SRAM Rival eTap AXS groupset

SRAM's new third-tier Rival eTap AXS groupset might lack a little of the glamour of the brand's higher-level Red and Force offerings, but it puts in a great performance across the board, providing very good wireless electronic shifting and impressive braking, plus the option of a new crankset-based power meter. On top of that, the price makes electronic shifting available to more riders than ever before.

We'll go through the individual components in turn, but first let's look at what the groupset as a whole offers.

It's a 12-speed system that's available in 1x (single chainring) and 2x (double chainring) options. I've been using 2x with a 43/30-tooth chainset and a 10-36 cassette. Ours is a Wide system, meaning that the chainset offers wider stance arms and chainrings than usual to provide space for larger tyres. Everything works in the same way as for a standard system.

> Buy now: SRAM Rival eTap AXS groupset from Sigma Sports for £1470.00

SRAM Rival eTap AXS offers only wireless electronic shifting and hydraulic disc braking. It's suitable for both road and gravel riding.

Most of the tech found in SRAM's Rival eTap AXS (pronounced 'access') groupset has trickled down from Red and Force, most notably the wireless electronic shifting which is more accessible than ever before. The electronics are exactly the same as for the more expensive groupsets – the same motors, switches, batteries, and so on.

Of course, SRAM has had to make certain changes to reduce the price. The rear derailleur has a spring clutch rather than the Orbit fluid damper system found on Red and Force, for instance, and you can't add auxiliary remote shift buttons to the normal drop-bar shifters. Rival eTap AXS also uses cheaper materials in some areas – the cranks are aluminium rather than carbon, for example.

Inevitably, the cheaper materials increase weight; Rival eTap AXS is certainly a chunk heavier than either Force or Red. That's to be expected, but overall Rival is still an excellent groupset that's already shaking up the market.

SRAM Rival eTap AXS Shift/Hydraulic Disc Brake System

£185 per unit/brake
Weight: 845g
Options reviewed: Rear brake/left shift, front brake/right shift
Other options: Rear brake/right shift, front brake/left shift

Rival eTap AXS shifters have a lot in common with those from SRAM's more expensive Red and Force eTap AXS groupsets but they're slightly smaller so you can wrap your hands around them a little more easily. They're still not as small as Shimano Di2 levers, though.

SRAM has been able to shrink the levers down because it has left out remote shifter ports and contact point adjustment (so you can't alter the point in the lever stroke at which the brake pads touch the rotor) in order to keep the cost down.

You do still get reach adjustment, though, so you can set the distance from the bar to the levers so that it's suitable for your hand size. This is simply a matter of using a 2.5mm hex key to turn a bolt that sits just behind the lever. You'll have it sorted in a minute.

The brake lever is made from LFRT (long fibre-reinforced thermoplastic) rather than the carbon you get with Force, but the brakes and shifters are just as easy to operate from both the hoods and the drops. The hoods are textured so there's little chance of your hands slipping even on rough roads, and grooves in the plastic shift paddle mean your fingers are unlikely to slide on those either. I got caught in a huge storm yesterday, for example – it wasn't just raining, it was absolutely taking the piss – and despite cold, soaking fingers I had no issues at all with changing gear.

Like existing eTap AXS drop handlebar shifters, these use CR2032 coin cells. SRAM reckons that if you ride 15 hours a week you won't need to change them for two years. When it is time for new ones, that's another easy job – just get something like a coin to turn the top of the battery compartment (hidden on the underside of the shifter body) and a knife or small screwdriver to prise it off.

The flat mount brake callipers are two-piston and very similar to the Red and Force options, providing as much easily modulated power as you can handle. In fact, the braking performance is indistinguishable from SRAM's more expensive options.

Checking/changing the pads is straightforward enough, and although the bleed process is slightly different from Red and Force – you don't get SRAM's Bleeding Edge snap-into-place bleed port, it's a threaded design instead – there's nothing to get worried about here either.

Like existing SRAM eTap AXS systems, pushing the right lever moves the chain down the cassette, pushing the left lever moves the chain up the cassette, and pushing both together operates the front derailleur, shifting to whichever chainring you're not currently using.

Those are the default settings but you can swap things around via SRAM's free AXS mobile app. You can also do things like alter the Multishift setting to select the number of sprockets the chain moves when you press and hold a shift lever, or select Compensating mode to shift the rear derailleur automatically when you shift the front derailleur to reduce the jump in ratios.

