SRAM X01 Eagle XG-1295 Cassette [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. 

SRAM offers some of the lightest cassettes on the market, while having insane range. Our buddy, Peter, just slapped a SRAM X01 cassette on their custom build. Read on for more!

Overview

What can you say about a SRAM Eagle X01 Cassette or any cassette, for that matter? You put it on, hope you don’t cross-thread it, and go ride. Sometimes you clean it thereafter, sometimes you don’t. I live in Colorado and run a dry lube most of the time so it really doesn’t get too gunked up. I don’t over wash my drive train and there is little one can do about the dry and dusty conditions that result in sand lubrication of the drivetrain.

So, what IS one to say about a SRAM Eagle X01 cassette? It is somewhat expensive. It is not serviceable as individual cogs (that I have found). It is all steel except for the 50 tooth cog. It’s a good gear range with reasonable steps between cogs. It does not have a wear gauge either built into the cogs or as a little plastic fit gauge like chain length tool. This particular cassette-only comes in black which is fine for me, Others might want some color.

I run this particular cassette, 1 x SRAM X01 Eagle XG-1295 Cassette - 12 Speed, 10-50t, Black, For XD Driver Body on a Yeti SB100 I’ve owned for a little over 2 years. It’s a sweet ride whether on the dirt and rocks or the bike paths around town, so I ride it a lot. The original cassette (exact same model) ran for about 3500 miles and was not fully worn out except for one particular cog, probably the 14 tooth. It started jumping when I put the third new chain on the bike. As it happens, that particular cog is probably the one I am in most of the time riding around town and to and from the nearest trailhead, 9 miles away.

I bought the X01 1295 10-50 because that’s what was on the bike but also, the SB100 is a CC model and relatively light as full-suspension bikes go. Neither I nor the bike needed the extra gear inches of the 10-52 and the 10-50 was available at the time. The 1295 model is about 100 grams lighter than the 1275 model but those grams cost about $1.84 each at today’s prices. The XX1 1299 10-50 weighs the same as the 1295 but costs another $68 more probably for a titanium nitride coating on the steel cogs. If I were to always drive to a trailhead and ride hilly dirt and rocks, I would wear out the cogs more uniformly, thereby getting longer life out of the cassette, 3-5 chains maybe. But I don’t like to drive my bike to places I can ride to. I’m riding for my health as well as fun, so I spend time in the lower tooth cogs getting to and from the trails or getting exercise when the trails are muddy or icy. If the cogs or some groups of them were replaceable, I would get a longer life out of the whole cassette and it would be a more environmentally friendly and longer-lived part. I wouldn’t be throwing away (recycling) 350 grams of metal when really only 25-50 grams is worn out. With AXS, SRAM could figure out which cogs people ride in the most and either make those replaceable or make them a different, higher wear material (like Titanium Nitride) to even out the wear of the whole cassette. They’ve probably already done this analysis.

I would like to add; for me, mountain biking is fun and WorldWide Cyclery works hard to make it fun when spending money, which is probably an oxymoron. Their system works, from signing up for notification of out-of-stock items to the smooth ordering-staging-shipping-delivering process. And they make it fun and funny with their emails, videos and podcasts. Overall it’s a great experience.

Final Thoughts

All that said, I will keep doing what I have been doing. I will keep running a SRAM drive train, riding to the trailheads, and buying new cassettes and chains as needed to keep my bike running smoothly. I will wear out a chain and or cassette but save on gasoline. This cassette and the whole SRAM groupset work for me. Would I recommend this Cassette? Yes, wholeheartedly although I may consider the 1299, Titanium Nitride coated cassette the next time for comparison.