SRAM AXS Eagle – Battery Test – WELCOME TO WOESRAND MTB

By now everyone riding mountain bikes should know about the Sram AXS system for wireless electronic shifting.

For more info on all the benefits and aspects of the XO1, XX1 and GX Eagle AXS products … visit Sram by clicking here

I have been riding with the GX Eagle AXS upgrade kit for the last two years which I bought from West Rand Cycles in May 2021. I was looking around on the internet but couldn’t find any info on the actual lifespan of the rear derailleur battery as I found that it was loosing charge quicker than normal after 2 years of riding. I decided to get a new battery and then I would test it to see how long it actually holds its charge. On the Sram website they say it should last between 20 – 25 riding hours … that’s a lot of riding. They do say that the shifter battery should last +/- 2 years in normal conditions.

How long the derailleur battery will last obviously depends on many many factors, the most important being the frequency of shifting. This is also affected by the terrain that you are riding. If you ride long gravel roads your battery will last longer than when you ride technical terrain where you shift gears a lot more often.

How many times do you shift gears on a 50km Ride? This is very difficult to say. If I told you that it could be around 250-300 times (+/- 5 shifts / km) you might think I am mad. One of the cool features of the AXS App is that it gives you a summary of your gear usage and amount of shifts after every ride. You can see which gears you spend the most time and distance on.

So, back to the TEST!

On 30 March 2023 I made sure that my AXS battery was fully charged before my first ride with the new battery on 31 March 2023. I decided that I would leave the battery on the bike for as long as possible until it failed. I ride +/- 3 times per week, +/- 50km per ride, quite technical up and down type of terrain most. I carried a spare battery just in case the battery bombed out mid ride. The battery lasted as follows:

31/03 – 49km – 324 shifts
01/04 – 71km – 384 shifts
04/04 – 53km – 293 shifts
07/04 – 72km – 405 shifts
11/04 – 48km – 235 shifts
14/04 – 47km – 242 shifts
15/04 – 71km – 362 shifts
18/04 – 62km – 353 shifts … still wasn’t dead yet.

On the last ride on 18 April 2023 my Garmin indicated that the Derailleur battery was low even before I started the ride. The battery lasted the whole ride and started to show the “Battery Critical” message with about 15 to 20km to go … but never died.

The totals for the TEST are as follows:

Days from charge = 19
Rides = 8
Distance = 474km
Elevation = 6817m
Moving time = 26 hours 07 minutes
Shifts = 2598
Shifts / km = 5.49

I thought it was quite a cool little test to get to know the system and the battery a bit better. I would recommend that you ride with a spare battery if you can and that you replace both the rear derailleur and shifter batteries every 2 years or so. The shifter works with a CR2032 Battery and is very easy to replace, much like your heart rate monitor etc. Pairing is also a breeze and then customising the shifting to your preference using the App.

The XX1 and XO1 Eagle options are a bit more expensive but currently the GX Eagle upgrade kit (derailleur, shifter, charger etc) will cost you in the region of R 12 000.00

Hope you enjoyed the stats ….. keep riding and having fun with mates on bikes and trails.