Customer Review: SRAM Eagle 12 Speed Drivetrain

This review was written by Jay Elliot. He rides a Santa Cruz Highball and was looking for a wider gear range to throw on his hardtail XC rig that could take on a nice easy cruise without hills or a full on climbing day. Check out his thoughts on the 12 speed drivetrain. *Note that this Eagle system was installed with a RaceFace Next SL Crankset and is utilizing a RaceFace chainring. We have run this set up on our own bikes as well as custom builds and have never had any issues yet!

My new SRAM Eagle 12 speed has changed my relationship with my almost new bike. Really. I now LOVE my 4 month old hardtail XC rig. It wasn’t always like that. It came equipped with a Shimano XTR 11 speed 1x11 setup, and for 4 months I tried to love it, but at best I just kind of liked it, and it was starting to become a like-hate relationship. The disharmony primarily arose from the limited range of the Shimano cassette. It became increasingly annoying as I found myself buying an assortment of chainrings (28t, 30t, 32t, 34t, some round and some oval) all in the interest in finding gear ratio nirvana. It never happened. I reached my gag point when I realized I was routinely changing chainrings in order to accommodate a flat ride or a whole-lotta-climbing ride (I have become very proficient at changing chainrings…) A secondary complaint was the clunky shifting of the Shimano. When I did an online search and found the great prices on SRAM Eagle at Worldwide Cyclery, I whipped out the credit card, pulled the trigger, and I don’t regret it one bit.

WOW! I got the order in 48 hours (thanks!) and had Trevor, my mechanic at my LBS, install it. He was as excited as me to try it out. In just 72 hours from placing the order, I was riding. After that first ride, I was now finally in love with my bike.

My findings:

-A perfect range of gears for long, uphill grinds or just-n-fast downhills. I found the 32t chainring from my extensive chainring collection to meet all of my needs.
-The shifter requires just a quick, short poke with little pressure to activate. I tell people it feels like a camera shutter.
-It shifts fast, even under load.
-It looks cool….I got the XO cassette (black) primarily for esthetic reasons (and a few bucks cheaper too)
-It’s so quiet, approaching other riders from behind often surprises them, as there is not much noise other than that of knobbies on dirt.

Thanks to Worldwide Cyclery for the fast service and great prices. You can tell these guys ride as they sell the best and latest products. My previous orders with them have also been shipped fast, and always with great prices. I’ll be back…..