SRAM RED XPLR Gravel Groupset In-Depth Review (+Zipp XPLR 303 Wheels)

Thanks mate ✌️ 👍

yay hookless rims

Some of us ride Shimano because we, uh, prefer 2x front derailleurs... so keep it up Shimano. And SRAM could you add 2x to XPLR?

Can someone tell me what is that helmet his wearing?

It would actually be AWESOME for a 1x Road Setup: 50t chainring & 10/46 in the back? You do everything

There is sadly no GP5000 equivalent for gravel tires. Conti Terra uses hard road rubber and is not comfortable, Schwalbe G-One punctures like crazy. The only one that still works for me are the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel but those also puncture relatively easily, just not as bad as G-One - I abuse these quite badly and at least on rocks never had a problem. GP5000 though, was indestructible for me - the protection layer pushed once a big piece of glass to the side, unde the pressure of my weight(straight in the middle and then bent to the side into and under the rubber)…

Goodyear tires are ass, I bought their gravel tires to try how they perform, my mechanic had em mounted on my wheels only to find out both tires have wobbles (my wheels are completely fine and true), but really both tires? What are the odds yeah? Good thing I was able to exchange them with some teravails to the store where I got them. Just don't even try getting those, they are completely trash. 🗑️

I almost think it's kind of funny that you're taking a gravel bike up a mountain, which it's honestly made to do. The funny part to me is that it calls into question the naming scheme, what is a mountain bike if it's not made for mountains? They're for narrow trails right, and jumps.
Gravel bikes are like cross country skis and mountain bikes are snowboards. 😂

Good story. I guess I need to add back a shim to my repair kit. I am so complacent with tubeless cuz if works so well on the small stuff.

That helmet your wearing - who made that?

I'm a bit heavier and run 28psi F / 38psi R on 45's.....have done years of testing and lower is faster. With your bad luck on the tire, it might have been good to switch the rear to front during the evening, since you can be light on the bars to preserve to tire as much as possible

More cassette options are needed, but some good stuff from SRAM as a start. Your breakdown is a good reminder for those of us that swap different stem depth wheel-sets to make sure we are carrying the right backup tube.

Helmet name?

Hi, wasn’t sure where to ask this. I’ve recently bought the Garmin Edge 1040 and 4iiii Precision Pro 3+ Dual Sided Power Meter. When I pair it up to the Garmin, it pairs up the left side as Ant+. Then search again and the right side shows up under Bluetooth connections. Now I can only connect either the left or the right. I’ve tried deleting them, turning the Garmin off and on again, but same thing, the only difference now is, that when I turn the Garmin on, it pops up twice that it’s connected to the left hand crank. When I ride up and down the road, the Garmin shows the left and right balance % on my screen. Help please if possible. Oh, on the 4iiii app, both show up as paired.

Great reporting & video, thanks!

Links to the charger?

that’s the same pressure I run on my rim brake hybrid with ghetto tubeless on 23mm external rims.

Are they saying my setup isn’t optimal?

As always, amazing review !!

Durability? I have to replace my force axs derailleur every year. No more SRAM.

Excellent presentation. Thank you. I highly dislike 1x. You can add one simple and light chainrain and literally double your gear options. And, at the same time, create tightly spaced options in a narrow space out back. I think the whole 1x "trend" started when SRAM could not make a descent, non-issue, front derailleur to save their lives. They then created 1x and sold it as a feature and used some highly skilled marketing people to convince you it was a good thing. No thanks SRAM, I am not buying it.

Is the chainring centered withe the cassette? How do they fit 13 gears if they didn’t shrink the spacing?

I would think It's Goodyear's tire and not the wheelset.

Not the first review to mention getting flats with this wheel set. Kind of concerning it keeps coming up

You’re riding around the pinnacle of all rocks 🪨.. no gear or brand will protect that

I don't care how good a set of wheels/tyres claim to be, I run a foam core in all of them so I can always make it home. I made it 40km home on my gravel bike a few weeks back because not only did the tyre puncture, but so did the rim tape. SRAM can make all the claims of durability they want, it's just impossible to know when the failure is going to be more than normal tools can handle.

Tap here for "before we get into the things that broke" counter

"We double validate the quality and compatibility of the tires and wheels" suuure

Looks like nice trail for MTB bike ;)

When will the Force/Rival/Apex versions be released? Any historical patterns?

Absolutely fantastic review as always. Sorry about the tire trouble, but it's also great it happened for the rest of us thanks to your feedback to Goodyear that will likely improve this tire! Also a great reminder to the rest of us to have correct spare tubes as tubeless setups also fail.

That is the big issue with tubeless. As much as I would love to see it work it quite often doe snot. It is a complete disaster ona road bike with the pressure being too high to hold air even with the sealent after the tire gets punctured. Then there is the thing with installing a tube... those tires are often so snug fitting that taking them off the rim is a hassle. Adding to the mix there is ginan be sticky sealent inside so everything including you will be covered in slime. No issueue if you are at home but when you are somewhere remote then all of the components - shifters, brakes, the frame, your clothes get covered in this slime. I do not have a solution to the problem since running tpu tubes is problematic as weel 0- expensive, fiddly to install, lose air.

Wer ru riding in this vid?

Tubeless is just not the thing. I ride much better with a standard tube, Anti-Platt ribbon and Flypaper to fix any puncture. With this setup I have much less issues and a quick fix which is working.

SRAM should sell a firmware upgrade to the 12 speed so we don't have to buy shifters and brakes. Just rear derailuer and cassette.

Any update on tire failure? Thanks for great review!

Just depends how sharp the rock is really.

Your puncture story is why I now use an insert as my back up plan. I can always ride that back if all else fails.
PS: I agree with many others that that 13 speed group set is way too tall for seriously steep and long climbs.

so you mean 'tubeless' always requires carrying a spare tube? lmao

Please reveal your route!!! Where did you go????

I would love to get the track of that ride, might want to ride it one day.

Where was DC riding during this video? I want to ride there!

Can I install the new RED XPLR with a 1x SRAM force chainring? (From the 2024 canyon SLX 8 A S grail). Thanks.

What handlebar are you running?

Is that a special custom mount for the Garmin watch?

Thanks for the tip on USB-C cheap battery charger - awesome!

Can you use the new xplr power meter spindle on road sram axs crank ?

If the Goodyear tires are anything like the Zipp tires then they are junk

Is that actually true about the drop bar shifters? Couldn't you just use any flat bar AXS shifters to control the derailleur?

What is the correct spare tube size?