SRAM Force AXS groupset

The SRAM Force AXS groupset remains the brand's second-tier option, but this latest version has been updated with less bulky shifters, a SRAM Red-style carbon crankset, a new front mech design, a new look and a slightly lower weight. It's better than ever and remains an excellent choice for workhorse bikes all the way through to dream builds both on the road and gravel.

> Buy now: SRAM Force AXS for £1,999 from Certini

The old SRAM Force AXS earned many fans during its four-year lifespan – we gave the 'Wide' version a 9/10 rating in fact – but it wasn't without its faults. Personally, I found the shifter hoods too large, there was well-documented dissent around the front shifting performance (although a lot of this could have been down to its need for precise setup) and by last year the aesthetics were getting a bit dated.

What’s new?

Although this second-generation Force AXS is undoubtedly an evolution rather than a revolution, it has managed to address all of these issues. Here's a brief overview of what's changed:

• eTap bit of the name has been ditched
• Shifter hoods are much smaller (following the Rival AXS shape)
• Shifter paddles are larger
• Around 100g lighter than outgoing version
• Front mech has new cage shape (it's also black)
• Double chainring chainset now has integrated rings and power meter
• New colour scheme of 'unicorn grey' and laser foil detailing

Ergonomics

One of the most noticeable changes – and in my opinion the most welcome – is the revised hood shape. The old Force not only compromised the look of a bike in a way only hydro-mechanical shifters do, but also gave me blisters on long off-road rides.

To slim them down, SRAM has chucked the rarely used pad contact point adjustment in the bin and lifted the hood shape directly from the lower tier Rival groupset. This might sound like a downgrade but the Rival shifters have the most recent design architecture and were well received, so in my opinion it's a welcome change.

I'm not the only one either – Danish pro Jonas Vingegaard clearly prefers this shape too, opting to use the new Force shifters (below left) on his SRAM Red groupset.

Riders with smaller hands will likely prefer the redesigned shifters even more than I do. It's much easier to wrap your hands around the shifter body, which helps you feel as secure as possible; this is great on the road but even more useful on the 1x version that I used off-road.

The redesign of the shifters has brought them in line with other disc brake electronic groupsets, and despite the smaller hoods I never felt as if my hands were going to slip forward when barrelling down descents.

Even on long rides, the new shifters are a comfy place to be, but even so I do tend to take easy climbs as an opportunity to change my hand position and use the tops of the bar. Cue SRAM's next creation: wireless climbing blips... These attach using some 3M double-sided tape, so you can put them wherever you see fit – you could even use them as sprint shifters on the drops if you wanted.

The old Red groupset used wired blips, so it's nice to see SRAM ditching even more wires because this really does make bikes super easy to build and service. This has added benefit if you wanted to fit the groupset to a TT bike, for example.

Shifting

Staying up top with the shifters, you'll also notice that the shifting paddles (the bits you press to change gear) have also changed. They're now slightly larger and more textured, reducing the chances of missing the button (although in my opinion, SRAM AXS levers were already winning the way in this regard).

Just like on previous eTap groupsets, the button on the right shifter drops the chain down the cassette while the button on the left makes it climb back up. To change between chainrings you press both buttons together.

Using the groupset over the winter, many of my rides have been in gloves, sometimes very thick winter ones, and the shifter paddles on the latest Force are still easy to find. This is a clear advantage over Shimano's offerings: because there's only one paddle per shifter there's no chance of accidentally clicking the wrong one, even in thick gloves.

The paddle click is tactile and responsive and requires enough force that you know you've definitely pressed it, although it does feel a little bit more utilitarian/plasticky than the more expensive Campagnolo WRL groupset I've also been using.

The shifting itself is no great surprise, and other than taking the launch as an opportunity to streamline its naming and range, the rear mech remains largely unchanged.

There are now just two rear mechs: the road version, which is suitable for the 10-28T, 10-30T, 10-33T and 10-36T cassettes, and the gravel-focused 1x-specific Force XPLR AXS rear derailleur, which works with 10-36T and 10-44T cassettes. You can even fit one of SRAM's Eagle mountain bike rear mechs in a mullet setup if you require even more range.

The Force rear mech is one of the areas where you get an upgrade other than weight over the lower-tier Rival groupset. Whereas the Rival rear mech uses a spring clutch system, the Force and Red rear mechs use an Orbit fluid damper to keep the chain under control, just like on the old Force. I found this worked well however many potholes I chucked it through.

