How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

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lune ranger
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How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by lune ranger »

As much as I love my Rohloff’s i’m considering building a Gucci- light as possible off-road ITT bike.
Having not had a derailleur on an MRB for 20years i’ve a lot of catching up to do with the tech.
The thought of battling with crappy cables and shifter based indexing doesn’t fill me with joy. I’m thinking electronic shifting and I like the idea of it being cable free a la SRAM.
How waterproof is it in reality? Does it cope with multiple fords and river crossings. Is it ok outside for successive days of UK rain?
Anyone have any real world experience.
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redefined_cycles
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by redefined_cycles »

[Edit: long version deleted]
Luke... go for shimano di2. Mike Hall ran that. SRAM would be crunchy in comparison to its shimano equivalents or even lower grade counterparts...
mattpage
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by mattpage »

Can't comment on Eagle AXS, although eTap in general hasn't been overly reliable for me.
One triathlon bike setup failed during a very wet race. No idea what happened, but once dry it worked again (batteries were charged).

On other test bikes I have had, a random rear mech failure on Red AXS where I could only shift the front, but not the rear. Started bailing out going home, then it suddenly started working again. Again, no idea what happened. I was at the top of a hill near TV/mobile antennas, but surely that wouldn't be an issue? At least I am told it wouldn't be.

Then another test bike where the battery charge seemed to disappear very quickly. Plus the app never seems to hold its preferences using Andoird or at least my phone. So changing the settings it will work for one ride then revert to standard.

Shifts nicely and when it works, it is ace. The brakes are superb too. If you rode AXS vs Di2 systems back to back, both working you would go for the SRAM as it just feels right when working.
But I can't trust it. I even have an Eagle AXS rear mech though, but took it off the new bike in favour of GRX di2 and its sitting in a box.

With di2 the only issues I have had were caused by myself. The main one being not holding charge and that ended up being a damaged cable pinched by the crank spindle. Battery lasts for ages (long enough that you forget it occasionally needs charging), shifting is good, braking is good. GRX di2 is great, although I am not keen on the moulding on the hoods so I am looking to somehow change or remove the ridges.
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fatbikephil
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by fatbikephil »

Set up a cable once, no more issues? For bikepacking I'd avoid any additional electronics like the plague. In fact for anything I'd avoid additional electronics like the plague! Just another thing to charge up, run out of battery, seize and break. Plus the cost of rear mechs is eye watering and given that you can destroy one on one rock, this isn't something I would ever risk. I got the feeling that the likes of Lael Wilcox and Mike Hall used Di2 because their sponsors told them to, not 'cos they wanted to. Its also worth noting that Shimano dropped Di2 off their mountain groupsets after only a couple of years....
jameso
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by jameso »

go for shimano di2. Mike Hall ran that.
Counterpoint, with respect - Mike was also a very smart engineer and had a lot of support from Shimano. I expect his kit was more dialled than anything similar out there. I've ridden with a couple of DI2-equipped riders on trips where the e-tube connections and wires mixing with moving bags and straps etc caused a lot of faff and even gear failure. I wouldn't go near it myself tbh, not for ITTs or trips that I had time and £ invested in.

AXS removes the weak point of DI2 but again, what's less likely to fail, that or a simple cable system? If you want AXS for the shiny kit aspect then fair enough, no need to justify that : ) But I'd not be convinced that it's a safer bet or faster in any way than shifting via a thumbie/bar-ender with a friction option.
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whitestone
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by whitestone »

Whether it was justification because of sponsors or a genuine comment but I remember Mike Hall saying he'd thumb/finger issues after days of constant gear changes with mechanical shifters, I think it was on his first TDR. Did make sense at the time.

Crappy cables? Then fit decent ones :-bd There is a setup routine (as there is with Di2 and presumably AXS) but after that there's the occasional tweek but it's usually something you only look at when you are doing a general service or if you've flown somewhere. The tweek is usually a couple of turns of the barrel adjuster, a few seconds at most.

As Phil says, the cost of the derailleur is enough to put you off. I did look at Di2 when building up the Spearfish but the benefits didn't justify the extra expense. I'd certainly look at it for road/gravel bikes.
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lune ranger
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by lune ranger »

htrider wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:39 pm Set up a cable once, no more issues? For bikepacking I'd avoid any additional electronics like the plague. In fact for anything I'd avoid additional electronics like the plague! Just another thing to charge up, run out of battery, seize and break. Plus the cost of rear mechs is eye watering and given that you can destroy one on one rock, this isn't something I would ever risk. I got the feeling that the likes of Lael Wilcox and Mike Hall used Di2 because their sponsors told them to, not 'cos they wanted to. Its also worth noting that Shimano dropped Di2 off their mountain groupsets after only a couple of years....
This is my default setting as well.
Mostly i’m having shiny kit syndrome due to some money burning a hole in my pocket.

