mstateglfr 

Fentuz

So,while I don't mind SRAM which I have on the gravel, I prefer shimano because better and more precise and generally easier... Any electronic stuff is cool as you can miss match road shifter with MTB transmission and vice versa...

But, as somebody else said, it needs to be charged every so often. having to change my powermeter and light/radar is irritating enough and they often fail because I didn't recharge between small rides... just because of that, I'd rather go all mechanical, no "fly by wire"... bikes are in theory mechanical machines...

Now I understand that if you go mechanical, you will be have a "hyper mullet", you will not just mix road and MTB bits, you will mix manufacturer ranges of road and mtb bits: shimano grx gear actuator, sram chain, e13 cassette and some chainring/crankset?

GrainBrain

Saint 7 speed RD and cassette + dropper post and front sus for bombing mountains on your cutthroat MTB that masquerades as a gravel machine

Germany_chris

I’d go SRAM because Shimano hoods don’t agree with my hands

FrankTuna

Mechanical set up would be:

• GRX shifters/brakes
• XT crank with Wolftooth chainring (compatible with 11 speed and Eagle)
• GRX rear derailleur with goat link as needed
• EThirteen cassette 9-46
• SRAM eagle chain

From what I've been reading, this should all work well together but it's not as "clean" of a setup as SRAM Force AXS shifters/brakes/GX Eagle derailleur. SRAM shifters are super hard to find without paying a premium but it would definitely be a nice, easy to install and maintain set up.

Fentuz

It should work fine and it would be fairly clean since wolftooth tend to mostly do stuff for shimano.
46 should work without goatlink (may need longer B screw).

the only issue is that if you damage the deraiilleur, you may not be able to use the warranty

FrankTuna

But at least a mech derailed is $110 vs Eagle GX @ $370. I'm a little nervous of breaking an AXS derailleur and have to replace it.

sarhog

Unless you go with a mechanical GX Eagle derailleur.

Fentuz

that s why I kept rival derailleur in the knowledge that if I break it, i can put a eagle GX derailleur with the cable plate.

jonathanf2

I'm curious, so the EThirteen cassette would need a SRAM XD or XDR hub correct? Having a 10/9t cog would make me consider going 1x to get a bit more high gear.

Also I'd probably vote going mechanical. $1000 saved could go into other aspects of your bike especially wheels and/or lightweight components.

FrankTuna

Yup....XD for sure (not sure about XDR). The cassettes aren't cheap but beautifully machined and pretty light. I've been watching every YouTube video I can find on them haha

Chilepines

As an FYI - 3T makes a 9-32 11 speed cassette. Actually 2 of them - one has 9 and 10 as the small cogs and the 32 is a bailout; the other has 9 and 11 as the small cogs so the 9 is "overdrive". My next gravel setup will be 40/26 White Industries crank and 9-32 overdrive cassette. Gives me all the range I have on my current 46/30 and 11-36 and overall better spacing of gears.

Fentuz

Can use XDR with a spacer/shim for 9-46. I believe the shim need to be wrapped around the XDR thread to take up the slack and allow adequate "pinching"

Fentuz

the 9-46 gives a range in between mtb 10-50 and 10-52 but on 11 speeds but has the advantage of being useable with "road long cage" derailleurs (Rival/Force etc.) that work without issue up to 46T.

I run 36x 9-46 which is equivalent to 40x 10-52 /40x10-50 (well to be accurate, it would be 40x 10-51).
When I run the 700c, I have 36x11-46 so with the 9-46, I could run 30x9-46 and keep the same "road" gearing but easy the "off-road" set up. I did not do it because I don't really want to spend too much time on cog 9T but I may consider a 32 ring for Welsh mountain adventures... This would be similar to classic XC GI setup.

Gravel50

I love my SRAM GX AVX components. Can’t go wrong with sram in my book