How radical is it really?
There’s been a lot of excitement about SRAM's new Eagle Transmission with words like ‘revolutionary’ and phrases like ‘game changer’ thrown around like confetti. The fact that it gets rid of gear hangers is a big deal and it does shift really well. More level-headed folk have pointed out it’s still a parallelogram mech moving a chain across a 12-speed cassette under command of a pre-existing wireless protocol though. That means it’s not as radical as mechs hidden inside the rear swingarm, hydraulic mechs like those from Rotor or gearbox systems. So maybe ‘evolutionary’ and ‘game modifier’ are more accurate but that’s not really going to get you clicks on Google is it?
Just in case you've ended up here but were really looking for some opinion on the new drivetrain rather than this Bespoken Word FAQ special, then here's my SRAM XX SL Eagle Transmission review.
