SRAM Apex AXS - a gravel beginner's dream?

SRAM have been on a bit of rampage in recent years, after releasing Red AXS in 2019. By bringing their road groupset up to 12 speed they have been on an unrelenting course to bring wireless electronic shifting to the masses. But how does their newest fourth tier group, the Apex AXS, stack up?

Wireless shifting for the masses?

It seems from the addition of Apex to the AXS line up that the dream of electronic shifting at an achievable price point could be here. The trickle down from the top tier groupsets has brought wireless electronic shifting within grasp.

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SRAM's fourth tier groupset has recently been given the AXS treatment making it fully wireless.

Arguably, the design of SRAM’s AXS system is best suited to new riders, unfamiliar with traditional setups. Changing gears makes a lot of sense with one shifter handling all the upshifts and the other handling all of the down shifts. This removes the confusion of having both up and down shifts on the same side, perfect for newcomers to the sport.

SRAM have kept the new Apex groupset in line with the more expensive and racier Red, Force and Rival setups. It features wireless shifters and rear derailleur, a 12 speed cassette and the ability to run what SRAM call XPLR gearing for bikepacking or gravel riding.

One of the places that the new Apex group differs from the pricier versions is that it will only be available as a 1x set up, so that gets rid of the need for a front derailleur entirely. It will also be available with a shifter set up that can be fitted to a flat bar bike, opening up its versatility even further.

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Apex comes as standard with an 11-44 cassette to give a broad spread of gears with manageable jumps.

The XPLR cassette that can be fitted covers a massive 11-44, with a 12 speed cassette that strikes a nice balance between having a big enough spread of gears to accommodate whatever you might need to tackle on a ride as well as retaining appropriate jumps between them.

Depending on your wants and needs the groupset can be run in conjunction with SRAM's existing Eagle mountain bike range. This means running the system with a slightly different derailleur that features a longer cage and an absolutely huge 11-52 cassette, the trade off with this being that the jumps in between gears does become a bit more pronounced.

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SRAM allow cross platform compatibility so you can pair Apex with any other platform including mountain bike.

Another great feature of the SRAM line up is that everything is cross compatible with each other, meaning that you can run any of the AXS ranges with each other.

This does open up the possibility of upgrading components as and when you want to or equally, if you prefer the feeling of the Force lever for example, these can be run with the rest of the Apex group.

SRAM is offering Apex as a mechanical option as well as the mentioned AXS, with the pricing listed below.

SRAM Apex Mechanical: £1,035 / $971 / €1,149

SRAM Apex Electronic: £1,262 / $1,195 / €1,411