You have to buy a EW-WU111 Bluetooth adapter. You can do this with Shimano Di2, also - but not out of the box. Yes, the eTap derailleurs’ LEDs will light up red when you shift while the battery is running low - but who is looking at their derailleurs when riding? So, having your computer tell you is handy. But the practical usage is just having battery-life information in front of you.
The displayed gear information is cool, whether presented through visual-indicator form, or in dorkier ‘how many times did I shift on the ride’ type information. One thing I really like about eTap is how it talks with modern computers like Wahoo’s Elemnt family, or Garmin’s Edge family.
(Front shifting is sketchy but doable while riding to shift the rear, you have to pull over and climb off the bike.) Getting drivetrain data onto computers like the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt can be done with just a few presses of the computer’s buttons. Last year, on a bike equipped with SRAM Red, I had a shifter battery die, but I was still able to shift by pressing the little buttons on the derailleurs. Or, you can carry a spare third battery to swap in, as they’re pretty small and light.ĮTap also uses replaceable coin batteries in the levers. With SRAM, if either battery dies, you can just swap ’em around. And usually, you can limp home in the small ring, still shifting the rear derailleur. With Shimano and Campy, when the battery is nearly dead, the front derailleur stops working, as it requires the most juice. I’ve had batteries from all three companies’ systems die during rides, and it sucks on all of them. The bugaboo with electronic drivetrains is keeping them charged. As with other eTap systems, the front and rear derailleur batteries are easy to pop on and off, and – if need be – swap between derailleurs. The former uses rechargeable and swappable batteries that snap into each derailleur, while the latter use a single battery to power the whole system. Force eTap AXS HRD batteries and computer integrationĪside from shifting logic, SRAM also diverges from Shimano and Campagnolo on electronic-drivetrain battery style. A Giant Revolt is serving as the test bed for SRAM’s Force eTap AXS HRD. Force eTap AXS HRD shifts and brakes cleanly, and integrates easily with computers like Wahoo’s Bolt or Garmin’s Edge models. This means you can get a wider gear range, and also use smaller and thus lighter chainrings.Īfter a few good gravel rides on the group, I’m struggling to understand why you’d want to pay more for the top-tier Red eTap AXS HRD group. That means you can mix and match - with some limitations - mountain bike and road AXS components.Ĭampagnolo and Shimano cassettes go down to an 11-tooth small cog SRAM, thanks to a reworked cassette driver, goes down to a 10-tooth. The AXS moniker denotes the unique gearing, as well as integration with any other component labeled AXS. The 12-speed group is wireless for shifting, and comes in rim-brake and hydraulic (HRD) options.
The left-lever button puts the chain in an easier cog, the right-lever button puts it in a harder cog, and pressing both buttons moves the chain between the chainrings. If you are unfamiliar with SRAM’s eTap shifting system, it’s simple: Unlike Shimano and Campagnolo, which have two buttons per lever, SRAM has one on each side, behind the brake lever. Get access to everything we publish when you