What I Learned about SRAM Red XPLR 1×13 after a 500km DNF

I recently reviewed both SRAM Red XPLR 1×13 and the Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels. As part of those reviews I spent hundreds of miles riding them then declared how amazing they are. The range of the 1×13 plus the amazing brakes was more than enough to win me over on the groupset side. While I praised the Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels for their ability to keep up on the road even when paired with a 45mm off-road tire. I could call that good enough but I had an opportunity to do a bit more.

I had an invite to a 500km version of the Swift Summit NW mixed-surface race. Instead of the Salsa Warbird I built specifically for races like this, I made a last minute change to see if the new SRAM stuff would hold up. In the end I didn’t finish the full 500km, but I still had plenty of time to contemplate what I thought about the Enve MOG built with SRAM Red XPLR 1×13 and the Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels. 330km later, here’s my thoughts.

Enve MOG

I didn’t get to write about the bike during this recent spate of reviews mostly because my colleague covered the launch review of the MOG. You can read the details in his article “Do you MOG? Meet ENVE’s first gravel bike,” but this is a chance for me to rave about it also. The MOG isn’t just the gravel bike that I chose for this event, it’s the gravel bike I’m choosing for all the future events.

One of the things that I discussed when covering the SRAM Red XPLR 1×13 groupset was how much it could do. The MOG is the same. It’s a bike that feels like a fast road bike, when that’s what you want, but also offers more. I ran it with 45mm tires and the combination of big tires plus no toe overlap in a size 54 (basically unheard of for my bikes) means I can get as rowdy as I want. This is the kind of bike where you ride it for a while and wonder why anyone actually needs a road bike.

The other thing that came in clutch for me in this instance was the storage in the frame. This isn’t a unique detail. There are so many gravel bikes on the market with this feature that patents for the door are an issue. Getting the door right is harder with each passing bike. Still, this was my first chance to really take advantage of it and I used it to stuff my leg warmers in when I started the race fully loaded with food. I don’t like bags so every little extra bit of storage is helpful.

SRAM Red XPLR 1×13

If you came here thinking I was going to talk about how I was totally wrong and this expensive wireless electronic groupset wasn’t great, I’m going to disappoint you. The 1×13 takes what was already capable in a 10-44T cassette with 12-speeds and adds to it. There’s more range with the additional 46-tooth ring but the jumps aren’t bigger since it’s now 13-speed. It performed flawlessly.

For this race, and likely for the rest of the time I use this setup, my gearing was a 40-tooth chainring paired with the 10-46 cassette. During the 207 miles I pedaled (obviously short of the 311 or so that would have meant finishing) the SRAM app tells me I changed gears 1,320 times. Within those 1,320 changes, I spent the vast majority of my time in the 13, 15, and 17-tooth cogs. I also spent 3 minutes in the 10-tooth cog and 35 minutes in the 46-tooth cog.

To me, that data tells a story of perfect gearing. I spend most of my time in the meat of the cassette but pushed towards the bottom where the jumps are smaller. There’s also a bump at the top of the line chart meaning when it’s time to climb, I’m switching to bailout gears. That’s the exact intention of SRAM, and for me it seems to work. I’m moving through the entire range but not living at either extreme. Not sure what else I could ask of the system.

Data aside though, there were a couple of things I noticed during the ride. On the more obvious side of things, the brakes are fantastic. I say more obvious only because there’s been so much written about the brakes this shouldn’t be a surprise. Despite that, steep gravel descents in the middle of the night still had me thinking about how great they are. Along the same lines, the gearing is perfect. I already spent a couple of paragraphs talking about that but watch the video and there’s a section where I’m falling asleep and trying to ride a serious hill. I can tell you I was in my easiest gear and I appreciated it.

The other thing I wanted to highlight is the ability to shift under power. During the launch, SRAM shared that slower shifting for those running a mountain bike derailleur in a mullet drivetrain is expected and intentional. SRAM slows the shifting to better handle shifting under load. For the gravel focused XPLR groupset, SRAM removed that delay. I covered all that but what I didn’t cover was how well it still handles shifting under load.

