XPLR new horizons

After a year of testing the SRAM/Zipp/ RockShox family of gravel components, Warren Rossiter delivers the lowdown on this ground-breaking gravel collection.

- Warren Rossiter

In the last year I've ridden nearly 2,000km on the new gravel-grinding kit from SRAM and its associate brands, Zipp and RockShox. I also drafted in Robin Weaver from our sister magazine MBUK for a second opinion. Here's what we discovered...

Let's start with the basics. The keystone of this new XPLR ('explore' - get it?) components range is the AXS ('access') drivetrain (by which we mean brakes, shifters, rear mech, cassette and chainset), which offers the simplicity of wireless shifting along with gear ratios created for the demands of gravel, thanks to a new series of 1x chainsets and wider cassettes. Meanwhile, Zipp's new gravel-specific 101 wheels are designed to offer a ride unlike anything else, due in part to a clever new rim construction. Finally, RockShox, which dabbled in suspension for road bikes a few decades ago with its Paris-Roubaix-winning Roubaix SL fork, is back with its new Rudy suspension fork and wireless Reverb AXS XPLR dropper seatpost.

Gearing sweet spot

While the XPLR drivetrain has the same shifters and brakes as the top-of-the-range, road-going Red eTap AXS groupset, the cassette ratios, crankset and rear derailleur are all different. While SRAM's standard rear mechs have a sprocket capacity of 33 teeth, the XPLR rear derailleur's much longer cage can accommodate a 44t sprocket, and there's a new 10-44t XPLR cassette. It's designed to work with 1x set-ups only, using SRAM's 36-46t chainrings' new direct-mount design.

At first, XPLR's gearing capacity seemed, to me, like putting a niche between two niches. However, the XPLR drivetrain is fully compatible with SRAM's road eTap AXS, so you can use SRAM's flat-topped road chain and a wide range of road chainrings, rather than the more limited range of mountain bike offerings.