I also used a new Force rear mech on a 1x gravel setup and during one race I was suitably impressed as I pedalled out the bottom of a rocky gulley, while two Shimano GRX riders were at the side of the track reacquainting their chains and chainrings.

The rear shifting is crisp and reliable, and SRAM also allows you to grab multiple gears at once by holding down the shifter paddle which means you can quickly jump up and down the cassette with ease. The mech copes well with the bigger jumps towards the top of the cassette, although I still don't think the shifting is quite as quick as Shimano's (which I have set to the fastest setting). That said, it is plenty fast enough and never left me wanting.

It's the front shifting that SRAM desperately needs to get right, though, as, perhaps slightly unfairly, it's managed to garner a reputation for being less than perfect in this area. In my opinion, the early Shimano Di2 groupsets were superior to SRAM's chainring shifting, but it was the later generation's limited operating window that cemented it. By this, I mean that if your Shimano front mech was set up slightly wrong then it would likely still function as intended, whereas the SRAM equipment required perfect setup to avoid tears.

To try to counteract this SRAM has made some key changes. Firstly, the chainrings are now direct mount rather than requiring a spider, which is said to increase stiffness, and secondly, the front mech cage shape has been revised.

The result is undoubtedly an improvement. I've been giving the new groupset very little mechanical sympathy on my rides and have been impressed with its ability to change under load. I've even removed the front mech and readjusted it to ensure I hadn't just got lucky the first time. Could this be the end of SRAM's front-shifting woes? It certainly looks like a big step in the right direction.

There are two more parts required for smooth shifting, the cassette and the chain. The chain is still a flat top affair but is now available in a rainbow colour scheme (shown below), and the cassettes themselves also haven't changed – not since SRAM scrapped trying to paint them black anyway.

Chainset and power meter

SRAM offers a whole bunch of different Force cranksets, with the big change being the use of integrated chainrings on the standard 2x chainset, which essentially means that the two chainrings are a one-piece construction which is said to be lighter and stiffer. Force still gets carbon cranks, unlike the lower-tier Rival and Apex AXS groupsets.

SRAM has also added a 50/37-tooth option, which was previously available only at Red level, along with the 48/35T that we've been using and 46/33T. There is also a 43/30T Wide version available with a longer-than-normal spindle for both road and mountain bike bottom bracket standards, but this one has non-integrated chainrings.

In my first ride review of SRAM Force, I discussed the downside of integrated chainrings – essentially, the cost of replacement when they wear out. You're looking at £236 for a replacement Force 2x Chainring kit as you can't simply replace one of the rings, and things get far worse if you go for a power meter option (£772) as this, too, is integrated into the rings.

After several months of testing, my opinion still hasn't been swayed: I think the performance is great but it just doesn't seem very environmentally or financially conscious to be integrating what is essentially a service part that will need replacing during the lifetime of my bicycle. SRAM argues that with proper cleaning a chainset will last, and to back this up I have got two years (15,000 miles) out of my SRAM Red crankset. It's not the cost or the lifespan that are huge negatives, but having a consumable part integrating a power meter doesn't feel like a step forwards; it means it's more important you stay on top of your cleaning with this groupset than any other.

On a more positive note, the integrated Quarq power meter has been absolutely faultless. It's impressively accurate (+/-1.5%), you get left/right power balance, and it's been reliable. Over the years I've continually been impressed by Quarq's products, and this Force AXS power meter lives up to that expectation and rivals far more expensive devices.

Gear range

I've already discussed some of the gearing options, and the majority of my testing was done on a bike (below) with 48/35T chainrings and 10-33T cassette. This might sound small for a performance road bike but actually offers a similar ratio to a 53x11, but with far more opportunity to spin as the road starts going up than on a classic full-size chainset.

I'm sure there will be plenty of people arguing that the old way is better, and there are situations where this is true. Ironically, it's racers who have more to complain about – the smaller chainrings and wider range cassettes make a lot of sense for those of us who don't average 45kph on our rides.

Many a naysayer will argue that smaller rings are less efficient, and they'd be right, but with the X-Range – which is what SRAM calls this idea of smaller rings at the front, more range at the back – you can stay in the big ring for longer, especially on rolling terrain like we've got here around the city of Bath. It also means that, more often than not, my chain line has improved as well, which should benefit drivetrain durability.

Others may worry about how quickly the 10T sprocket will wear out and I agree it will likely wear out quicker than an 11T. I have never worn out an 11T, though, and highly doubt I'll see a 10T wear out before the rest of the much more regularly used gears; if I do then I'm probably using the wrong size chainrings.

