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SRAM GX AXS Upgrade Kit [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

We all know electronic shifting is pretty rad, especially when there's no wires attached. But, the prices weren't all that rad. Enter the SRAM GX AXS upgrade kit at a lower price point, which has made AXS much more accessible! This customer has been testing out the GX AXS, see what they think!

Overview

Many riders who live in Alaska have a summer and winter bikes. I now have the GX AXS on both, with an SRAM NX cassette on both. The systems have been used in 80 degree weather down to -22. Hot, dry, cool, light rain, heavy rain, cold, very cold, muddy, dry, ice fog, freezing rain, wintery mix, deep snow, light snow. They have been put through their paces.

SRAM GX AXS on my Summer Bike: Intense Primer 29.

Derailleur cable routing on 2021 Primer 29 is fiddly… or at least for me.

I would get all kinds of rasping, missed shifts, clunks, ghost shifts. Who wants this on a wonderful ride over roots in an Alaskan woods? Am I right? So, I tried all kinds of adjustments, starting from zero and redoing all tension. I tried new housing, upgraded cable, changed cable bends from the bars, adjusted housing loop under bottom bracket to spec, then looser, then tighter, adjusted under sag, and under sag again, and two trips to the shop. I just couldn’t get the system to shift right, it worked great on the bike stand, but not in the real world on the trail. My deduction after all of this was somewhere there was tension on the cable housing, and it was the culprit. I was really discouraged and frustrated.

So, in comes my first GX AXS. What a relief. It shifted beautifully out of the box. And of course I felt vindicated… it knew it was the cable routing. The system was very easy to install. The controller/shifter took a while to get just the placement: angle and proximity to the grip. I got it where it felt 90% good—but not 100% perfect. When I saw the new upgraded paddle I bought it thinking it would get me that last 10% of comfort and original feel, and I did not care for it. I actually preferred the original paddle (this seems contrary to most reviews I have read). On an aside, SRAM didn’t put the original paddle on the shifter on a whim, they did it for a reason. Because it works and feels great. I had read, and came to the same realization that you can’t and shouldn’t expect the controller/shifter to operate/replace the feeling of a cable shifter.

So, bike number 1, check, awesome.

On to bike two, my 2015 Framed Alaskan fat bike.

The bike new had an SRAM X7, with a 10-42 cassette. This system eventually got goopy and sluggish from cable rot, and then it got damaged in a crash (yes, you can crash on a fat bike and damage parts). I went out and bought a Box Prime 9 because that is what was immediately available locally (I live in a smaller town). But just like the X7 it still got cable rot from snow melting and running into the cable housing… bad sticky shifting. It is the last thing you want to deal with when you are pushing through fresh powdery snow. Gross.

So, thinking back to my Primer, I thought… well, why not give the GX AXS/NX Cassette a try. No more cable and housing. As a bonus I’ll get more gearing with the NX cassette, and I won’t have cable rot. Of course, the downside is like any battery in the cold, it will need more charging. I do find that it runs low quickly from about zero degrees and down, and especially fast when it is -10 or more below. But SRAM acknowledges this, so the company is honest upfront. I just carry an extra battery while I ride. And with the app I can easily check the level before I head out riding. You will notice in the pictures that I don’t have the safety cover over the derailleur battery… it is hard to take off in subzero temperatures. SRAM does mention that the system may refuse a shift in very cold temps, and that has happened once, it was -13 out.

On to the controller. It took a while to set it in the right spot and I kept the original paddle. My thumb reaches it easily and it also works great with heavy winter gloves. I also really appreciate the micro-adjust. Depending on the temp and snow accumulation on the chain or derailleur I can precisely adjust the derailleur to accommodate, then easily and precisely change it back.