SRAM Rival eTap AXS D1 Front Derailleur

£162
Weight: 182g
Option reviewed: Wide
Other options: Standard

Graphics aside, SRAM's Rival eTap AXS front derailleur is virtually indistinguishable from the Rival model. It comes in two different versions, one for use with 46/33T and 48/35T cranksets with standard length spindles, and the other for use with the 43/30T Wide crankset which has a longer spindle – and this is the one that I've been using.

SRAM reckons that the widest 700C tyre that will work alongside the standard front derailleur is 42mm, while the Wide version gives you space for a tyre up to 45mm.

The two different versions work in the same way, each using SRAM's Yaw technology, meaning that the cage pivots slightly when you shift, to avoid chain rub and the need to trim as you move across the cassette. I had no worries at all with chain rub during testing, just clean, reliable shifts with no hint of hesitancy.

As mentioned up top, the electronic gubbins that SRAM uses for Rival eTap AXS are exactly the same as for Red and Force so there's no reason for the shifting to be any different, and that has been my experience. If set up correctly, there's not a great deal of difference between SRAM and Shimano Di2 either. Maybe Di2 is slightly quicker, but there's not a lot in it.

I wish I had more to tell you – a bit of a plot twist to keep you interested – but whether upshifting or downshifting, under heavy load or light load, the derailleur just did what it was supposed to do without any drama. Sorry.

Each derailleur has its own battery – identical to those used by SRAM Red and Force eTap AXS – that'll give you about 60 hours of riding between charges, although the exact amount of time depends on how often you change gear, of course.

The derailleur batteries are interchangeable so if the rear one runs out you can shift to your preferred chainring and then swap them over. That way you can get home with rear shifting.

SRAM Rival eTap AXS D1 Rear Derailleur

£236
Weight: 366g
Option reviewed: One
Other options: N/A

The Rival eTap AXS rear derailleur, designed for both 1x and 2x drivetrains, works with cassettes that have a largest sprocket size of 28-36 teeth. That means you can't run it with a SRAM Red 10-26T cassette, although that won't be a concern for most users.

Its drivetrain tooth capacity (the difference between tooth numbers on the inner and outer chainrings plus the difference between tooth numbers on the smallest and largest sprockets) is 39. I've been using it with a 43/30T chainset and a 10-36T cassette, which is the maximum it can handle.

Shifting has been reliable up and down the cassette and it's just as quick as Force AXS. It has certainly never struck me as slow. As with the front derailleur, there's little to report in this respect. The Rival eTap AXS rear derailleur just gets on with it without a huff, never mind a puff.

Whereas the SRAM Red eTap AXS rear derailleur features a carbon cage and ceramic pulley bearings, Force and Rival use an aluminium cage and steel bearings.

Red and Force eTap AXS rear derailleurs also use SRAM's Orbit fluid damper system to keep the chain in place and the drivetrain quiet when you're riding over rough roads. These use silicon fluid to reduce excessive movement. Rival is different in that it uses a mechanical spring clutch instead.

The fluid Orbit damper is a clutch that allows the cage to rotate with minimal perceived torque under normal, smooth riding conditions. As conditions become rougher the chain retention on the clutch increases progressively as the rotational velocity of the cage increases.

The spring clutch in Rival eTap AXS is designed to be linear throughout all riding conditions and cage positions. Despite the rotational velocity of the cage, the spring clutch maintains a linear level of torque whether on smooth or rough terrain.

I've been using this system on gravel as well as smooth tarmac and, yeah, you can get chain slap occasionally but nothing major and I've never managed to unship the chain. It's quiet too.

You can run the chain on the large chainring and the largest sprocket if you like (although you might choose not to cross-chain, of course) but the small chainring/small sprocket combination is locked out. The rear derailleur won't allow it in order to avoid the chain rubbing against the inside of the large chainring. If the chain is on the small chainring and you try to shift to the smallest sprocket, the rear derailleur LED will flash alternate green and red to indicate a rejected shift. If the chain is on the large chainring and the smallest sprocket and you shift to the small chainring, the system will automatically shift to the next sprocket up.

