All about AXS

[Mikerb]

I have GX AXS on my Whyte E160 RSX and it is my first experience of using the AXS system so I thought I would share my thoughts which may help others new to the system.

Firstly, my bike is 8 months old and I have covered 400 miles ( I have 2 bikes so mileage gets shared). The AXS has worked flawlessly with no attention from me, and the gear change is invariable very fast and smooth ..........so I have been impressed with it, and certainly rate it far better than my cable operated X01 mech/GX cassette set up on my other bike.

Today I decided to give it some TLC.

1. I used IPA and an earbud to clean out the battery compartment and the terminals on both battery and mech. I can see that overtime without a little bit of cleaning the battery compartment could gather enough dust etc to prevent the battery sitting properly.

2. AXS is already calibrated to shift the correct amount on an Eagle cassette provided it is installed with it set fully outboard. Over time possibly due to a bit of chain wear ( mine is still less than 0.5%) or just general running in, the gearchange can become noisier or a little slower especially climbing the cassette. The easiest way I found to correct that was to move the chain to the second largest cog and then at the shifter, press and hold the button and click the upper paddle twice ( that assumes the paddles are as they come in the box rather than reversed using the AXS App.............if reversed press the lower paddle).

3. The AXS battery lasts for c 20 hours of riding and gives plenty of warning if it needs charging but there appears to be no information on how long the shifter battery should last. It is a CR2032 cell battery (non rechargeable) and easilly changed so I keep one of those batteries in my waistbag...just in case! If the shifter does stop working due to a flat CR2032 battery, the mech position can still be changed using the button on the mech...1 press to go to a lower gear, 2 presses to go to a higher gear. So if the shifter stops working you can select a mid range gear to get home.

4. My bike is kept indoors in a wheel stand. It has become standard practise for me to switch bike on to check all is OK.....and now with the AXS, also to use the shifter to check that all works...........bike still in the wheelstand. .BUT the shifter will not work!! The AXS has to sense movement before it goes into standby mode! It caused me a panic until I realized that!!

5. Setting B Tension/chain gap is a pain because it needs to be done with the shock at its SAG position. Obviously the best way to do that is with you sat/stood on the bike in riding gear whilst a friend checks and adjusts the B Tension using the SRAM white adjustment tool ( chain on second largest cog and the pointer of the adjustment tool centred on the upper jockey wheel central bolt). There is an easier way to check B Tension/chain gap as part of maintenance assuming it was originally set correctly.
With the bike on a bike stand ( so rear triangle hanging) follow the same procedure....chain on second largest cog, white SRAM adjustement tool on the largest cog and rotated down until the pointer meets the top jockey wheel. Now note where that pointer is in relation to the central bolt of the upper pulley wheel. On mine, instead of it pointing at the centre of the bolt it points at the lower edge of that bolt. So only about 2mm different, but that is now my reference for any future checks without having to set it at SAG.
nb. if you change your shock SAG it may also change the B Tension setting!!

 

[EMTBSEAN]

Epic and as per usual for you Mike, a brilliant write up and definitely food for thought, I have had AXS system on my bike for 15 months and it’s performed flawlessly but I give it TLC on a regular basis mainly because my Mum bought it for me alongside my AXS dropper shortly before she passed but I would have looked after it given the cost

 

[Giff]

I posted last week about having problems with my AXS GX on my Whyte e160 RSX which kept skipping mid-gears.

I have an older bike in France an e160 RS.
That changes ok and has done since I fitted it as an upgrade last year. Just looking at the SRAM AXS app on this one the micro adjust settings at all 17.

The RSX (the skipper) are all at 24.
Will this make a difference and could be the problem ?

I can’t check at the moment as I am not with that bike.

 

[Stihldog]

My micro adjustments are all over the scale. From 11 to 18 for each individual gear. I can adjust each gear until there is smooth shifting and no noise. The app also shows which gear you are using and micro adjustments are made then.
Once, when I changed cassettes, no adjustment was needed for any gear.

