lascabezas

Hello, I am going to buy a gravel bike, I have been doing road ciclyng for the last years. The groupset options are Shimano GRX DI2 x 2 o Sram Force AXS Wide.

What do you guys think is better choice for gravel riding? any pros and cons?

shoota 

They're both top tier groupsets that are perfectly fine for gravel. Do they each come on the same frame? Or two different bikes?

Steve B.

I'm partial to 2X for gravel riding, mostly as you often have time to setup shifts, thus the additional gearing on a 2X is more useful. I like my 1X on a mt. bike for tight ST where it's up/down all day. My typical gravel riding is not like that, YMMV.

They are both good systems, GRX Di2 might be cheaper and it's a top notch system. I have Ultegra Di2 on my go fast road bike and an XT Di2 1X system on my HT, they are great systems.

lascabezas

They would be for the Canyon Grail.

It seems that the GRX Di2 levers are a great design for specific gravel riding, you seem to get more brake and shifting control in general from the hoods. On the other hand, Sram has 12 speeds plus somo other differences. I will narrow down to these:


-GRX levers (originally designed for gravel riding) vs. Force AXS levers (originally designed for road use)

-GRX rear derailleur clutch vs Force AXS orbit fluid damper. These are the chain retention systems, which one works better?

-GRX 11 speed vs Force 12 speed

-GRX gear (48/31 with 11-34) vs. Force gear (43/30 with 10-36)

Koyote

Since they operate a bit differently, you might just want to ride them, and then make a decision.

Rides4Beer

I'll always vote for 2x, at least for the riding that I do. I'm a di2 fan in general, and all of the reviews I've seen say that the GRX di2 shifters have the best ergonomics of any brand/style. I'll be upgrading to GRX di2, if the parts ever arrive. lol

Tsafur

I have a few gravel bikes with DI2 and a few gravel bikes with AXS.

Di2 is very good. Shifting is superior. Brakes very good.

AXS is good. Shifting is way slower and a bit clunky. Brakes are very good.

Reason for 3 of my gravel bikes being built with AXS was because I wanted 12 speed. I also like a 10t for low gear.

chas58

So, both are 2x? I think people here often assume SRAM is 1x.
I don't have direct experience, but Shimano seems to have really nailed the 2x thing.

I'm very very leery of a 10t cog; using a 10t for a low gear is going to cause a lot of wear and tear if you are really putting power down - anything below 14T starts to get iffy if you are really using the gear hard).

But, if you want a lot more info, you can listen to this (Campy, SRAM, Shimano discussion): https://cyclingtips.com/2020/10/nerd...-house-brands/

or if that is not enough: https://www.velonews.com/gear/gravel...lly-necessary/

Chi_Z

ppl assume SRAM is 1x because SRAM never bothered to fix their FD chaindrops

unterhausen

I have heard that they fixed their FD issues years ago now

Chi_Z

ppl are still having problems with the new AXS

lascabezas

Thanks, What would be the benefit of 12 speed in your opnion?

illjustride

GRX all the way. Trust me. Check out my build video where I talk about the GRX a bit more when I built my gravel bike. Everything about them is great from ergonomics to style to shifting.

xseal

[QUOTE=illjustride;21822670]GRX all the way. Trust me. Check out my build video where I talk about the GRX a bit more when I built my gravel bike. Everything about them is great from ergonomics to style to shifting.
/QUOTE]

+1. I'm all SRAM 1x mechanical for my mountain bikes (2 Eagle and one 11speed) and love it. I was figuring on going SRAM for gravel but I demo'd GRX 2x on gravel bike and bought it with GRX 2x Di2 (48/31-11/34). Can't recommended it more highly for the application, recommend each of GRX, and 2x and Di2 -- they are each perfect for gravel and in combination superb.

lascabezas

Thanks a lot

Camilo

Lots of good pros and cons already mentioned. I've been doing a deep dive lately. One major difference is that the di2 GRX doesn't have an approved way of going lower than 31x34 while the Axs ETap wide is 30x36 plus the option of going lower. That may or may not be an issue for most riders.

The di2 GRX has some "unapproved" workarounds, but no easy way to swap out the RD to allow a larger cassette cog PLUS the additional chain wrap needed with a double crank. The rear derailleurs - GRX or XT - that have a larger cog spec don't have a larger wrap spec to go along with it.

The ETap wide not only comes standard with a significantly lower gear, you can swap a Sram mtb RD with both larger cog and wrap capacities and those swaps are officially supported.

That's just one factor not applicable to everyone, and with possible unofficial workarounds. Could be no big deal at all, but seems short sighted for a supposedly dedicated "gravel" group. The workarounds probably work ok, but is "ok" acceptable when the di2 shifting should be absolutely perfect?

Badger6

You're going to get lots of opinions on that last question. As a long time user of Di2, I tend to be quite leery of going way beyond the specs...a little bit, fine, the stuff is engineered and spec'd conservatively...but way beyond? It can be made to work, and plenty of folks have come here with personal anecdotes of doing so using RD hanger extenders and such. As you point out, those are workarounds permitting a bigger low cog but the chain wrap or capacity is still what it is. So, yeah, I haven't answered your question, except to say, I wouldn't try to go way outside the spec like run a 42t low cog on the cassette. I'm less familiar with SRAM stuff, though I do use a SRAM CF crank (branded as Quarq) with a Quarq PM, and 1x X-Sync chainring for a variety of reasons that all come together to put me on that crank, and I like it...a lot...along with the DUB BB.

That said...have you compared the actual gearing rations and development? If not, try this gear calculator. Look at the gearing of the Shimano 46/30 crankset with the largest spec'd 11/11-34 cassette, then compare it to the 11/11-36 SRAM (slightly beyond spec, but will certainly work fine). You can get the same low gear as the SRAM using a SRAM 11/11-36 cassette on a Shimano HG free hub, and effectively the same top gear with a 46x11 as the SRAM 43x10 (the SRAM is only slightly taller).

Something else to consider...as mentioned above: brakes. Yes, Shimano and SRAM brakes generally work about the same, though some folks claim the Shimano's are more on/off. I don't buy it, I've ridden both on the road and gravel, and find both to function about the same. The difference is setup and bleeding, the process for SRAM is more involved, where Shimano's is simpler and faster...my experience, not a fact.