In a surprising turn of events, a brand new SRAM Red AXS 13-speed cassette has been spotted at Unbound Gravel, just two weeks after SRAM revealed the latest iteration of the Red AXS.
Originally spied by Anne-Marije Rook of our sister site Cycling WeeklyThe new set appears to be something of a love child between SRAM’s latest Red and Eagle Transmission set that was launched last year.
As the race has grown to become the premiere race on the gravel season calendar – dubbed by many as the unofficial world championship – Unbound has become a springboard for new technology and a rigorous testing ground for prototypes. The race garners a huge amount of attention every year, and brands know it, so they use it to “accidentally” leak unreleased products into the world, censoring the details so we can get excited about what they’ve got in the works without you pre-launch they gave away too much.
Of all the new tech we thought we might see at the race, the new SRAM Red kit was at the bottom of the list.
The American brand only launched the latest version of its high-end road kit on May 15. It retained the 12-speed cassette for this launch, but reworked the shifter and improved the front derailleur for those who choose to dual-drive it.
Mullet mix or a completely new groupset?
Last year at Unbound, SRAM-sponsored gravel racers were seen running the “mullet,” mixing the previous Red AXS XPLR road shifter with a SRAM Eagle Transmission mountain bike cassette and derailleur. Eagle Transmission is a 12-speed groupset, wireless – like all of SRAM’s top offerings – with a direct-mount derailleur hanger known as the Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH). It is respected for its durability, which no doubt comes in handy in a 200-mile gravel race.
At first glance it would appear that riders have done the same thing this year, but upon closer inspection it’s clear that SRAM has gone one step further by creating an all-new derailleur and adding a 13th cog to the Transmission-style cassette. .
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All the riders seen using the new kit were using shifters from the recently released Red kit, confirming that they will be compatible. Notably, the new derailleur is also branded ‘Red’, so rather than a mullet-style road/mountain bike mismatch, it appears to be an all-new 13-speed SRAM Red version, presumably part of the XPLR gravel-focused subsection.
On the versions we were able to get our hands on, the largest sprocket had 46 teeth, but it’s not confirmed if this is the only 13-speed cassette option that SRAM will make.
It’s clear that there are more big things to come from the American brand, and while Unbound Gravel doesn’t have to comply with the UCI rule of commercializing prototypes for public use within 12 months of use, this new product looks polished enough to be the real deal. We’ll be sure to bring you the details as we learn more.
