Wow, the new SRAM is huge!

A 12-speed cassette? SRAM announces Eagle - VeloNews.com

No worries man. Glad you started this thread. I've been enjoying following this thread, even with the melodrama about the melodrama, LOL

I just did a comparison of the gaps on the 1x bike I'm currently building to the gaps on my 2x Trek. The 1x has a much lower low gear, but the 2x has a higher high gear. The gaps are pretty similar, though a few of the 1x gaps are smaller (unless, of course, I use the front derailleur like I'm supposed to with the 2x).

See for yourself: HTML5 Gear Calculator

But seriously, that link shows a well-designed 2x6 gear system with significantly tighter gaps than a 1x10. I'm starting to suspect that every advance in bicycle gearing technology since 1984 has been motivated by the desire to avoid using the front derailleur.

Looks like Dirk has already programmed in the 12-speed 10-50 Eagle cassette.

Not wading through the thread, apologies, but my regular commuter is 48/34 chainrings and a 11-36 cass and I like it a lot, rarely have issues, nothing to complain about. If anything, I might consider going to a 46/30 front with the same 11-36 rear, but for most of my current commute route, current setup works just fine. Avg speed is 14 - 16mph.

Interesting to see the article on resurgence of the 52/36 setup. What's old is new again! I'm using T.A. cranks on my commuter with 53/36 rings and a 5-speed 14-26 FW. This gives me a range of 37.2 - 102.2 gear inches on 27 x 1-1/8 tires. I can even run big chainring & big cog without the RD protesting (a bit of chain slack in the small-small combo, but I don't use that gear). Sure, I'd have smaller gaps if I switched to a modern drive train, but it still works for me.

My commute is mostly flat with quite few lights and stop signs, and one hill for which I do use my small ring. I usually shift into my 53x23 combo when I come to a red light, and then shift into the 53x19 combo when I'm up to speed (~20mph at 90rpm). It's low enough for me to start, even fully loaded with panniers and a 60-lb daughter in tow on a trailer-bike. Personally, given the OP's gearing options, I don't see the problem simply shifting up to the 50x26 combo at a red light instead of dropping down to the 34x16 combo.




In the big-big, 53x26 combo:

Is 13 unlucky? Might as well go straight to a 14 speed cassette then.

Start with a 11-32 11 speed, add a 10, 37, 42 or 44 along with a 42 or 44 ring and you'd have all the range you would need for any conceivable scenario, short of scaling the alps with a tourer loaded to the gills.

I like the 12 speed: when will shimano introduce theirs? They claim it's not something they're focusing on right now, with di2 being their focus.

13 is OK as long as you install the cassette upside down.

I rest my case, your honor.

Your case for what?

That XX1 is so expensive you can't afford the rest of the bike.

All of the above and that the darn cassette is just too darn large!

Is that other guy your other username? j/k

I saw that the price of that cassette is close to a Rohloff!!!

Just give it a few more years and we'll be seeing 1x10 systems with 50T cogs and electronic shifting at Walmart.

Groupset only $1500 with tax!

Single chainring a bargain at $500!

Subtract a 50t chainring, add a 50t cog! Brilliant!

There's a sucker born every minute. And that sucker's buying a SRAM group.

You'll have to buy the batteries separately though.

So back to science, I have a 48/34 with a 12-26 in the back. I did the math with Sheldon Brown's good old gear calculator and found that I have 12 unique gears. There are 5 in one ring and 6 in the other that pretty much overlap. What ends up happening is I use the entirety of the 34 ring for cruising around down (funny thing about Chapel Hill... it's on a hill) and the entirety of the 48 ring for cruising out in the rollers in the countryside. There are exceptions, of course, but that's how I use it.

But my go-to commuter is 39x16 SS so I don't have to deal with this tomfoolery.

I run a 36-48 on my crosscheck, with a 30 T something out back. Works just fine for me, flat to slight hills.

Don't forget the proprietary chain - can't use just any chain.

As with Tesla's cars, this is not a reasonable amount to spend, but it may be the design that most people end up with in time, after it becomes cheaper. I like the design but not the price.

I believe one of the gigantic (pun intended) expenses of SRAM's highest groups is their X-Dome cassettes, which are not stacks of rings or spiders but instead have most of the cassette machined from a single block of metal, making them as expensive as they possibly could be, but light as can be too. You aren't going to see this any more once it matriculates down the lineup. I bet their supposedly improved chain and tooth shape does make it eventually, though.

Doesn't explain their $500 single chainring crank though.

No, the manufacturing method for the cassette contains no explanation for the price of the crank, that is true

Carbon crank arms maybe explains the high price?

50-34 with 12-28. Works perfectly fine for commuting. Before that I used 11-32, but I prefer finer gear spacing in the rear.

I don't understand why you are using 34 so much. Why do you "start in the small ring from a stop"? Are you carrying a heavy load or towing a trailer?

All my commuting is done in 50, with occasional rare switches to 34 for more relaxed climbs.