Eric F 

Interesting that XX1 isn’t listed as “pro”, yet it’s on the bikes of some of the best racers in the world.

jaxgtr

Also, I believe anything Eagle AXS is electronic shifting. So anything with that labeling can be mixed in. Similar to the Road eTap AXS, all of their AXS stuff is compatible, so you can have a Red shifter and Rival derailleurs and brakes and Force cassettes.

Edit: Added AXS...

Eric F 

Eagle does not equal electronic. AXS is SRAM’s designation for their electronic shifting.

jaxgtr

Oops, yep, sorry, meant to add in the AXS part and failed to do that.

Siu Blue Wind

It's not that this forum isn't moderated, we just hope that adults would work things out in an adult manner, with respect and kindness. And if that's difficult, then it's time to move on.

veganbikes

The problem was your question was extremely open ended and lacked any sort of direction so it is hard for someone to answer without knowing what you are looking for. Still kind of curious what you are interested in, in regards to SRAM Eagle? Not trying to be difficult or nasty towards you as this is text on a page and there is no emotion attached and sometimes people don't understand that.

A conversation on SRAM Eagle could be interesting, as a Shimano person myself who has coming increasingly in contact with SRAM because a lot of companies have switched due to pandemic related shortages it is growing a little on me. I mean I wouldn't run DOT brakes on my bikes but their new brakes are actually pretty decent especially considering how bad their old stuff was.

Polaris OBark

Sometimes, if you don't already know the answer, formulating a question becomes a challenge. Add to that a (possible -- I don't actually know) non-native speaker of the language, a different culture, etc., and there emerges a compelling case for cutting the questioner a wee bit of slack.

Tolerance can only help.

mschwett 

there may be some editorializing going on there. a couple different takes on this exist, but they’re all in the same order, of course.

add in AXS vs not, and it’s moderately confusing. probably no worse than shimano’s gravel groups which abandon the named tiers for numbers …

mschwett 

especially when it takes way more time to write an unhelpful response than to just do nothing lol.

Kontact 

I was observing the level of moderation, not complaining about it. And I'm sharing my respect for the OP by pointing out the pattern of bad behavior that persists across many threads and calling for it to end.

Eric F 

You obviously feel that this…

…was a harsh response.

However, he’s right. Doing a simple G search of “SRAM Eagle” got me multiple links that described exactly what it is - in simple terms - that you could have found in less time than it took you to write your post.

That said, the Big S companies seem to be determined to making things kind of confusing with group designation, so having questions is understandable.

Russ Roth

I've also seen that website and found it fairly useless for differentiating all the differences and how they do or don't interact with each other. Anyone can find a website, it doesn't make it useful, anyone can offer second-rate lousy advice with no substance like you did, it also doesn't make it useful. If you had nothing of significance to add, why bother, why not just move on to something you care about?

BS, the op asked a basic question that clearly came from a lack of understanding and had his nose rubbed in it when he didn't appreciate the sarcastic lack of real information. The beginning of this thread was openly hostile in general, be useful or move on.

OP, I've generally found the whole Eagle aspect to be annoying, as others pointed out, eagle designates 12sp but the different levels all have different quality points, the sx, nx stuff will be low level items designed to meet price points predominantly for oem bike builds. The real advantage to the two lines, that I understand, is that the cassettes are compatible with older HG cassette hubs unlike the higher levels which require a 12sp XD hub. From there you'll probably need to find online articles about the more specific differences between the quality of the shifters and derailleurs which will come down to which use bushings vs bearings, carbon vs aluminum or plastic, and just how few grams difference there will be between the various levels of chains.
I will say if you switch to one of their groups I've been using JFOYH 12 speed cassettes from Amazon. I needed to do it for Jr. gearing restrictions on their road bikes where going with shimano or sram 12 speed would have meant ridiculously heavy cassettes or stupid gearing due to the brands using 10t cogs for whatever reason. The shifting on the cassettes has been flawless for Sram AXS to shift across and the low cost for the weight is nice.

sjanzeir

For nothing but my own, selfish joy, convenience, and peace of mind, I'm going to go ahead and put you on my very, very short Ignore list. I would be so honored as to consider it a lifetime achievement of mine if you went ahead and did the same.

PeteHski

I've long had a preference for SRAM for mtb drivetrains. My current mountain bike (Canyon Neuron CF) has 2019 SRAM Eagle X01 which shifts flawlessly and is super-smooth. My previous Specialized Enduro had the 2015 version of the same and never missed a beat. My wife's 2017 mtb has lower tier Eagle NX and it works pretty well too, although I can tell the difference - shifting is slightly less crisp but still reliable. My daughter's bike has Shimano Deore and I'm not so impressed with that. Shifting is a little vague and it requires more tuning. But it's a while since I've tried higher-end Shimano mtb drivetrains. I'm sure they are fine.

