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If you’ve bought a bike with SRAM’s mechanical Eagle 90 or Eagle 70 Transmission in the past year or so, you’ve probably looked enviously at the wireless AXS version on more expensive builds.
Until now, making that jump meant buying a new AXS derailleur and shifter. However, SRAM’s new GX Eagle AXS Transmission Upgrade Kit takes a different approach.
Rather than replacing the whole derailleur, you keep the cage assembly and mounting bolt from your existing mechanical unit and bolt them onto a new AXS-enabled GX derailleur body.
It costs £570 / $605, and SRAM is pitching it as an entry point into its wider AXS ecosystem.
Everything included
The kit includes everything you need to go wireless, minus the parts you’re carrying over from your old derailleur.
There’s the GX Eagle Transmission AXS derailleur body, which comes in a black anodised finish, an AXS battery and charger, and an AXS Pod Controller to replace your mechanical shifter.
SRAM also throws in an Eagle T-Type PowerLock, so you’ve got a fresh link to rejoin the chain once everything’s fitted. However, it is possible to fit the kit without the need to split the chain. So this link can be kept as a spare.
Once paired, the Pod Controller’s buttons can be customised through SRAM’s AXS app, which also handles battery monitoring and firmware updates.
Clean and tidy
The kit is going on my Yeti MTe long-term test bike, which runs Eagle 90 mechanical. It will pair nicely with the Reverb AXS dropper post that comes as standard with the build.
To be clear, Eagle 90 is brilliant. It’s the best mechanical drivetrain I’ve used, and the shifting hasn’t skipped a beat.
However, my previous bike was equipped with GX AXS, and it simply works better for me. The cockpit is cleaner with fewer cables, and I don’t have to worry about the little adjustments a traditional mechanical derailleur needs from time to time.
Still, £570 isn’t a bargain, especially when the mechanical version works as well as it does. Whether it makes sense for you will depend on how much those cables and adjustments bother you in the first place.
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