SRAM Rival D1 Quarq Dub Power Meter

£322
Weight: 871g
Option reviewed: 175mm cranks, 43/30T chainrings
Other options: 160mm, 165mm, 170mm, 172.5mm cranks; 48/35T, 46/33T, 38T, 40T, 42T, 44T, 46T chainrings; non-power meter cranksets available

This Rival D1 Quarq Dub Power Meter is a really interesting new component comprising the cranks, the chainrings (or chainring – singular – if you go for a 1x system), and the power meter itself which is contained within the spindle. This power meter model is less than 40g heavier than a non-power crankset.

The power meter measures left-side (non-driveside) power only, and doubles this to give your total watts. In other words, unlike Quarq and SRAM spider-based power meters, it assumes that your two legs deliver an equal amount of power.

My experience with dual-sided power meters suggests that my output is rarely 50:50, and the same is true of many other people, so a single-sided system is a slight compromise in this respect.

We'll run a full review of the SRAM Rival D1 Quarq Dub Power Meter separately, comparing the power readings to those of other systems – but that's not quite ready yet.

The big advantage of a single-sided system is the price. A standard Rival crankset is £120, so go for the power meter version and you're paying an extra £202.

More good news is that if you already have a standard Rival crankset on your bike and fancy upgrading to power measurement, you don't have to shell out £322 on a complete new system. Instead, you can buy a left crank and the spindle containing the power meter, and use this with your existing right crank and chainring(s). This will set you back £230, so it's a really cost-effective solution.

The Rival D1 Quarq Dub Power Meter has an IPX7 waterproof rating. Believe me, I've been caught in a few horrendous storms over the past few weeks – cloudbursts that have seen water flowing out of the vents in my shoes – and the power meter hasn't been bothered in the slightest. And that's more than you can say for the shoes.

SRAM claims a battery life of over 400 hours. I've not racked up 400 hours over the test period so I can't confirm that, but we're talking about a replaceable lithium AAA battery (an alkaline battery will result in low battery messages almost immediately) that costs less than a quid, so if you don't get your 400 hours you probably won't care too much.

You can buy the Rival AXS Power Meter with 48/35T and 46/33T chainrings and a standard axle, or with 43/30T chainrings and a Wide axle, which is the option I've been using. You can also buy it in a 1x configuration with a Wide axle, with chainrings from 38T to 46T. Bear in mind that a bottom bracket isn't included.

The Rival power meter can be used with any cycling computer or cycling-specific app that supports ANT+ and/or BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) power meter connectivity.

Taking power out of the equation, the Rival crankset is a solid rather than a spectacular offering. It's not as light, refined or pretty as more expensive Red or Force versions, but that's what you'd expect. The cranks are aluminium rather than carbon fibre, for example, and rather than being hollow, the inner faces are scooped out to save weight.

Rival eTap AXS 2x cranksets have an integrated spider, whereas the 1x cranksets use a direct-mount chainring. You can't swap between 2x and 1x like you can with Red and Force.

In terms of function, though, it's all good. Changing up from the 30T chainring to the 43T under load is quick and smooth, and I never dropped the chain even when riding like a loon on rough, potholed gravel. I'm sure it's possible to drop the chain, but in two months of riding it hasn't been an issue for me.

SRAM Rival XG-1250 D1 Cassette

£112
Weight: 338g
Option reviewed: 10-36T
Other options: 11-30T

All the sprockets on the 12-speed cassette are made from steel with a nickel-chrome plating, with damper rings between them designed to reduce vibration.

There are just two different Rival cassettes to choose between: 11-30T and 10-36T. That might seem limited, but the system is also compatible with SRAM Red and Force 12-speed cassettes from 10-28T up to 10-36T. Each cassette works with an XDR driver body (XDR is a mounting system for cassettes that feature sprockets with fewer than 11 teeth).

I've been using the 10-36T cassette with sprocket sizes 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 24, 28, 32, 36.

Matched up with the 43/30T chainrings, this gives you a 516% gear range. In other words, the biggest gear is over five times the size of the smallest one.

SRAM has kept the differences in sprocket size down to one tooth at the bottom of the cassette, so your rhythm isn't disrupted much when you need to change gear while riding fast.

Inevitably, the four-tooth jumps at the top of the cassette can jar slightly and you need to establish a very different tempo once you've shifted. That can be a bit annoying at times, particularly if you find yourself flicking up and down between two different ratios, unable to decide which works best.

