SRAM Force XPLR AXS review: don't bother with Red – this groupset is amazing

The latest-generation SRAM Force XPLR AXS brings 13 speeds, a full-mount rear derailleur, great ergonomics and an array of options. You get all the benefits of Red XPLR AXS without the huge price tag – what’s not to like?

When SRAM released its redesigned Red XPLR last year, I was impressed. The brilliant shifter ergonomics and brakes from the road-going Red AXS and specific gravel parts were a winning combination. 

It also integrated a new 13-speed cassette that worked with existing 12-speed chains and chainrings, plus the derailleur used similar direct-mount technology to SRAM's T-Type Eagle mountain bike transmissions.

As good as it is, though, SRAM Red XPLR AXS isn’t cheap at £3,896 / $3,898 with its power meter option – it's not a groupset many of us could entertain buying.

Now, though, Force XPLR AXS has been updated and delivers the same performance as its top-tier counterpart… without the prohibitive price.

In with the new

Force XPLR AXS brings the same tech (bar some very small omissions), the same ergonomics and the same performance as Red XPLR AXS. 

All those benefits come in at £1,800 cheaper and, more importantly, will be found on bikes from around £4,500 upwards, with Ribble already confirming a Force XPLR AXS-equipped model in its new UltraGrit range at £4,399. Canyon’s Grail is under £4,000. Cervélo’s Áspero 5 Force 1 is somewhat more expensive at £8,000, though.

The upgrades over the old Force XPLR are wholesale. Starting up front, the shifters have adopted the lower-profile, slimmer and ergonomically shaped design that debuted with Red.

That also applies to the bonus button features on the inner face of the hoods, which, through the AXS app, you can assign to multiple tasks. They can act as additional shift buttons, or be programmed to swipe through screens on a Hammerhead Karoo (or other bike computer), or be used to operate a RockShox Reverb AXS dropper post.

The new Force shifters have rolled out across both road and gravel (XPLR) versions, demonstrating SRAM’s approach to widespread compatibility.

The brake calipers have the same profile as the skeletal Red brakes, although here they are machined to save weight from the body, rather than hollowed out as on Red.

Moving on to the chain, the unique SRAM Flattop design remains, but the chain plates are now slotted to save weight. The joining pins are solid (unlike Red's hollow pins), and the chain is now finished in a bright chrome coating. It saves 12g over the old Force chain, according to SRAM.

The carbon crankset has seen a graphic makeover, although nothing major has changed; it is, however, now available in more crank lengths, with 160, 165, 170, 172.5 and 175mm options. If you’re wanting to get into the trend for shorter crank lengths, it appears SRAM has you covered (albeit nothing as extreme as the cranks Jonas Vingegaard experimented with earlier this year).

Force AXS XPLR continues with the same spindle-based power meter as found on Force and Rival. It’s a simple solution powered by a single AAA lithium battery, and I’ve found it accurate and reliable in the past.

That said, I’d have liked to have seen the clever thread-mount spider-based power meter that's now available on 2x Force AXS for its dual-measuring rather than the spindle's single-sided power measurement that calculates the total.

My setup is typically a gravel all-rounder, with a direct-mount 40-tooth chainring, although again SRAM has plenty of options – from 38 to 46 teeth in 2-tooth increments, and 44-50 tooth aero-chainring options, too.

At the rear, the biggest change comes in the shape of a single 13-speed cassette with a 10-46 tooth pattern, equating to a 460% range, but more on that later.

Finally, the rear derailleur features the same full-mount design as Red; its boxy design with polished highlights looks close to Red's aesthetics, and it shares the same skeletal pulley assembly. 

Aesthetically, it’s not quite as bling as the polished carbon of Red.

It also omits the clever ‘magic pulley wheel’ of Red, which enables the chain to keep turning even if the lower jockey wheel gets jammed with sticks or debris. That was a cool trick to show your riding buddies, but I’ve yet to experience such an eventuality in the wild, so SRAM isn’t missing an obvious trick by omitting it here.

SRAM Force XPLR AXS drivetrain performance

I’ve tested the new Force XPLR over multiple gravel rides and as many varieties of terrain as I can. I’ve taken an in-depth look at the groupset, including components it shares with the road-going Force AXS.

SRAM Force XPLR AXS setup

The fully wireless nature of SRAM’s AXS family means build and setup are about as simple as it gets.

Getting the elements of the groupset to communicate with each other is a process performed through the rear derailleur – a case of pressing the AXS button on the derailleur body until it flashes green. 

You then move around the bike pressing the AXS buttons on each component until the rear derailleur light flashes rapidly (indicating that the rear derailleur, which houses the brains of the system, has linked with the part you’re trying to pair).

It really is simplicity itself, and the fully wireless nature reduces build time for home and professional mechanics alike, noticeably.

Once everything is linked, you then pair the groupset to the AXS app – this enables you to assign actions to the controls (beyond the default settings). If you add wireless ‘blips’ (secondary small shifters), you can allocate these to particular actions, too.

The redesigned shift-brake control units also have a hidden button on the inner side of the hood pommel, which can be assigned to a specific function.

I set up my bonus buttons to swipe through screens on my Hammerhead Karoo GPS, although if the bike I tested the groupset on had come equipped with an AXS dropper post, I’d have assigned one of the buttons to that.