 

[Mikerb]

I dont use the app. I do micro adjustment with the chain on the 2nd largest cog..............either up or down....or both. Only ever had to do it once though in 400 miles.
As far as I can tell AXS only needs to know how far to shift for every gearchange. It already has that setting out of the box, but as per all derailleur systems there can be a speed of change difference between going up the cassette and going down. Micro adjust is tiny and merely optimises which of those 2 you want to speed up.
The only time I have had any sort of shifting problem was when the chain got really filthy with mud and the only issue was it not wanting to shift into the smallest cog ( which I very rarely use anyway). Once cleaned and lubed it was fine again.

 

[Giff]

Thanks for the replies.
What I can’t understand is that if the increments in the app indicate the distance the derailleur moves one of mine is moving 7 points more than the other….
I have asked SRAM if there is a default point setting and am waiting to hear.

 

[Stihldog]

The GX AXS system has worked flawlessly for me for 2 years. I don’t think the app originally had micro adjustments so I used the 2nd cog and controller +\- for initial adjustments. That worked great. I didn’t use the white plastic B adjustment gage because a Shimano XT cassette was installed along with a HG (Hyper Glide) chain. I had installed a ethirteen 34t chainring around that time also.

I searched the net for a hack because I didn’t want to replace a new cassette and chain. I found that mod but it did suggest that the lower jockey wheel be changed to Shimano. Why?…I don’t know, but I did anyways. I set the B screw setting with a (5mm or 8 mm, can’t remember) gap between the 2nd cog and upper jockey wheel. This method has worked flawlessly while using this Frankenstein setup.

Recently I discovered that the AXS app had individual micro adjustments for each gear. It even knows what gear you’re in. So I gave that a try.

What I found was that any noise on any gear could be reduced or eliminated. The shifting was only slightly better though. Maybe, because of the hack I used, the shifting became slightly smoother.

A default setting would be nice for the initial setup, and an alternative setup, such as the 2nd cog and controller adjustment, would be nice also. Regardless, this wireless shifting is starting to trend and a few of my neighbours and friends are making the switch to wireless shifting. Faster, quieter, smoother shifts works for me.

Then I installed the AXS reverb dropper…

 

[Redders473]

Just to be clear you don't have 31 mirco adjusts per gear it's across the spread. I've had axs for 2 years and it can be hit and miss sometimes it works flawless others like at the minute it skips one gear everytime and it's on a brand new chain cassette and UDH.

 

[luna87824]

I have GX AXS on my Whyte E160 RSX and it is my first experience of using the AXS system so I thought I would share my thoughts which may help others new to the system.

Firstly, my bike is 8 months old and I have covered 400 miles ( I have 2 bikes so mileage gets shared). The AXS has worked flawlessly with no attention from me, and the gear change is invariable very fast and smooth ..........so I have been impressed with it, and certainly rate it far better than my cable operated X01 mech/GX cassette set up on my other bike.

Today I decided to give it some TLC.

1. I used IPA and an earbud to clean out the battery compartment and the terminals on both battery and mech. I can see that overtime without a little bit of cleaning the battery compartment could gather enough dust etc to prevent the battery sitting properly.

2. AXS is already calibrated to shift the correct amount on an Eagle cassette provided it is installed with it set fully outboard. Over time possibly due to a bit of chain wear ( mine is still less than 0.5%) or just general running in, the gearchange can become noisier or a little slower especially climbing the cassette. The easiest way I found to correct that was to move the chain to the second largest cog and then at the shifter, press and hold the button and click the upper paddle twice ( that assumes the paddles are as they come in the box rather than reversed using the AXS App.............if reversed press the lower paddle).

3. The AXS battery lasts for c 20 hours of riding and gives plenty of warning if it needs charging but there appears to be no information on how long the shifter battery should last. It is a CR2032 cell battery (non rechargeable) and easilly changed so I keep one of those batteries in my waistbag...just in case! If the shifter does stop working due to a flat CR2032 battery, the mech position can still be changed using the button on the mech...1 press to go to a lower gear, 2 presses to go to a higher gear. So if the shifter stops working you can select a mid range gear to get home.

