New SRAM Eagle 90 – first bike build

Last week the first of the new SRAM Eagle 90 groupsets turned up and I wanted to build a demo bike with it. There’s no better way to learn a new technology and there are plenty of new bikes coming this year that run this system, plus there’s some new features in the mechanical version of the Transmission system that I needed to be on top of.

The Eagle 90 groupsets are $1150 and include shifter and derailleur, 10-52 XD cassette, T-type chain and a DUB crankset with 32t chainring and integrated bashguard. I think this price is spot-on really, the bike market is so full of specials now you can buy a good bike with a budget groupset and upgrade immediately; it’ll still be cheaper than the normal RRP and you have a brand-new groupset to go back on it when you sell it as a ‘near new’ bike.

Key to this new Transmission (aka T-Type) system is the UDH ‘hangarless interface’ which SRAM brought to market about 2 years ago. Every bicycle brand is using it on their top-tier bikes, with many brands phasing out the models that still use an old-school hanger.
Our bike came out of the box with Shimano XT 12-speed on a UDH hanger:

I think UDH and Transmission has secured SRAM’s position as the leading brand in drivetrain technology; certainly in MTB/Gravel with Road 13sp group sets on the same trajectory. Shimano will be playing catch-up until they bring a hangerless derailleur to market…if they ever do. I imagine SRAM’s patent lawyers have been very busy over the past few years!

This Focus Raven is a cracking bike, we run it as a gravel race bike with drop bars but as an XC race bike it’s hard to beat in a hardtail. The carbon frame is strong and light with a stash in the downtube, super easy to carry spares and tools. Frame stash options are quickly becoming the norm in carbon-framed bikes.

I’m not a fan of the ICS system on most bikes these days and often replace it. I carry the ACROS conversion topcap in stock, plus the alloy compression ring. While the forks were out, the headset was stripped and updated.

The ACROS headset has a variable angle, I’ve chosen the slackest 66 degree option to begin with and we’ll try it in the singletrack before changing it to 67.5 degrees for back-to-back testing.

I’d have liked the crankset to be under 750g but the Eagle 90 is not a high-end SL option. At 812g it’s good value for money, but I think the crankset will be the first component most Eagle 90 owners will upgrade though – for $700 you can save 250g.
I picked a 165mm crank length because shorter cranks are proving to be just as powerful as longer 170/175mm options, plus my legs are very used to short cranks from all the eMTB work I do at 155/160mm. 

The Zipp 1Zero Hitop S Carbon wheels are super nice, 30mm internal hookless rims taped ready for tubeless with a valve installed. The rear wheel is XD to take the SRAM cassette and the freehub is the new eMTB-ready 4-pawl design.

The wheel+tyre combo dropped a full kilo off the bike weight, about right for the $2500 pricetag…

The forks are the same 32mm Rockshox SID Ultimate SL we run on the gravel bikes but this one is left standard at 110mm. These forks drop almost a kilo from the bike’s weight and perform beautifully with a three-position compression adjuster on the crown and 22 clicks of rebound underneath.

Out of the box this bike weighed 12.5kg and we’ve taken 2kg off that. We have some more weight to lose with changes to the stem and bars, 100g at best. I hoped the bike would be under 10kg but the budget for this build didn’t allow for super lightweight components.

Even though it would save 400g, for convenience I left the dropper post in the bike…10kg for a 29er in LG is still pretty good!

After the first run-in ride I knew I had made the correct crank length choice, and that my bars/stem were way off. This week coming I’ll change out the long stem I normally use; the frame’s toptube is quite long and I think a 35-40mm stem will be much kinder on my wrists. I’ll also slam it 10mm, it’s way too high.

This bike is a shop demo and available for customers to ride. Like everything in the shop it is for sale… but you’ll have to write me a big cheque to get it before the end of No Motor November.