Regarding brakes, I also prefer mineral oil in case of leakage, but using DOT has never been an issue in practice. Higher-end SRAM mtb brakes have been fine for me since 2015.

PeteHski

I guess I just turned it into a one-liner

Eagle = 12 speed mtb
AXS = electronic shift

XX1, X01, GX, NX, SX = descending group tiers/price

NX and above have been good for me. SX looks fragile (lots of structural plastic), I don't think XX1 is worth the cost over X01. GX is probably the best value for money in their range. X01 is really nice.

Maelochs

When I actually googled SRAM Eagle to see how confusing it all was .... I got this:


So not only was there SRAM's corporate hype, there were several specific questions, and an independent review. No one who made much effort would be confused.

Pete Hski replied, "Eagle is just a collective name for all SRAM 12 speed mtb groupsets. It gives a very wide range across 12 cassette gears." and that was enough to satisfy the OP. Seems that all that info was available on the search page ....

Me, I do so basic research and then ask specific questions if I need more explanation. But that's just me.

Hopefully, in future the poster will ask more specific questions so that people can better answer his questions.

I do notice that after one response suggesting googling it, the poster started slinging curses around.

Maybe a better second post would have been, "Thanks, I went to the SRAM site but didn't understand these specific points .... " but again, what do I know? Just because those approaches work for me, no reason to think they work generally.

Koyote

Agreed.

Agreed.

The opening post reads as if sjanzeir hadn't done even minimal research, as it didn't include any specific questions. But rather than responding as I did, I could've (and should've) simply suggested that he ask actual questions. I apologize for the rudeness.

sjanzeir

Apology accepted. Thank you.

Not that I owe anybody an explanation, but I'll go ahead and say that prior to making that fateful original post, I had read through a lot of content to try and understand what it is exactly that sets Eagle apart from other, non-Eagle stuff, but as anyone who read any news/first impressions/review-type article in any online trade outlet ever knows, you know how these things tend to be written - and none of them would give you nuggets of the "Eagle is anything 12-speed" kind. So, when I found myself spending too much time clicking through Google search results, I thought - obviously wrongly - that I might turn to the forum for some distilled clarification. Instead - and, given past experiences on this forum, not surprisingly - I got the kind of vermin that almost makes me swear off the sport/hobby for good.

veganbikes

Wow, I don't put people on ignore, and in this instance you doing it is pretty comical, I have a feeling that short list is really long. I tried to help you out and help you get to your question but it seems like maybe there wasn't a purpose for all of this. I don't know, but you do you.

StanSeven

Thanks for apologizing. There’s room for lots of others to do the same. For the most part members here behave and post responsibly. But when we get insults thrown about, it discourages others from participating and the forum dries up. For the good of everyone, insults need to stop.

veganbikes

The OPs question was super vague and open ended and really hasn't changed a lot even when people have tried to help. Then it was bleeping and what felt like it could be sarcasm from the OP as well. However it looks like Koyote and OP have made up.

msu2001la

It's worth noting that SRAM's naming conventions for their MTB groupsets are a little confusing, especially if you're used to the old Shimano names where each tier of groupset has it's own name. People hear "SRAM Eagle" and assume that it is a stand-alone tier of groupset that somehow slots in with other SRAM MTB stuff.

It doesn't help that they further differentiate with meaningless and generic alpha-numeric codes. Your average consumer is never going to remember that XX1 is different than X01, much less remember which one is "better" than the other. They should've gone with Eagle Talon, Eagle Eye, Eagle Feather, etc.

BillyD

A little less snark and a little compassion would go a long way around here. I think the OP did a good job standing up for himself. The ignore list works well, but I wish you guys would be kinder, gentler in general.

Regarding the moderation remarks, there's a pretty widespread belief that moderators monitor threads from start to finish in realtime, and that when hostilities erupt we're available to respond promptly. This clearly demonstrates the issue hasn't been given a lot of thought. One needs only to check out the New Posts feature occasionally to realize how many users and how many threads are active throughout these forums at the same time. There's no way these can all be monitored in realtime. We rely primarily on users to report behavior violations, and when we're not tied up at work, or with the family, or out riding our bikes, we will make some time to respond to reports. Considering how few volunteer, unpaid moderators we have here the system works pretty well, because we can truly hammer bad actors when need be. But we need the reports. They're never shared in public. If you feel wronged, report it and we'll respond in due time. Cut us some slack, we're trying to enjoy life a little too.

Now where's my coffee?

PeteHski

It is no more or less quirky for a beginner than Shimano's tier branding. Once you realise Eagle = 12-speed

mstateglfr 

The only logical conclusion to draw from that then is ALL brands are garbage.