4. My bike is kept indoors in a wheel stand. It has become standard practise for me to switch bike on to check all is OK.....and now with the AXS, also to use the shifter to check that all works...........bike still in the wheelstand. .BUT the shifter will not work!! The AXS has to sense movement before it goes into standby mode! It caused me a panic until I realized that!!

5. Setting B Tension/chain gap is a pain because it needs to be done with the shock at its SAG position. Obviously the best way to do that is with you sat/stood on the bike in riding gear whilst a friend checks and adjusts the B Tension using the SRAM white adjustment tool ( chain on second largest cog and the pointer of the adjustment tool centred on the upper jockey wheel central bolt). There is an easier way to check B Tension/chain gap as part of maintenance assuming it was originally set correctly.
With the bike on a bike stand ( so rear triangle hanging) follow the same procedure....chain on second largest cog, white SRAM adjustment tool on the largest cog and rotated down until the pointer meets the top jockey wheel. Now note where that pointer is in relation to the central bolt of the upper pulley wheel. On mine, instead of it pointing at the centre of the bolt it points at the lower edge of that bolt. So only about 2mm different, but that is now my reference for any future checks without having to set it at SAG.
nb. if you change your shock SAG it may also change the B Tension setting!!

They're called cotton buds. (AKA Q tips) Ear buds are a specific style of headphone which are also called ear buds.....

 

[Stihldog]

Sometimes they’re called cotton swabs. Q-Tips is a brand name available in different quantities. I prefer the right-handed ones with cotton on both ends. But that’s just me.

 

[ALLeighton]

Just to be clear you don't have 31 mirco adjusts per gear it's across the spread. I've had AXS for 2 years and it can be hit and miss sometimes it works flawless others like at the minute it skips one gear every time and it's on a brand-new chain cassette and UDH.

My micro adjustments are all over the scale. From 11 to 18 for each individual gear. I can adjust each gear until there is smooth shifting and no noise. The app also shows which gear you are using and micro adjustments are made then.
Once, when I changed cassettes, no adjustment was needed for any gear.

This is not my experience with the SRAM AXS app. From what I can see, MicroAdjust is like a virtual barrel adjuster. It is not a "per-gear" adjustment. Any micro adjustment made in one gear will affect all the other gears. For example, using the SRAM AXS app with the bike in gear 12, if you change the MicroAdjust setting from say 6 to 5, you will find that when you shift to all the other gears, they will also show a MicroAdjust setting of 5.

 

[Redders473]

That's what I'm saying. As AXS gets older I find I'm in higer mirco tunes. Before i warranted my old AXS it was fully maxed out.

 

[ALLeighton]

Just to be clear you don't have 31 mirco adjusts per gear it's across the spread. I've had axs for 2 years and it can be hit and miss sometimes it works flawless others like at the minute it skips one gear every time and it's on a brand-new chain cassette and UDH.

Like you said, the GX AXS on my Ibis Oso went from flawless for the first few months to nearly a gear off the low end when it's adjusted properly on the high end. The hanger is bang on straight and tight, the b-tension is set perfect at 30% sag, chain is at less than 0.5, derailleur is straight...frustrating mystery at less than 500 miles on the bike. I wish the SRAM AXS app MicroAdjust feature was a per-gear adjustment as I feel this is what I need to get it working again.

Kinda ready to move back to my tried-and-true Shimano XT.

 

[Stihldog]

Maybe it’s just me but the new micro-adjustments on the AXS app seem to work great …except for 4th gear. In a relaxed setup 4th gear doesn’t shift up/down as smoothly as I would like. But when I I apply torque during a ride, it shifts and sounds fine.

I’ve worn out a few (XT) cassettes and only once have I needed a very minor adjustment while using the AXS GX. After that it’s usually a set it and forget it (charge the battery of course).