SRAM has brought wireless electronic shifting to an even lower price point with the release of a new 12-speed Apex AXS groupset pitched squarely at the gravel market. The American brand hasn’t ditched mechanical shifting altogether however, far from it – alongside the AXS options there’s a fully redesigned 12-speed cable-operated DoubleTap offering with options from the gravel-focussed XPLR as well as the mountain bike-derived Eagle tech.
The new groupset takes various guises, catering for riders across the ever-widening gravel gamut including a range of cassette sizes and the option to fit a power meter for those chasing performance on a budget.
Headline points
- Mechanical and electronic 12-speed
- AXS technology comes to a new lower price point
- Both AXS and mechanical have XPLR and Eagle options for gearing
- Integrated left-side power meter option
- Mechanical hoods now look very similar to AXS
Prices start from £1,035/$971/€1,149 for mechanical Eagle and £1,303/$1,249/€1,460 for Eagle AXS with prices from mechanical XPLR starting from £1,060/$987/€1,176 and AXS XPLR from £1,262/$1,195/€1,411. Apex AXS will be available to purchase on 15th June and Apex mechanical will be available in September.
There’s a lot to unpack with this launch as there’s innovation on both the electronic and mechanical groupsets so we’ll delve into the electronic AXS side first.
Apex goes electric
The headline update to SRAM’s budget-conscious groupset is the trickle-down of wireless electronic shifting. First launched in 2015 with Red eTap, SRAM has led the way with its fully wireless shifting and it’s amazing to see that nearly 10 years later the tech has reached its most accessible price point yet. Previously, the most affordable entry into the SRAM AXS ecosystem was Rival AXS.
The levers work in the same way as the rest of the SRAM AXS lineup – right paddle for a harder gear and left paddle for an easier gear. It’s an intuitive system that makes shifting very simple even on gravel roads that will shake your teeth out.
The shifters are customisable via the SRAM AXS app, where users can fine-tune various parameters and see data such as remaining battery life, and uses the same battery found elsewhere on SRAM products so if a rider has multiple bikes all running AXS groupsets, all the batteries are interchangeable.
According to SRAM, the hood shape has been optimised to be comfortable for a range of hand sizes and resemble the shape of the Rival AXS and second generation Force AXS levers; textured rubber provides extra grip in foul weather and the reach is adjustable which will help riders achieve a better fit.
Plenty of drivetrain options
The 12-speed Apex AXS has two different rear derailleur options that will appeal to different riders depending on the terrain they are tackling. The first is the Apex XPLR AXS rear derailleur, which can handle a maximum of a 44t largest cog and packs a spring clutch for additional chain retention. SRAM currently has three cassettes that will work with Apex: the 11-44, 10-44 and 10-36.
The other option is to use the X1 Eagle AXS rear derailleur which is derived from the GX mountain bike platform and is compatible with all Eagle cassettes. This offers riders a mighty 10-52 tooth cassette as well as 10-50 and 11-50 options.
SRAM says this will appeal to bikepackers and ultra-long distance riders who need as much versatility as possible. Intriguingly the X1 Eagle AXS rear derailleur is only available as an OEM component.
Apex AXS is compatible with all other SRAM AXS product lines so if for some reason you want to run Red AXS levers with an Apex AXS derailleur that’s an available option.
Riders wishing to use either an Eagle cassette or one with a 10t smallest cog will need to make sure their freehub body is compatible; a 10t cog requires the use of a XD Driver or an XDR driver with a 1.85mm spacer. For those using the XPLR setup, the 11-44 cassette will fit on a normal 11-speed freehub which will open up more options in terms of wheel choices.
SRAM is launching a flat bar brake lever option too for those looking for more options beyond drop bar bikes. The internals are borrowed from the Guide mountain bike brakes and share many of the same parts including piston, lever, seals and bladder.
SRAM’s unique-looking flat-top chain debuted on the top end Red AXS groupset and once again the same tech has trickled down to Apex. However it’s not quite that simple. The Flattop chain is only compatible with the XPLR rear derailleur and the Eagle derailleur requires a standard Eagle chain.
On the mechanical side it’s a similar story with two pathways on offer depending on desired gears: XPLR with its slightly tighter ratios or Eagle with a massive spread.
MTB-inspired tech
Much of the tried and tested technology found on SRAM’s mechanical mountain bike groupsets has found its way into Apex including a roller bearing clutch, X-HORIZON straight parallelogram design, which reduces the shifting force and cage lock technology that makes wheel changes easier.
The Apex mechanical levers are the biggest departure from the outgoing groupset. Gone are the tall hoods, replaced by a design that’s visually very similar to Apex AXS.
The only difference between the two models is that the AXS version has a textured shift paddle whereas the mechanical version is smooth. Being 1× only, there’s no shift paddle on the left lever with the mechanical option. On previous SRAM DoubleTap groupsets bike brands would sometimes fit 2× levers and repurpose the redundant shift paddle to activate a dropper post, but that won’t be an option here.
Tried and tested brakes
Both the electronic and mechanical groupsets share the same braking components; the calipers are flat mount and share much of their design with the mountain bike-derived Level caliper yet use the same pads as all other SRAM road calipers.
The system is bled using the Hydro R method rather than their latest Bleeding Edge technique. In operation this means very little but it may take a little bit more of a knack to get them bled properly.
A versatile crankset for the modern gravel bike
The crankset is also the same between the two variants and shares much of its architecture with Rival; it features aluminium crankarms, a lightweight yet stiff DUB axle and the tried and tested X-SYNC chainrings for chain security.
SRAM is keen to point out that the chainline of this crankset is ‘Wide’ to accommodate the trend of ever-widening gravel bike tyres. It’s compatible with 135mm, 142mm and Boost rear spacing and has a longer crank spindle for ‘unmatched’ cross compatibility between road and mountain bike bottom bracket standards.
The chainrings are available in 2t increments from 36t to 46t and crank lengths of 165mm, 170mm, 172.5mm and 175mm.
The OEM version of the crankset uses a direct mount steel chainring and the aftermarket version uses an aluminium direct-mount ring.
Campag couldn’t manage it, but SRAM has
For price-conscious riders looking to train like a pro, SRAM now offers a crank-based power meter upgrade. The left side-only spindle-based power meter is powered by a user-replaceable AAA battery and claims to have a battery life of 400+ hours which SRAM says is good for a whole season of riding. The addition of a power meter adds less than 40g to the groupset and it will retail for £205.
SRAM has had the gravel groupset market tied up for quite a while with its premium electronic offerings and now with the arrival of Apex in all of its guises it’s hard to see that changing, especially as Apex AXS will bring electronic shifting to a more accessible price point.
Confused by SRAM’s ever-widening groupset offering? Read our guide to SRAM road and gravel groupsets.