SRAM announces 11-speed 36t cassette
 

SRAM just announced that they will be releasing an 11-speed road cassette in 11-36 next month. According to the press release, it's compatible with the company's 11-speed road levers (Red, Force, Force CX1, Rival), and their CX1 rear derailleur. The cassette does not use the XD cassette driver, but is compatible with 11-speed road hubs.

Personally, I can't wait to pair the new cassette with the CX1 group.

Link?

What's the difference between the CX1 RD and, say, the X9-Type2?

CX1 uses the X-Horizon design first introduced on the company's XX1 and XO1 derailleurs. The CX1 and XX1 derailleurs share the roller-bearing clutch found on the Type-2 mechs, but the former don't utilize the X9's slant parallelogram design.

Not sure why X-Horizon is required technology for the 11-36, so long as that upper jockey wheel moves the expected amount inward or outward...

I much prefer the feel of Shimano but SRAM sure is kicking their ass in terms of having a lot of options and innovating.

I believe that the X-Horizon's benefit is better chain tracking/retention on the 1x systems. The motion/path of the X-Horizon derailleurs is very different compared to SRAM's conventional models (especially if you activate the derailleur with the wheel/cassette removed).

Is X9 11-speed road compatible?

I don't see why not. All of the Exact Actuation stuff should be "number-of-speeds-independent" since it's the shifters that determine the indexing/movement of the RD.