I often feel like once you’ve committed to a gear on a steep climb, the die is cast and you better push harder if you’ve misjudged. That’s just not possible when you are riding in the dark and have no idea how big a hill might be. Over and over I found myself in the wrong gear on a steep hill. It wasn’t an issue. The shifts are as fast and smooth as you’d expect from a road or gravel groupset but there’s no issue if you find yourself standing on a climb and need an easier gear.

The last thing I want to address is actually a response to a social media comment. In the initial review I said multiple times that I thought this groupset was great because it could do anything. Then someone commented and said it’s not enough for steep climbs with a loaded bike. That’s true and I need to rephrase things.

What I love about this groupset, and the wheels I’ll talk about in a moment, is that it’s an all-road solution. That appeals to me because it’s rare for me to spend all-day on gravel and even when I do it tends to be fast gravel rather than technical. What’s unique is that normally the phrase all-road means road and a little off-road. This time it truly means as capable off-road as on-road.

Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels and Goodyear XPLR Inter tires

I didn’t get to take advantage of the Zipp Ride Ready program but when the Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels came to me, there were Goodyear XPLR Inter tires in the box. For those unfamiliar, there aren’t that many tires compatible with the 32 mm internal width of the Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels. Zipp addresses this by working with Goodyear to offer two pairs of tires that perfectly match the ideal feeling the wheel designers have in mind.

One of them is the Goodyear XPLR Slick. The Slick is a 40mm wide aerodynamically optimized race tire that sounds conceptually perfect for the Swift Summit NW 500k. The course is primarily paved and the gravel that exists isn’t technical. It’s also a race. This was the tire I should have swapped on but it’s not the tire I had.

Although I’d discussed using the faster tire for this event, I had a feeling it wouldn’t happen and I was fine with that. In the tech meetings I thought for sure I wanted to swap tires, then I tested the Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels and Goodyear XPLR Inter tires. The Inter tires are 45 mm wide with tread but it doesn’t matter. In my initial review I wrote about how I felt no loss of speed on the road with that combo and that only continues to hold true the more I ride them.

In the week leading up to the event, I started to think I wouldn’t swap tires even if the Slicks arrived. I’d have to deal with sealant and take the time to swap tires when what I had was perfect anyway. Why bother?

In the end, the new tires never showed up and I never once considered that a problem. For the most part I didn’t need a tire that wide with tread but it also doesn’t hurt. The wheels are stiff, aero, and fast. With 45 mm tires on, I feel like I never need to think about the terrain. I didn’t have these tires when I was tackling technical gravel near Ogden, Utah a month earlier but I would’ve run them if I did. On the smooth, mostly paved, course near Lebanon, Oregon, they were just as capable. I even think they would have worked in the mud at the Traka 360. That’s pretty amazing from the same tire.

Conclusions and why I failed

I already said that if you came here looking for me to get negative about the new SRAM gear there would be disappointment. I’ll run through all of my gear in a separate article, but for the most part, I nailed it. The few things I’d change are not related to SRAM, Zipp, or Enve and the bike performed not only perfectly but perfectly for this event. You’ll see this in the video but the one thing that I didn’t expect to be an issue was sleep deprivation. Starting at night took a serious and unexpected toll on me. If I had it to do over I would have slept for a couple of hours in the middle but I wasn’t thinking straight enough to even consider that.

To wrap things back around to the SRAM Red XPLR 1×13 and Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels, it’s all about range of use. I’ve said it a few times and I’ll say it again, this setup can tackle a huge range of needs. The chainrings are easy enough to swap but with a 40-tooth in the front plus the 45 mm Inter tires, I never have to touch the setup for anything I’m going to tackle. I often take a gravel bike for rides that are mostly road but with a short gravel connection, this setup will handle that. It will also handle an ultra-endurance event with 80/20 road/gravel. If I decide to instead move to a fully off-road day, it’s equally great on gravel roads or technical gravel. The only time I might want to think about changing tires would be heavy mud. Otherwise, I’m happy to never have to touch anything.

If you want more details, check out the individual SRAM Red XPLR 1×13 and the Zipp 303 XPLR SW reviews.