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Are SRAM Eagle X01/XX1 der. disposable?

Shizzon

Monkey
Jun 25, 2015
112
290
I have two bikes with 12s Sram Eagle drive-trains (mix of X01/XX1).

My older Der. (XX1 on my Smash) is in decent shape and has not taken too many hard hits but the clutch seems to be pretty much gone, providing virtually no resistance other than spring force to combat extension. The newer X01 der. on my Pedalhead has less miles and has a little more resistance but it does not feel dramatically better.

Chain retention has not been an issue with new NW rings, but I recall my bikes being a fair bit quieter when these components were new. I do not see any approved/official way of increasing clutch resistance in the SRAM derailleurs; am I expected to throw away a $300 dollar derailleur due to wear on an un-serviceable clutch when the part is otherwise mechanically fine?

I'm assuming that this terrible design decision is shared with the $700 AXS der.?! While I have for the most part enjoyed the 12s SRAM setups on my bikes it is an annoyance that I am going to need to replace both my cassette and the derailleur from normal use.

This has me thinking that Shimano will get my money when it comes time to replace but I figured I would ask fellow monkeys what the general consensus is.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,156
Canaderp
Running an XO1 or better derailleur is risky business man. Those things get within inches of the ground when extended. I've busted two GX derailleurs, but luckily they ARE disposable at around $130 canuck dollars.
 

Shizzon

Monkey
Jun 25, 2015
112
290
you can (or could) tighten the clutch on SRAMs with a large allen key if you carefully remove the dust cap.
I have seen a couple posts that get into this, but from memory with the latest versions of the clutch it involves slight modification (removal of a small dowel pin to allow adjustment). I suppose at this point if it doesn't improve things i'm only out a derailleur that I was probably going to replace anyways.

Running an XO1 or better derailleur is risky business man. Those things get within inches of the ground when extended. I've busted two GX derailleurs, but luckily they ARE disposable at around $130 canuck dollars.
That makes a lot of sense for a good deal of people. I enjoy the qualitative improvement in feel that the high end drive-train offerings bring; Nearly 10 years of part time shop-wrenching (2007-2016) highlighted these differences both in terms of the initial feel/quality of shifting and in terms of the long term performance of the product.

I'm okay with the risk of toasting a $300 der. every once and a while in a catastrophic event (has not happened to me since the days trying to eek more range out of 10s drive trains); a derailleur that fails after being subjected to a hard impact is not something I would be posting on a forum about. What I don't get so much, at this price point at least, is a product that failed to make it through one cassette (probably 2-3 chains) before it's performance is compromised and that SRAM offers no rebuild kits for.

What I am experiencing is a gradual decline in performance over time as the result of normal use without any major events/impacts Have any other Monkey's noticed this with SRAM 12s derailleurs?
 

jstuhlman

bagpipe wanker
Dec 3, 2009
16,623
12,915
Cackalacka du Nord
I have seen a couple posts that get into this, but from memory with the latest versions of the clutch it involves slight modification (removal of a small dowel pin to allow adjustment). I suppose at this point if it doesn't improve things i'm only out a derailleur that I was probably going to replace anyways.



That makes a lot of sense for a good deal of people. I enjoy the qualitative improvement in feel that the high end drive-train offerings bring; Nearly 10 years of part time shop-wrenching (2007-2016) highlighted these differences both in terms of the initial feel/quality of shifting and in terms of the long term performance of the product.

I'm okay with the risk of toasting a $300 der. every once and a while in a catastrophic event (has not happened to me since the days trying to eek more range out of 10s drive trains); a derailleur that fails after being subjected to a hard impact is not something I would be posting on a forum about. What I don't get so much, at this price point at least, is a product that failed to make it through one cassette (probably 2-3 chains) before it's performance is compromised and that SRAM offers no rebuild kits for.

What I am experiencing is a gradual decline in performance over time as the result of normal use without any major events/impacts Have any other Monkey's noticed this with SRAM 12s derailleurs?
yes-seems noisier. (x01) was about to try tightening...guess I'll look up how to do so on newer ones.

was also looking at xt - derailleur and shifter can be had for less $200, and derailleur is easy to adjust...
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
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was also looking at xt - derailleur and shifter can be had for less $200, and derailleur is easy to adjust...
i got an XT 11spd kit (derailluer, shifter, cassette, chain, chainring) for a little over $200 before CRC stopped shipping to the US. have had 0 complaints.

i will note i had to grind down part of the back of the cassette, but that was to fit it to a super old i9 hub
 

jstuhlman

bagpipe wanker
Dec 3, 2009
16,623
12,915
Cackalacka du Nord
i got an XT 11spd kit (derailluer, shifter, cassette, chain, chainring) for a little over $200 before CRC stopped shipping to the US. have had 0 complaints.

i will note i had to grind down part of the back of the cassette, but that was to fit it to a super old i9 hub
i just run the nx eagle cassette because i'm super lazy and don't want to change my old school driver. :D
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,852
9,557
AK
My X01 rear derailleur has been in operation since May 2015, has a lot of scrapes and scratches from rock strikes and crashing, still works fine.
Yep, 4 of em and they've never missed a beat. Rebuilt an XTR and X9 clutch, but haven't had to touch these. XTR derailleur bent somehow in that same time period (2015ish to now) that I've been using the X01s. Not convinced to go to 12spd tho...
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,156
Canaderp
I'd have to go check on the bike at home, but the 12 speed Sram derailleur cages are much longer than the 11 speed stuff, the lower pulley is also bigger. They are pretty vulnerable if you have low speed rock/log sections or long grass to ride through. The X01 11 speed derailleur on my Transition is like what you guys say, its beat up and went through tons of use, still works fine.
 

