FORCE ETAP AXS WIDE BRINGS THE CHONK, WIDENS THE GEAR RANGE

Words - James Raison

Big news out of SRAM HQ; they’ve put their Force AXS groupset on the Kalteen Bar diet (oh yes, deep Mean Girls cut) and thicc-ened it up for gravel and adventure riding. We’re not just here to report on it, we can actually show it to you! So, if you’re a visual person check out the product reveal video below, or if you simply don’t like my face then you can read these words!

TL;DR OVERVIEW

Feeling lazy? Alrighty, here’s the fast version:

There’s new crankset with 43/30 chainring combination that’s also 5mm wider.
The cassette range has been widened up with a 10-36t version. A longer cage rear derailleur has been made to accommodate that new cassette.
There’s a new front derailleur designed for the wider crankset that can also clear gravel tyres.
The dub bottom bracket is the same, but some new 2.5mm spacers have been produced to fill out the 5mm of added width.
A new Paceline rotor with extra vents has been included to make smoother, quieter braking.
The rest of the groupset is unchanged so shifters, brakes, batteries, charger, and chain are the familiar Force gear.

Let’s take a look at the new components then, and break it down into important parts.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS

We’ve got a new component collective at the front of the drivetrain and it’s all focused on giving greater tyre clearance, and opening up the gear range.

FORCE WIDE CRANKSET

The brand spankin’ new Force Wide crankset brings a reduction in teeth down to 43/30, and a wider stance by 5 mm in total. SRAM has lengthened the DUB spindle by an effective 2.5mm on each side which means the DUB bottom bracket now has a couple of new spacers to fill the gap. Extra width means better tyre clearance thanks to the pushed-outboard chainline, which we’ll talk about more with the front derailleur (FD) section below. That does mean these cranks must be paired with the new Wide FD and will not be compatible with existing eTap AXS FDs.

I couldn’t help but notice how striking the cranks were the rear side. Very nice!

Stats:

Aluminium and carbon construction
Lengths: 165mm, 167.5mm, 170mm, 172.5mm, 175mm, 177.5mm
Price: $420 USD
Part number: FC-FRC-W-D1

FORCE ETAP AXS WIDE FRONT DERAILLEUR

The new crankset works in tandem with the eTap AXS Wide front derailleur. It’s been designed to give more space to fatter gravel tyres and will leave enough space for 700x45c and 27.5x2.1" rubbber. It’s compatible with all of the standard eTap electronics, but will only currently work with the new Force Wide crankset.

Mount compatibility: braze-on, 31.8mm, 34.9mm
Price: $350 USD
Part number: FD-FRC-EW-D1

PARTY OUT BACK

The new rear derailleur and cassette are new best buddies joining forces to give you the added range you need. It is a welcome development in a groupset series that sorely lacked non-race-focused options. Opening the groupset up to the gravel and adventure riders will draw in planty more customers.

FORCE ETAP AXS WIDE REAR DERAILLEUR

The new Force WIDE rear derailleur has seen a lengthening in the cage to accommodate the wider gear range. It still keeps the familiar features like the Orbit damper tech that helps keep the chain under control on rugged surfaces and the large X-SYNC bearing-equipped pulleys that make the system more efficient.

It’s a very friendly component, compatible with everything from the Force ETAP AXS ecosystem.

Critical stats:

Maximum cog size: 36t
Price: $490 USD
Part number: RD-FRC-E-D1

“Max 36T” and the elongated cage are the hallmarks of the new Wide derailleur

FORCE XG-1270 CASSETTE

SRAM has thrown some extra enamel at their Force cassette (no, not literally) because it’s grown some extra teeth. Unlike the rear derailleur though, it doesn’t get along with existing rear derailleurs in the AXS eTap range. It can only be used with the Wide rear derailleur because none of the others have the cage length to accommodate it.

Critical stats:

10-36t gear range
MINI CLUSTER construction
Designed for XDR driver bodies only
Price: $185 USD
Part number: CS-XG-1270-D1

SLOWING YOU DOWN

SRAM snuck a new Paceline rotor into this release as well. There’s been some tweaks with a new brake track vent design to improve cooling and quieten down brake noise.

Stats: Sizes: 140 mm & 160 mm
Attachments: Centrelock & 6-bolt
Price: $50 for Centrelock, $40 for 6-bolt.

SRAM Paceline Rotor 160 mm centrelock.jpg

EDITORIALISING FORCE ETAP AXS WIDE

It’s geneuinely great to see SRAM adapting and refining their product to better suit a booming area of the market. But I find the market positioning of the groupset fascinating. Its release is an admission that SRAM didn’t cater enough for a booming segment of the industry.

A CLASH OF PHILOSOPHIES

With Force eTap AXS Wide we’ve now got an alernative to Shimano’s GRX Di2. We recently reviewed it, and found it excellent. What’s interesting is just how different the brands are approaching their product development. SRAM is really innovating hard. So hard in fact, they never did a second generation of 11 speed eTap after spending years developing it. I think that’s a shame. A trickled down Force 11 eTap would’ve been excellent. Instead they pushed into the admittedly amazing 12 speed AXS ecosystem. It has phenomenal compatibility and interoperability but a high ticket price and added complexity of new bottom brackets and freehub body standards.

Shimano by contrast took a far less ambitious approach with GRX, refining and developing from their product with some of their smartest ideas from road and MTB tech. They also kept it simple with exisitng assets like brakes, chains, and cassettes pooling from their existing range. It’s not particularly innovative but the results are great. They also filled out the lower tiers with mechanical 11 and 10 speed variants all in one go. Expect to see a lot of GRX in the coming years.

Keep a close eye on what SRAM does next. We haven’t seen a mechanical non-MTB groupset in a long time from them, and I can’t help but feel they’re well overdue. Force and Apex 1x are really the only viable gravel mechanical groupsets from SRAM and I’d like to see some mechanical 12 speed.

OUR PLAN

We’ll be giving the Grove R.A.D a massive overhaul with the new Force eTap Wide groupset and some other badass stuff. We can’t wait! The incoming Australian winter will see it get plenty dirty and messed up. Keep an eye out, we’ve got a lot of fun stuff planned for this groupset!

Disclosure statement: Yep, SRAM sent the groupset to us.