My Trek Fuel EX 9.7 is my first bike with a SRAM group set and I must admit, I’m finding it a challenge to get out of my old “finger and thumb” Shimano habits.
I have seen people complaining about SRAM on here over the months, and usually it’s someone saying that one SRAM product is amazing, while another is shockingly bad. The first time I saw this I had a look to see what mine was and saw that the GX they were referring to positively was what was written on my derailleur. I also saw someone say that NX was not good.
Anyway, to my question. Today I noticed that my shifter is NX and my derailleur is GX. Is this normal? My bike is second hand so this could have been something swapped by the previous owner.
Is the shifter crap? If so, how does it differ to other SRAM ones?
I know I could google this, but I’d like to know the opinions and experiences of real people.
Thanks!
by Last-Bit-Last-2042
12 Comments
All of it’s good. All the Eagle stuff is cross-compatible, afaik.
GX and NX play well together, and it’s not uncommon to mix them. They mostly have small differences in weight and refinement.
lots of bikes come now in diffrent derailleur and shifer combo because on site they can write its gx but in reality its only the deraillieur thats gx not the whole package, but they should be alright
You can mix and match compatible components between the levels, so GX and NX ain’t unusual.
And ‘crap’ is all relative. Nothing that the big boys put out is awful, but equally there is an element of getting what you pay for before you get into the realm of diminishing returns. Personally, I’d put up with it until something fully wears out or breaks and then consider an upgrade. And even then perhaps only consider: Like-for-like is still gonna work, just as it’s doing now.
Pretty common for bike companies to mix and match MTB shifter/derailleur combos to cut costs (or due to availability).
You’ll see the same with Shimano as a bike maybe outfitted with an XT derailleur paired with an SLX shifter. All of which are cross compatible in the Shimano 12spd MTB ecosystem.
NX shifter is perfectly fine. You can always upgrade to GX down the line, but honestly not worth it in my opinion.
One of my previous drivetrains was SRAM NX 11sp, which was working quite okay, and was cheap and cheerful. Definitely not crap. Most modern MTB derailleurs that use a proper clutch will be miles ahead of what was available in the past. A known brand shifter in itself is a simple mechanical device, not sure how it can be crap unless it’s a chinese counterfeit product
Let me tell you a secret: you can use Shimano shifter with Sram derailleur and have you habit untouched.
NX shifter isn’t crap, but it’s not all that great. Fortunately a GX shifter is a fairly inexpensive upgrade. I’ve been very happy with my GX mech over the years. Started out on NX and GX was a vast improvement. I have GX T-Type on my main bike now but still have cabled GX on my park bike. GX cassette is vastly better than NX, but you’d have to swap your freehub driver (and possibly your whole hub) to run it.
The derailleur being GX is good, and the NX shifter will work fine with it.
The GX derailure is a good upgrade over NX. If the shifter gives you problems change it out for a GX. I’ve run GX mechanical on 6 bikes and it’s been great.
It’s worth upgrading to a GX or even better X0 shifter. They feel more positive and less ‘plastic’ than NX. Plus, X0 offers independent control over the position of the levers.
The NX shifter on my old RM instinct was one of the last surviving parts. Eventually, my 13yo who inherited the bike broke it, but it did pretty damn well.
Break it first. If you can, lol.
Little tip: The cover behind the UDH isn’t the trek one but the default one. Thats why you see the red seal of your bearing in your rear pivot.
Check if you got it somewhere, or ask the dealer if they have a larger ring laying around. Otherwise just buy the bit overpriced UDH from Trek as it comes with the larger ring: [https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-components/bike-hangers-dropouts/trek-universal-abp-derailleur-hanger/p/36402/](https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-components/bike-hangers-dropouts/trek-universal-abp-derailleur-hanger/p/36402/)
It keeps junk and water better out of the ABP bearing behind it (especially if you chuck marine grease below it before you tighten the UDH).