If this project does happen, before I revert to type and decide I have a perfectly usable bike for the job in hand, it’ll probably end up with a Rohloff or even Pinion gears.
I like the idea of light weight but the reality never really suits me.
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BigdummySteve
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by BigdummySteve »

I’ve been running an Eagle AXS mullet setup on my Fargo for six months including the biblically wet winter event and my Dartmoor trip which was accompanied by torrential rain and 70+Mph winds along with multiple stream crossings, to be honest on both trips the mech may as well have been permanently underwater. It’s been faultless, buy an additional battery and you are good for 40+ hours of riding, no miss-shifts even when covered in clag and your knackered coupled with a set of shifter buttons on the tops make for a very enjoyable experience. Yes it’s very expensive but one of the few ways to get rohloff range on a dropbar bike.
Although there is the risk of failure with any technology you’re not going the shift the chain into the spokes due to poor or drifting limit screws and don’t underestimate the derailleur saving power of the overload clutch, it’s an eye opener when you thump your mech and it nonchalantly moves out of the way and then returns to it’s original position with a ‘zip’ noise.
A couple of weeks ago I picked up a 1” branch through the rear spokes, when I extracted the branch the mech calmly returned to it’s position.
Obviously it’s early days but my feeling is that the perfect shifting and overload clutch are going the save many drivetrain wrecking situations, it’s possible long term it could end up more reliable when you take damage into consideration. Mine is set up to shift 3 cogs when you hold the paddle although you can set it up to sweep across the whole cassette.
In summary I like it a lot, a vast improvement over the force setup I had before and it just shuts with accuracy with a tap of the paddle.
I’ve never used Di2 and like you spent many years on both Shimano and rohloff IGH’s.
If I was running flat bars I’d look at either of the 12 speed offerings currently available, things have come on a long way in 20 years, getting that 500% range you’re used to with the rohloff makes a huge difference.
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BigdummySteve
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by BigdummySteve »

htrider wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:39 pm I got the feeling that the likes of Lael Wilcox and Mike Hall used Di2 because their sponsors told them to, not 'cos they wanted to.
I believe Lael used AXS Eagle for the Divide, she had a lot of positive things to say about it including the reduction in hand fatigue.
Last edited by BigdummySteve on Mon Jun 29, 2020 6:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

I know nowt about AXS but when I tried Di2, I wanted to hate it but couldn't - it just worked. However, like Phil, I'm not a fan of electronics on vehicles because my experience over many years is that the more you have and the more complex they are, the more likely you are to find yourself stranded. That alone (never mind the cost) would be more than enough to prevent me fitting any kind of electronic shifting to a bike I planned to ride far on. Simplicity always beats clever in the long run :wink:
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whitestone
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by whitestone »

Stu, I've used Di2 on a road bike but while it "worked" and was nice, it really wasn't a game changer. At a guess, 5% better than the mechanical equivalent rather than 50% as the hype would have you believe. That setup just had "standard" STI style shifters, obviously you can fit the climbing/TT shifters in addition to those, something not easy to do with a mechanical system.
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mattpage
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by mattpage »

Mike was not pushed or forced to use di2. It was completely his own choice to do so.
No push from Pivot or Shimano and he only had praise for it after, especially about battery life.
lune ranger
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by lune ranger »

Great responses everyone, thanks - especially BDS - you really piqued my interest there, however...
I've spent the afternoon in meditation. Or rather, mucking out the pigs and chickens. tbh it's been good quality thinking time that has sent me round the houses a bit. It's led me to mulling over an AXS Eagle super bike, a Ti Fargo with belt drive I've always wanted, a custom Pinion geared 29+ etc.
In the end I've decided on a second hand seat post for the Krampus and new Sneeboer fork for the garden.
Trouble is I have all the bikes I need right now :shock: I built my Krampus and Fargo to last forever and they seem to be doing that pretty well so far on the whole. I don't need a new bike for ITT's. Part of me would like a light bike, part of me would like to pretty much always be on the heaviest bike in any given crowd. The rest of me is pretty content with what I have and I certainly can't justify another bike (Kramp and Farg's are only 2/5 of the stable) just because I want one.
So I'm back tho the same old decision which is - 'hold course and speed' and yet another imagined bike becomes a years school fees :roll:

27.2mm 20mm layback seat post of reasonable quality anyone??? :wink:
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redefined_cycles
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Re: How waterproof is Eagle AXS?

Post by redefined_cycles »

If you're after summat super comfy then the Canyons or if you want a dropper then BrandX are doing 27.2 at the mo I believe on Wiggle. Might need to cut a hole in your frame though cos its internal cabled...
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