s my question: what’s a good way to carry a spare AXS battery on a MTB?
I use a OneUp pump +EDC for my tools, so I’m used to them sitting in a pump on the frame.
I don’t want something that I have to remember to carry with me, because I’ll forget.
Ideally, there’s a pre made (or 3D-printed) case that I can attach to a bottle cage mount on the frame (I have a few free ones). The case would snap open and shut and contain the battery entirely (manages the dirt etc).
Any ideas or suggestions?
On my other electronic bike, I have front and rear derailleurs and an AXS dropper, so I have enough batteries to not worry about carrying a spare.
Yeah, having an AXS dropper is nice if you ever kill your shifter battery. I jokingly refer to my AXS dropper as my $700 spare battery holder.
On other stuff, I go with the “pro” approach and use gaffer tape to tape all kinds of stuff to my race bike (quick link, mini pump, bacon strips, etc., basically anything I don’t anticipate needing). Gaffer tape is great, very secure but easy to rip stuff off quickly during a race.
Also, I’d like to hear from someone that’s managed to get one of the half size batteries from Amazon etc. They seem like a good spare/race day option if they’re reliable.
I very recently learned on MTBR that there’s a a way to shift your battery up and down using the button on the derailleur. I’ll double check, but I think it was twice for easier or something.
People have started races with fully charged batteries and run out of juice due to mud greatly increasing the energy it takes to complete a shift. A half sized battery won’t be so great if that’s the reason you need a spare. Of course it depends on what your rides / races are like and you could always greatly reduce the number of shifts you make.
Definitely fair. That’s not the use case I was thinking about though. I would like to know how long they last. To be honest, I have zero desire to carry a spare at all. I think the use case is bike packing type stuff, but maybe as the battery degrades it’s more of a concern.
I’ve not done a race like that for a very long time. Mud on the tyres , mud on the drivetrain - no effing thanks lol.
I shifted 2,664 times over 11.5 hours in an MTB endurance race on one battery.
Looking at my fit file the battery started at 8.32V and ended at 7.96V which would be useful data if I had any clue what voltage SRAM considers the battery to be dead
I can’t get my rides to show up on the SRAM app/web. Is it because I don’t have a SRAM shifter with me/doing the shifts? You would assume the data is stored on the Garmin?
Just curious - because this never occurred to me - what’s the real benefit in a “half size” battery? The standard batteries are small (the size of one of my thumb joints) and light (24g).
What is gained by switching to the half size battery?
Well, I guess weight. Clearance wise I have that plastic cover over my battery so it wouldn’t be any different there.
If they were reliable though, I’d rather have a small one as a spare than a big one. As I said though, I’m not that likely to ever carry a spare. I’d throw it in my bike bag for traveling to events though.
I’ve only gotten a low battery warning once and it was at Unbound this year. Very muddy race and over 13 hours of riding. ~6700 shifts during the race. I got the warning with about 10 miles to go and had an extra battery, but made it to the finish without swapping. I was surprised to see the warning, I think I’ve gone longer than that (across multiple rides), but had not thought about the mud increasing shift load. I always carry an extra battery, things fail and I’m not beyond being stupid and forgetting to keep it charged.
Anyone have a preference for reliable, cheap spare AXS batteries? I picked an extra up from Amazon (MRX Solutions), but it stopped being able to charge after like three months.
I don’t know about third-party SRAM AXS batteries, but I do have experience with third-party camera batteries. These are hit-and-miss. I had three batteries for my now-deceased Fuji X100S: two (identical ones) were completely useless, they died very rapidly and I never used them. One was equivalent to an OEM battery in performance.
The prices for first-party batteries (SRAM AXS and cameras) is ridiculous, but if you need to know that the ones you buy are actually reliable, they might still be your best bet.
Edit: Having a spare battery is such a quality of life improvement, instead of having to wait a few more minutes until the battery has some charge, you pop in a charged battery and go about your business.
That person didn’t get back to me so I assumed there was no need so I didn’t make one. What’s your use case/what’s ideal for you? I can take input on what you or others want and design something
, mud on the drivetrain - no effing thanks lol.