Until the arrival last year of SRAM’s NX transmission, GX was the brand’s most affordable way of going 1×11 with your gearing. With GX appearing on many of our favourite bikes it’s become a sound choice for all but boutique bike builds.
Here at Dirt HQ we’ve been on single chainring transmissions for many years now and in the past we were happy to get off and push back up the hill if our gearing wasn’t low enough. It was a small price to pay for the added chain security, lower noise and general lack of clutter. Back then we often needed the addition of a lightweight chain guide for that extra reassurance too. SRAM changed all that that tough when they launched their much anticipated eleven speed transmission and we soon fell in love with it, featuring the XX1 gearing way back in the 2013 Dirt 100.