In my opinion, SRAM offers amateur riders more appropriate gearing options than anyone else, and this Force groupset is leading the way by now including the 50/37T chainset as well as those tailored towards gravel use.

Batteries

Being completely wireless, each component of the AXS groupset requires its own power source. Power is taken care of by a coin battery in each shifter, while both the front and rear mechs get their own rechargeable battery pack.

The lack of wires makes setting up a SRAM AXS groupset very easy compared with others, and SRAM has also gone to a lot of effort with its tutorial videos to enable as many people as possible to work on their new groupset at home.

The batteries remain unchanged; they're interchangeable between the front and rear mechs, if you are running both, which has got me out of trouble on more than one occasion – although the blinking red lights should have been a giveaway that they needed charging.

The batteries have a claimed run-time of 60 riding hours and in my experience that hasn't been at all far off. They take around an hour to charge back up to full, although do require a proprietary charger (included).

I usually get the best part of a year out of the shifter batteries (CR2032s) and these aren't too much hassle to change. You can check their charge using the AXS phone app.

Braking

I've kind of glanced over the callipers, simply because nothing here has changed from the outgoing generation. The callipers do use bleeding edge technology, which I mention only because it's something that the Rival callipers are missing. For those of you who don't know, bleeding edge is a superb method of bleeding your brakes, aka getting air out of the system, but it does require a special kit.

Rest assured that the brakes still provide plenty of power, modulation and feel, and I've never found SRAM brakes to have any clearance issues like the Shimano brakes of old, where they would rub a lot after prolonged braking.

Weight

The result of this nipping and tucking is a groupset that's lost weight, somewhere between 94-104g depending on the exact setup you're running. SRAM says that a 2x Force AXS groupset, including a power meter, like we have here, weighs 2,896g whereas the older generation was 2,990g.

That puts a little more distance between it and the lower-tier SRAM Rival AXS 2x system which weighs about 3,097g, although you'll be hard-pressed to notice this 200g weight saving out in the real world. SRAM Red AXS remains by far the lightest groupset in SRAM's arsenal, with a weight of 2,518g.

Compared with Shimano's offerings, the latest SRAM Force AXS is still a little rotund, 12-speed Shimano Ultegra R8170 having a claimed weight of 2,716g. In fact, the lower-tier 105 R7100 groupset (2,992g) comes in at only a little bit more than SRAM's second in command.

The new SRAM Force still isn't one for the weight-weenies then, but you can happily build up a Force AXS-equipped bike under the UCI weight limit if you so wish.

Value

Perhaps the most surprising feature of the new Force is that it costs exactly the same as the generation it replaces. Complete SRAM Force AXS groupset prices start at £1,533 and go up to £2,290; the one I've done the majority of my testing on, a 2x road groupset with a power meter, comes in right at the very top of that range.

As hardly anyone EVER buys a groupset at full price, that sounds like a huge sum of money, so here's some context: Shimano 105 R7100 costs £1,730, Shimano Ultegra R8170 costs £2,399, SRAM Rival AXS is £1,730 and SRAM Red AXS £3,545.

Yeah, okay, it's still a huge sum of money, but Force AXS is about where you'd expect, and most importantly still undercuts Shimano's Ultegra. Furthermore, you also get that excellent Quarq power meter included in the price, whereas with Shimano if you have one on your wishlist then you're looking at an additional £300 or more.

Conclusion

I would undoubtedly have chosen Ultegra R8170 over the previous generation of SRAM Force, but this latest groupset takes the fight straight to Shimano in terms of ergonomics, shifting performance and, in my opinion, aesthetics.

Test riding the multiple bikes we've had equipped with Force AXS, the groupset hasn't skipped a beat; it's survived the flooded roads of Somerset during one of the wettest winters on record, it's kept my hands comfy on long days in the saddle, and there's more than enough gearing options to conquer even the most hideous of climbs.

The second generation of Force AXS feels like the culmination of all the good bits of what SRAM's done recently, almost like the greatest hits album of AXS so far: the Rival-esque shifters, the SRAM Red-style chainset, interchangeable batteries, and one groupset for both road and gravel. The result is an accomplished groupset that's comfortable, functional, durable and easy to live with.

Would I choose it over Ultegra? For gravel, yes, undoubtedly, though I would still be tempted by the lighter (but more expensive) Ultegra on my road bike, as good as the new Force is. Alternatively, if you're trying to go as light as possible then you'd be silly to not grab one of the humungous discounts on the current SRAM Red...

Verdict

Like the old Force AXS but lighter, more comfortable and better looking