drz400

Anyone's experience upgrading to 12 speed. Worth it ? Experiences? Shifting as good as 11 ?

Steve B.

My Epic Evo came with a SRAM 12 spd. 11-50 rear system. I added an Eagle AXS system. I also have a Chisel HT with XT Di2, 11 spd. 10-46. There is little difference between the 2 and I really don't experience any difference. Shifting is perfect with both bikes as would be expected with electronic. The Shimano bike has a 30 ring, the SRAM a 32, so the low gear is essentially the same. 12 is what the bike came with and I'm like "Yeah, OK".

GamblerGORD53

I have 14 speed. Beat that. LOL.

jaxgtr

Yea I upgrade my Emonda to SRAM eTap AXS at the end of Nov and replaced the Shimano 11 speed I had on it since 2015. Outside of the price, I have been very happy with it. I love the benefit of electronic shifting, so to me it was worth the cost. My shifting on the 11 speed ultegra was flawless, never had any complaints with it and find the AXS shifts slightly better.

tempocyclist

I have both 11-speed Di2 and 12-speed Di2. Is the "upgrade" worth it? Probably not. I'm in no hurry to ditch the 11-speed. Both groupsets shift gears beautifully and when I'm riding, I can hardly notice the difference.

The new 12-speed is Bluetooth enabled right out the box though, which is nice for app connectivity.

jaxgtr

Yea if my 11 speed was di2, I probably would not have upgraded.

jp911

On my mountain bike the upgrade from 11-speed Shimano XT to 12-speed XT was well worth it. The shifting performance under load is much improved. Don't get me wrong, 11-speed is (was) fine, but the new stuff is more than just an extra gear.

veganbikes

14 is pretty great (want to try Kindernay but love my Rohloff) but I had some ideas to improve a little (or make insane and ridiculous)

I haven't built any of this aside from in my head but Rohloff and Pinion P.18 18x14 or a measly 252 gears
But what I really want to build is a DD3 or similar SA 3 speed cassette hub with 11 speed cassette and a Pinion P.18 at the front with some sort of 2 speed crank or use a fat bike derailleur and crank for a 2 or 3x set up (q-factors be damned) for a ridiculous 3x11x18x2or3 or a much more respectable 1188 or better yet 1782 gears or if the front derailleurs and schlumpf style cranks wouldn't work then 594 gears to get you going.

I want imagine the bars with all the gear stalks and different shifters on it and how much insanity a mechanic would have trying to tune that beast. Yeah it is making a noise in gear 197, 421 and 902

Sorry to derail but I haven't gone 12 speed yet and probably won't on any of my bikes. The 11 speed is working just fine. If I get a new geared derailleur bike maybe but for mountain I am waiting for Di2 12 speed and for road I would want disc brakes and my bike is currently rim. Though my vintage Phil Wood bike is technically 12 speed in this case 2x6 but still 12 speed and my old Cilo which had some of those 2x6 parts on it was 12 speed before 7 speed came out...LOl

shelbyfv

Nope

Iride01 

1 more speed isn't going to make you better and faster. You should be looking at the more things overall than just how many gears on the rear it has. And compare it to your current bike and what your wallet will afford. Not just whether the best 12 speed bike is better than the best 11 speed bike.

Lombard

Where does it end?

tomato coupe

How many fingers and toes do you have?

Ghazmh

That’s nothing my hybrid has 24 speeds.

NoWhammies

My new bike came with Di2 12 speed. I had been riding Di2 11 speed for the past four years. Can't say I see much of a difference. Then again I only have 1,000+km on the 12 speed. Maybe I'll learn/know more in time.

Lombard

I think he was talking about cassette gears. I gather your hybrid is an 8-speed with a triple in front?

BlazingPedals

(14 speed is IGH.)
A 12-speed 11-50 with a 50, or maybe 52, up front *might* finally give me enough range to consider getting rid of the double on my avatar bike. If replacing chains won't cost me $300.

Darth Lefty 

I am pretty happy w 1x11 speed on my MTB and I’ll maybe soon add it to my commuter which is now a SS. Probably will hang on as long as it’s supported. But if I bought a new complete bike with 12 I wouldn’t put it back to 11.

Watch out for SRAM SX. Features or performance aside, it’s SO heavy. Cassette and crankset are worst offenders. It came on my kid’s DB Sync’r 24 which is just a monster truck. 6 lb fork and 5 lb drivetrain and 6 lb of rubber, on a kid bike, what the heck

georges1

Nope, I will not upgrade to 11 speed but to 10 speed*2 on my roadbike and all my other road bike projects are going to be 10 speed*2

drz400

I just upgraded my 2014 Motobecane cx from 2x9 to 2x11 mechanical. Here's my thoughts :
. I've notice that my 10 speed road bike did not shift as nice as my cx 9. The new 11 speed group also shifts better than the 10 speed groupset. And I'm collecting 9 and 10 speed groups in a box ,lol. They are all Shimano and I swear the 10 speed group really has to be dialed in and adjusted often. My 9 speed never did .So far the 11 speed seems to be as solid as the 9.

redtires

I'll run 11 speed 105 for a while longer. I do like my GX AXS on my hardtail though, so maybe the next time Sram suspends their MAP pricing I consider going AXS on my road bike. But I'm in no hurry.

georges1

I will stick with dura ace7800/7900.The later versions of dura ace aren't my thing and aren't aesthetically my thing and the rear shadow derailleur is also a big no for me.

delbiker1 

No, but, I have turned a 10 speed into a poor man's 11 speed. I am using 6400 bar end levers set on friction mode. No need to switch the rear derailleur, a 6500sc, with a 46/36 and 11-34 or 36, I like it so much I purchased another set of used 6400 bar ends. Now, I might buy a cheap 12 speed cassette just to see if it will work, I suspect it will. If so, then maybe, get rid of the front dr and go 1X on that bike. I think a 46t in front, an 11-42 or 46 rear, would fit my needs just fine. The gear jumps are not bad.

DaveSSS 

If you're a shimano user, 12 speed may seem new, but Campy and SRAM have had 12 speed for several years already. I got Campy 12 first, but switched to SRAM Force AXS in 2020. My derailleurs and cassettes will turn 3 years old this year. I only switched to full hydraulic brakes last year. I've had zero problems with SRAM drivetrains, but I don't like the limited 13T difference at the crank, so I've used Campy 48/32 and GRX 48/31 and 46/30 cranks. No chain drops with any of them. A 48/10 top gear is the same as a 53/11 and a 46/10 is the same as a 50/11. Compact cranks are a must with SRAM 12 speed. I ride in the mountains and use 46/30 chain rings with 10-33 or 10-36 cassettes.

The sprocket spacing on all 12 speed cassettes is very similar, so it's possible to create mixed drivetrains. It's probably best to match chains to the cassette, but the SRAM AXS chain works great with Campy cranks and cassettes.

Wildwood 

I'm still at 10spd Campa + 11spd Ultegra Di2.

Always been behind the times - cog-wise.
But most of the bikes are friction on the downtube, so Luddite here (without textile experience).

PeteHski

Can’t say I noticed any difference really - In terms of an extra cassette gear. I certainly wouldn’t upgrade for that reason alone.