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I am a roadie but I am currently looking at gravel bikes and I noticed that many manufacturers are offering their gravel bikes with SRAM (especially their top end gravel bikes) and that they are mainly using the mechanical groupsets and not the Di2 for example.
Why so much SRAM on their top end gravel bikes? Because of the easier 1x made by SRAM?
And why not Di2?
german88 wrote:I think SRAM has gone after the gravel market more than the other Mfg's. Marketing the merits of 1X for gravel. Personally I'm not a fan of 1X for gravel so If your leaning towards 2X I feel like Shimano Ultegra Di2 is hard to beat. Recently built up my first gravel rig and initially installed Campy Record H11. Very poor shift performance in wet and muddy conditions. Brake pads were near impossible to keep from rubbing on the rotors due to extremely tight pad clearance. It's obvious the Italian's haven't designed anything specific for gravel yet. Decided to try Ultegra Di2. Night and day difference. Really favor a 2X setup. Don't care for the big gaps when using 1X. I out gear and out shift all the 1X guys I ride with and several are dumping SRAM 1X groups in favor of Di2.
Love my 1X SRAM Eagle for my 29R hardtail though so not I'm biased towards any one Mfg. I use what works and for me it's Di2 for gravel if your looking for 2X.
![IMG_0494[1].jpg](/media/forum/4553680/IMG_0494%5B1%5D.jpg)
Don't think that the groups on factory build bikes is just about what's the best component. Parts availability, price to the builder from Shimano or SRAM, & generation (ie. consumers might be more excited about the new SRAM 1x this spring vs last fall's Shimano release) all play a part. They often have parts picked before they're even released to evaluate.
That being said, in my experience SRAM has better mechanical 1x & Shimano has better 2x with Di2. I haven't had a chance to try AXS. My setup is nearly identical to what german88 described, with the Easton power meter added. It's a reliable and great shifting setup.
Zurichman wrote:Yowser I looked that up on biketiresdirect. If I have this right.
$399.99 just for the crank arm
$127.49 just for the 47/32 chain ring/spider assy. How much lighter is that carbon crank arm say than other Easton crank arms? Probably converting the Roker over to 2x this next winter but don't need the Shimano Di2. Wondering if there is some place you could buy mix and match parts as I would have to get the Shimano hydro shifters also and would like a lighter maybe crank arm than the Shimano Ultegra or how many grams are we talking in difference here?
Thanks
Zman
bnystrom wrote:Like some others here, I'm firmly in the 2x camp for gravel and I'm currently running a 46/30 FSA crank with a 12-32 Miche 11-speed cassette and Ultegra Di2.
I'm not terribly impressed with Di2 for several reasons.
1 - I went with it initially for the programability and set it up with Synchro-Shift and both buttons on the left set to downshift, and both buttons on the right set to upshift. My rationale was that this would make for nearly foolproof shifting, even when getting bounced around on rough surfaces. That part worked as planned, but I found that the automatic front shifts are extremely slow, especially the downshift from the big to small ring, which was a real pain in the a$$ when climbing. This is because the computer shifts the front and rear sequentially rather than simultaneously. I've now ditched Synchro-Shift and the manual shift mode does allow simultaneous front/rear shifts.
2 - Even when set to the highest speed, multiple rear shifts are slower than with mechanical groups (any brand). They're also imprecise compared to mechanical systems where you can feel and hear the shift clicks. With Di2, it takes a while to learn how long to hold a button to shift a certain number of cogs. I experience far more miss-shifts than I ever do with mechanical systems (which I rarely ever screw up).
3 - I got a stick in the rear derailleur, which twisted the living crap out of it and yanked out some of the wiring. The idea of dropping nearly $300 on a replacement was not very appealing. Luckily, I was able to twist it back (+1 for aluminum derailleurs) and it actually works fine, so I've dodged that bullet for now.
4 - Reconnecting the wiring was a pain compared to replacing a cable, as it required pulling the crank and the bottom bracket to get to the junction box in the downtube. If you want electronic shifting, get SRAM and save yourself the complication of wiring.
5 - The ergonomics of the brake hoods on the RS785 levers are terrible and the hoods don't stay in place well. I managed to add a little padding under the hoods, but I suggest avoiding this particular lever model. They also don't have ports for sprint shifters, if that matters to you.