On the other hand, the benefit of a wide-ranging cassette like this is that you're unlikely to run out of gears at either end – or, at least, not so often that it's a pain.

If you work in gear inches, the 43x10 top gear (I had 700C x 30mm tyres on my bike) is 115.46in while the 30x36 smallest gear is 22.29in. That's really small!

The 43x10 gets you to 34mph at a cadence of 100rpm and 41mph at 120rpm, so it'll see you right on most descents before your legs disappear into a blur and can't keep up.

One thing I'd say about the gearing is to take some time making sure you get the right option for you before spending your cash. SRAM's unorthodox chainring and cassette sizes might have been around for a few years now but a lot of us are more used to more traditional ranges. Something like Sheldon Brown's Gear Calculator is your friend here. 

After two months of regular use – a bone dry month followed by an incredibly wet month – the cassette shows minimal signs of wear and no corrosion, although, to be fair, you wouldn't expect much at this stage.

SRAM Rival D1 Flattop Chain

£28
Weight: 266g
Option reviewed: One
Other options: N/A

The Rival chain is a similar Flattop design to the ones SRAM uses for Red and Force, although Red has hollow pins to save weight whereas Force and Rival have solid pins.

The plates on 12-speed chains are thinner than those of 11-speed and the extra material added at the top is designed to maintain the strength.

The Rival chain is compatible with all 12-speed 1x and 2x eTap AXS drivetrains and includes a Flattop PowerLock tool-less connector.

The money bit

Rival eTap AXS provides electronic shifting at a more accessible price than ever before. Prices vary a little according to the spec you choose, but you're looking at:

• Shift/brake system £185 x 2 = £370
• Front derailleur £162
• Rear derailleur £236
• Crankset £120
• Cassette £112
• Chain £28
• Rotors (pair) £100
• Batteries £50 x 2 = £100
• Charger £40
• Total £1,268

This is for a 2x system without a power meter (and bottom bracket price is not included).

If you go for 1x, you'll save £162 on the front derailleur, plus £50 on its battery, so the total would be £1,056.

This makes SRAM Rival eTap AXS the cheapest electronic groupset from the three big brands, and it's far easier to install than options from either Shimano or Campagnolo.

For comparison, a 2x SRAM Force eTap AXS groupset is £1,540 while a 1x system is £1,295, and the prices for SRAM Red are £3,315 and £2,815, respectively.

Most users will buy Rival eTap AXS as part of a complete bike. The most accessible that we've heard of so far is the Boardman 9.4 Disc at £2,700, although most are considerably more expensive.

Weights

Here are the weights for the various SRAM Rival eTap AXS components:

• Shift/Hydraulic Disc Brake System 845g
• Crankset 703-844g
• Front derailleur 180-182g
• Rear derailleur 366g
• Cassette 282-338g
• Chain 266g
• Rotors 157g x 2 = 314g

A 1x system weighs around 2,776g (it'll vary on the exact components chosen) while a 2x system weighs about 3,097g.

Those figures are certainly heavier than existing electronic groupsets. SRAM claims a Force eTap AXS 1x system is 2,572g while a 2x setup is 2,812g.

An equivalent Shimano Ultegra Di2 system (it's difficult to get a precise figure because you're not comparing like with like) is roughly 550-600g lighter than SRAM Rival eTap AXS.

Overall

SRAM says that it aims to offer Rival eTap AXS users the same riding experience as you get with Red or Force, and it has absolutely nailed that. When you're riding along, everything works the same way as it does with those more expensive groupsets: the shifting is as quick, the braking is as reliable, there's no noticeable difference in the amount of chainslap over rough roads... There's really not a lot to tell them apart.

The biggest differences are in the weight and price. SRAM Rival eTap AXS is the heaviest electronic groupset out there but it's also the cheapest... by a considerable margin. And the power meter upgrade is a really interesting option for those wanting to experience training by wattage, perhaps for the first time.

One of cycling's eternal questions is: which do you want most, a lighter weight or a lower price? You need to answer that for yourself, but if you do opt for Rival eTap AXS you're going to find out that the compromises SRAM has had to make in order to hit the price point really don't detract much from the performance, which is why this new groupset is really shaking up the market.

Verdict

Very good groupset that brings wireless electronic shifting to a lower price point than ever before