SRAM Force XPLR AXS shifters

Ever since SRAM's original hydraulic brakes/shifters, they have been criticised for the size of the controls. Large pommels housing the hydraulic piston vertically made them much bigger than Shimano’s designs. 

The new design changes all that, shifting the piston to a horizontal position, reducing the height of the hood, and resulting in a brake lever shape that appears to have been inspired by Shimano’s brilliant GRX design, given its similarity. 

The shape is now slimmer, lower-profile and fits in the hand so much better. SRAM’s simple shift logic is also present and correct: right trigger for a harder gear, left trigger for an easier gear, and that’s it.

It's braking where Force has seen a massive improvement, though. The carbon lever blades are a radically different shape from the previous generation and have the biggest effect on the feel. 

The lever kinks outwards around a third of the way down its length, which brings braking from the drops within easy reach and adds so much confidence when braking over choppy surfaces and steep drops. The top section of the lever is indented, creating a place for your forefinger when holding the hoods. 

It also helps remove the initial effort of braking from the hoods; you get past the fulcrum of the lever much sooner and are met with lots of feel. It means highly progressive braking from the hoods and there is bags more control.

These are backward-compatible too, so if you can’t stretch to upgrading to full Force XPLR (or don’t have a UDH-compatible bike), I’d recommend upgrading to these shifters over the old design – they’re the single biggest improvement you’ll feel.

SRAM Force XPLR AXS brakes

The new brake calipers are a two-piece design, like the 2023 model, but the caliper body is machined to save weight.

When combined with the shifters and hoses, the new system shaves 74 grams from the 2023 Force AXS design. The same goes for the new Paceline rotors, which now come with a lighter aluminium carrier, shedding 20 grams from the previous rotor design.

In use, the brakes are excellent; the new ergonomics mean much less force is needed to actuate the calipers. In turn, that means lots more feeling.

You can modulate power, and controlling speed subtly is easy from both the drops and the hoods. Not that the brakes lack anything in the way of power. Get rowdy and send up a plume of dust sliding through a corner and the brakes will comply with that, too.

I’ve enjoyed a surprisingly dry and hot spell for testing the brakes, so I can’t make much of a claim about how they perform in the wet. However, I can say they are plenty quiet enough, even when heated up and riding through dust. 

In all, the new brake caliper bodies look better aesthetically, but their performance is what matters, and most of that comes from the new lever shape and ergonomics.

SRAM Force XPLR AXS rear derailleur

Force XPLR AXS shifting on this new derailleur is excellent; it matches the sharp, accurate and dependable shifting under load of the Red version. 

I’ve had a Red XPLR AXS-equipped bike on test at the same time as the new Force groupset, and the shift performance between the two is identical.

It’s all down to the increased stiffness and the full-mount fitment, while even when hammering across rutted, rooty, and even rocky singletrack, the chain management of the Force AXS derailleur keeps it in check.

That means pressure shifts under load, or when bouncing across the roughest surface, so I had absolute confidence in the shift being made without drama. It makes me believe that chain drops could become a thing of the past with management this good.

SRAM Force AXS XPLR XG-1371 cassette

The new cassette is finished smartly in a mixture of black anodising and chrome, which adds to Force’s premium looks.

The jumps between cogs aren’t as big as the previous 10-44t 12-speed Force XPLR option. In fact, from the 10-tooth through to the 21-tooth sprocket, it’s as close a range as you’ll find on a pro-level road race bike.

The new cassette has a 460% range, with a closely spaced set of ratios: 10-11-12-13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32-38-46.

This means single-tooth jumps for the first four gears, moving to two teeth for the next four. It then moves to three up to 24, two jumps of four and finishes with eight to the biggest 46-tooth sprocket.

On the bike, that means all the gears you use the most are still close together; gear progression as you up your speed feels natural and well balanced.

At the upper end, I could see some strong limbers being concerned about the larger jump, but because I just want a gear I can spin in on serious inclines, I never found myself wanting with Force XPLR AXS.

SRAM Force AXS XPLR bottom line

New Force AXS XPLR is a big leap forward for SRAM's second-tier gravel groupset, to the extent that I can’t see any rational reason to pay more for Red.

The complete groupset, with a power meter, weighs 2,686g – 84g lighter than its previous iteration and only 187g heavier than Red AXS XPLR. With Red costing £1,800 more, paying nearly £10 a gram in weight savings is pointlessly expensive.

If, like me, you’re currently running an older non-UDH gravel bike and older XPLR groupset, I’d recommend upgrading to the new Force AXS controls, if nothing else.

These are fully compatible, feel so much better, are lighter and offer extra tech to enjoy when paired with AXS components. SRAM has also launched the new shifters/brakes in an upgrade package with the excellent Hammerhead Karoo 3 GPS for £949.

When it comes to the complete groupset, the shifting is swift, sharp and, above all, accurate; the feel of the brakes is better, and the control the new lever design affords is worth every penny.

The shift performance upgrade and chain-management improvements come from the brilliant full-mount rear derailleur. That relies on having a compatible frame, so I see most Force XPLR AXS customers coming from new bike purchases.