Shizzon

Monkey
Jun 25, 2015
112
290
So it seems the answer is to go back to an 11s SRAM setup.

FWIW, shifting performance seems to be on par with "new" performance when cable/housing are in decent shape.
The complaint is in regards to a perceived increase in racket when riding through the rough (after years of use) coupled with a feeling that the clutch can't be doing much to battle extension based on extending the mechanism by hand. The lack of clutch resistance is stark compared to an old XT 10s derailleur that I have in the spare parts bin.

When time allows I will try to increase clutch resistance of my existing XX1 der. and will report back with my findings.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,562
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media blackout
I'd have to go check on the bike at home, but the 12 speed Sram derailleur cages are much longer than the 11 speed stuff, the lower pulley is also bigger. They are pretty vulnerable if you have low speed rock/log sections or long grass to ride through. The X01 11 speed derailleur on my Transition is like what you guys say, its beat up and went through tons of use, still works fine.
sram's 12 speed stuff is only available in a single cage length because it is all 50t cassettes i believe (extra length is needed to clear the 50t cog). and yes i would assume a long cage 12 speed derailler is longer than an 11 speed because of the larger sized/range cassettes.

shimanos 12 speed is still available in long and medium cage because they make 2 different ranges of 12 speed cassette. the long cage der is for the 51T cassette, the med cage der is for the 45T cassette.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
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i also just learned shimano XTR has a 12 speed double for some reason, which requires a specific rear derailler. seems odd, but i'm guessing for bikepacking. edit: they also have this at XT and SLX levels.

interestingly the XT rear derailluer is only available in one cage length despite have both cassette sizes (45 and 51t)
 
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OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
Yeah, I've had good luck with both 11 and 12s SRAM in recent years. Both are surprisingly durable. It's true the 12s cages are longer and theoretically more vulnerable to that extent, but in my experience it's not really an issue in the real world. The cage only points down when extended in the bigger cogs/lower gears, and I'm not too worried about smashing derailleurs when climbing.
 

jstuhlman

bagpipe wanker
Dec 3, 2009
16,623
12,915
Cackalacka du Nord
anyone have an xt 12 speed rear setup? would be interested to know the measurement from the center of the bike's rear axle to the bottom of the derailleur cage when in the biggest ring, so as to compare to my sram.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,015
Sleazattle
I dumped my eagle setup after it was being a royal PITA. First it would ghost shift over rough terrain in the taller gears, then I broke a cog on the GX cassette. Replaced the cassette with an X01 and noticed the chain was too long and slack in the smallest cog. Shortened the chain one link and shift quality went to shit. I could dial it in for the high gears or the low gears but never both. Put a new chain on it in the too long length and things worked well except for the slack chain over rough terrain.

Said fuck it and swapped it all out for 12 speed Shimano. Perhaps the mech was bent but I am happy with the Shimano stuff, it works better than any Eagle stuff I have ridden.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,156
Canaderp
I dumped my eagle setup after it was being a royal PITA. First it would ghost shift over rough terrain in the taller gears, then I broke a cog on the GX cassette. Replaced the cassette with an X01 and noticed the chain was too long and slack in the smallest cog. Shortened the chain one link and shift quality went to shit. I could dial it in for the high gears or the low gears but never both. Put a new chain on it in the too long length and things worked well except for the slack chain over rough terrain.

Said fuck it and swapped it all out for 12 speed Shimano. Perhaps the mech was bent but I am happy with the Shimano stuff, it works better than any Eagle stuff I have ridden.
Possible B tension screw adjustment? Mine got out of adjustment and was ghost shifting - ended up trying a different chain, changed shift cables, readjusted from scratch etc. Still fucking did it. Adjusted the b tension to bring the upper pulley much closer to the largest cassette cog and its been fine since.... There is that specific b tension adjustment tool that Sram sells, but using it is a jerkoff.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,015
Sleazattle
Possible B tension screw adjustment? Mine got out of adjustment and was ghost shifting - ended up trying a different chain, changed shift cables, readjusted from scratch etc. Still fucking did it. Adjusted the b tension to bring the upper pulley much closer to the largest cassette cog and its been fine since.... There is that specific b tension adjustment tool that Sram sells, but using it is a jerkoff.
Yeah I fucked with the b-tension and even bought the tool. Perhaps something was bent but I got pissed off and just replaced everything. Never been a fan of SRAM cassettes and the noises they make. I don't doubt it all works well but I am very happy with 12 speed Shimano.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,015
Sleazattle
anyone have an xt 12 speed rear setup? would be interested to know the measurement from the center of the bike's rear axle to the bottom of the derailleur cage when in the biggest ring, so as to compare to my sram.
About 8". It is tucked in pretty tight to the wheel and not very exposed.