6 - I've never been a fan of Shimano's "If it wears out or breaks, chuck it and buy a new one" philosophy and prefer to deal with companies that make repair parts available for their products.
The bottom line for me is that I'll probably go back to a mechanical drivetrain on my next gravel rig. The recently announced Campy Chorus 12-speed group looks particularly promising (I like Campy better in general).
Zurichman wrote:Wow I only wished I knew 1/5 of what you guys seem to know in components. So let me throw this out there. For sure I am not liking my 1x Sram Rival that came stock on my Raleigh Roker. Especially in the lower gears while riding with a group as there is too big of jumps in those gears. I thought I wanted to switch everything out to Shimano 2x. If I could still get 2x in Sram and save some bucks I probably would be up to that. Could I just change out my left hydro shifter to another hydro shifter on the Roker and get another front derailleur and maybe switch out to a lighter 2x crank when I am doing the switch? Probably doing that over the winter.
Thanks
Zman
chas wrote:Hey Zman, I didn't buy a Rokker because of the limitations of 1x you mentioned. I would add to be careful when going 2x on a 1x only bike, as there could be some clearance issues with the chainstays and possibly tire clearance on the seat tube. Always good to double check.
chas wrote:Hey Zman, I didn't buy a Rokker because of the limitations of 1x you mentioned. I would add to be careful when going 2x on a 1x only bike, as there could be some clearance issues with the chainstays and possibly tire clearance on the seat tube. Always good to double check.
Zurichman wrote:
Thanks Chas the designer of the Roker and the Tamland is now the co founder of Noble bikes and posts on here at times. Maybe I will shoot him a line before I pull the trigger.
On the crank set are there any other crank sets out there that are close to the weight of the Easton EC90sl carbon but maybe not that high of a price in the 47/32 or 46/30? I would be good with mid grade. I knew there was lots of talk that it was doable as there is plenty of tire clearance.
Thanks
Zman
bnystrom wrote:Like some others here, I'm firmly in the 2x camp for gravel and I'm currently running a 46/30 FSA crank with a 12-32 Miche 11-speed cassette and Ultegra Di2.
I'm not terribly impressed with Di2 for several reasons.
1 - I went with it initially for the programability and set it up with Synchro-Shift and both buttons on the left set to downshift, and both buttons on the right set to upshift. My rationale was that this would make for nearly foolproof shifting, even when getting bounced around on rough surfaces. That part worked as planned, but I found that the automatic front shifts are extremely slow, especially the downshift from the big to small ring, which was a real pain in the a$$ when climbing. This is because the computer shifts the front and rear sequentially rather than simultaneously. I've now ditched Synchro-Shift and the manual shift mode does allow simultaneous front/rear shifts.
2 - Even when set to the highest speed, multiple rear shifts are slower than with mechanical groups (any brand). They're also imprecise compared to mechanical systems where you can feel and hear the shift clicks. With Di2, it takes a while to learn how long to hold a button to shift a certain number of cogs. I experience far more miss-shifts than I ever do with mechanical systems (which I rarely ever screw up).
3 - I got a stick in the rear derailleur, which twisted the living crap out of it and yanked out some of the wiring. The idea of dropping nearly $300 on a replacement was not very appealing. Luckily, I was able to twist it back (+1 for aluminum derailleurs) and it actually works fine, so I've dodged that bullet for now.
4 - Reconnecting the wiring was a pain compared to replacing a cable, as it required pulling the crank and the bottom bracket to get to the junction box in the downtube. If you want electronic shifting, get SRAM and save yourself the complication of wiring.
5 - The ergonomics of the brake hoods on the RS785 levers are terrible and the hoods don't stay in place well. I managed to add a little padding under the hoods, but I suggest avoiding this particular lever model. They also don't have ports for sprint shifters, if that matters to you.
6 - I've never been a fan of Shimano's "If it wears out or breaks, chuck it and buy a new one" philosophy and prefer to deal with companies that make repair parts available for their products.
The bottom line for me is that I'll probably go back to a mechanical drivetrain on my next gravel rig. The recently announced Campy Chorus 12-speed group looks particularly promising (I like Campy better in general).
german88 wrote:
Just wanted to provide my counterpoints. Not trying to stir the pot.
In the end there are so many great products out there and with gravel taking off there is sure to be many more around the corner if the MFg's are paying attention.