e13 TRS+ 12 Speed Upgrade Kit - First Impressions

[Grease_Monkey]

I have been quite keen to go 1x12 lately - I'm a heavier rider, and I ride in steep areas with lots of climbing (Helderberg, Jonkers) and find I have to sacrifice either top end speed or climbing with my 1x11 set-up and a 10-42t cassette. Although I can get up anything with a 32t chainring, I just wanted a slightly easier spinning gear so I can get to the top of Saaltjie or Helderberg with a bit more energy for the descents. I didn't need it so badly that I was going to make the change before my cassette had done some good kms, anyway, after 6000km that time has come.

 

My options were:

- XO1 1x12 groupo (way too expensive)

- GX 1x12 groupo ("downgrade" from my current 1x11 XO1 setup)

- e13 11speed cassette with 9-46t range (big jumps between gears)

 

Then came the announcement of the 12 speed upgrade kit from e13. I get to keep my XO1 group set (I really like the feel of the XO1 shifter with the bearing in the shifter as opposed to the GX shifters), I get a huge range (511%), jumps between gears are not too big, and I don't "downgrade" to GX. I put the word downgrade in parenthesis because GX isn't really a downgrade - it's mostly in my head - I know. And, it's not too expensive considering the cassette is lighter than an XX1 cassette.

 

Another reason this appealed to me was the fact that the cassette is more compact than Sram's cassette (biggest cog is 46t), but gives more range with the small 9t. The cassette is also modular, meaning that the two biggest cogs (46t and 39t) can be removed and replaced should they get worn out faster than the rest of the cassette - something that is bound to happen seeing as my typical ride involves climbing slowly for 50mins then descending for 10mins without much pedalling - in other words I spend a lot of time in granny gear.

 

Anyway, long story short, I ordered the kit through The Hanger Bike Co, with a bit of discount from Andrew from Get Stoked Distribution (legend - Thank you). Although I like to think of myself as mechanically inclined, I decided to rather have the pros at The Hanger do the conversion for me - and man, am I glad I chose that option. Now the next bit is not my own experience, but rather what I was told by Jonty Neethling who did the install for me:

 

1) Converting the shifter is finicky time consuming, and not as straightforward as the videos suggest - but not too difficult.

2) I have a Hope hub - the machining of their XD driver is not the same as normal XD drivers, and therefore needs a shim to make the cassette fit - this was a b**ch to install - 3 hours of frustration and some skin taken off. A side note if you have a Hope hub - ask for the shim when ordering the kit - it does not come with it as standard. The shim also has the effect of making the Hope Pro 4 hub significantly quieter - something I am actually thankful for - I was getting a bit tired of how loud the hub was.

3) The rear mech's conversion sounded simple enough.

 

Now for the first ride review:

- The shifting itself feels very similar to how it did before, but it is not as mechanical and precise on the thumb as I have gotten used to. Not bad - just different.

- Obviously the gear cable stretched a bit after some shifting, so I had to index on the fly using the barrel adjuster - this proved to be a lot more sensitive than it was as an 11speed - even a quarter turn drastically affects how the shifting takes place, and something I am still struggling with a bit, with every turn it's either got too much or too little tension. It has just been one ride so I am reserving judgement here and waiting for things to bed in a bit.

- The drivetrain is reasonably quiet under operation, and shifting under load is good, but not as good as it was as an 11speed. I hope this gets better once cable tension is sorted out.

- Jumps between gears are perfect, very well thought out. With a 32t chainring I have a ratio of 3.55 on the top end (that's a bloody big gear!), and 0.69 on the granny side (you can get up anything with that). So I am very happy with that.

- Going from the 9t cog up to the next gear is not as fast as the rest of the shifts, it sits there for a second before moving over and sometimes required me to do a second upshift followed by a quick downshift to get it to move - once again, something I hope will sort itself out when cable tension is bedded in.

 

All in all I am happy so far, but will have to spend some more time to make a final call.

 

Would I recommend this kit to my friends?

 

- If you have an 11spd XO1 or XX1 groupset and don't like the idea of downgrading - absolutely (but only if your cassette is near the end of it's life, because lets be honest, you don't NEED as 12th gear - so use that cassette up first and then get this kit instead of a new cassette.

- If you have a 11spd GX groupo - NO! A 12spd GX Eagle upgrade kit is cheaper and will work better than a modified 11spd GX groupo.

 

Also keep in mind this voids the warranty on your shifter and mech, so if that bothers you then don't do it (doesn't bother me - my stuff is out of warranty anyway).

 

So if you have any specific questions about it - ask me and I will try to answer them. The first real test of this upgrade will be tomorrow at Round 2 EWC - Contermanskloof!

 

I will update here again once cable tension is sorted.

 

Update:

 

So when doing a clean before the race today I realised that there was a ton of very fine sand that had gotten into the cassette and in between chain links - gave it a propper wash and lube.

 

Happy to report that it worked flawlessly today - cable tension was fine, and it didn't skip a beat. The operation and feel of it is nearly identical to what it was as 11spd - but obviously with just more gears.

 

Very happy with the upgrade.

[DieselnDust]

Cool thanks for the post. Keep us updated

[Grease_Monkey]

So when doing a clean before the race today I realised that there was a ton of very fine sand that had gotten into the cassette and in between chain links - gave it a propper wash and lube.

 

Happy to report that it worked flawlessly today - cable tension was fine, and it didn't skip a beat. The operation and feel of it is nearly identical to what it was as 11spd - but obviously with just more gears.

 

Very happy with the upgrade.

[MphatiPyga]

If only it came with a gripshift upgrade

[Grease_Monkey]

If only it came with a gripshift upgrade

Nee sies man. Gripshift is the last thing I want haha.

[solty]

Thanks for posting. I like e13's innovation and willingness to take on the big guys.

[TAAHIRWP]

So when doing a clean before the race today I realised that there was a ton of very fine sand that had gotten into the cassette and in between chain links - gave it a propper wash and lube.

 

Happy to report that it worked flawlessly today - cable tension was fine, and it didn't skip a beat. The operation and feel of it is nearly identical to what it was as 11spd - but obviously with just more gears.

 

Very happy with the upgrade.

So do you still say no, if currently sitting with a GX groupo?

[Me rida my bicycle]

If you're riding a gx group just upgrade to the GX eagle it's cheaper if you want 12spd this is only a option if you riding xo1 or xx1 that's my opinion.

[Grease_Monkey]

So do you still say no, if currently sitting with a GX groupo?

I still say no, but not because of quality, it comes down to price. The e13 kit is around R5000. For that money you can buy an entirely new GX Eagle groupset - which makes more sense because then you have a new shifter, derailieur and cassette whereas with the e13 kit you are re-using your shifter and deraillieur.

[SuperDooperSnooper]

I assume this upgrade kit is only compatible with SRAM?

[Grease_Monkey]

I assume this upgrade kit is only compatible with SRAM?

Yes, only with Sram GX, X01, X1, and XX1 11 speed. The cassette also mounts to an XD driver.