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Ratio Eagle Cage Makes Your SRAM GX AXS Derailleur As Light As X01, But Cheaper!

Ratio has innovated again with a premium lightweight replacement cage for your SRAM Eagle AXS rear derailleur, that will let you upgrade your GX AXS derailleur to be as light as X01 AXS, and even for quite a bit less money...
Ratio Eagle AXS replacement derailleur cage, affordable upgraded SRAM GX AXS rear derailleur
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Many riders have debated why to buy expensive XX1 or X01 AXS, when GX AXS has essentially the same performance for much less money, and at a measly weight penalty. Now Ratio has your answer… don’t do it.

Ratio Eagle AXS replacement derailleur cage

Ratio Eagle AXS replacement derailleur cage, affordable SRAM AXS upgrade
photos c. Ratio

Ratio Technology has been making waves with a lot of more affordable ways to get more out for your existing drivetrain, from our favorite Budget Mullet conversion making your mechanical derailleurs shift big Eagle cassettes to an upgrade kit to run Campy 13 gearing with old SRAM mechanical shifters, to their latest prototype knuckle to convert old mechanical derailleurs to the forthcoming SRAM Direct Mount standard. But with a lot of cages designed to upgrade existing derailleurs, they didn’t have a replacement cage for riders already running Eagle AXS derailleurs.

Customers asked, and Ratio delivered. “A lightweight, high-quality replacement derailleur cage for Eagle AXS derailleurs.”

And since the 3 SRAM Eagle AXS derailleurs share the same shift motor, electronics, battery, and cage attachment – one cage will fit all 3 as a replacement, or as a significant high-value upgrade for GX.

Weight savings

Ratio Eagle AXS replacement derailleur cage, affordable SRAM GX AXS weight savings

Ratio says their machined alloy Eagle AXS replacement cage with pulleys weighs just 79g, compared to the 144g of the standard GX AXS steel cage. That’s a savings of 65g, not coincidentally the same savings SRAM gets with the X01’s alloy cage.

Looking back at SRAM’s derailleurs, interestingly that weight penalty is pretty much the only tangible performance difference between the three levels of Eagle AXS rear derailleurs, and SRAM has conveniently removed the weight claims from their website. Bikerumor to the rescue though, we wrote the all-inclusive Eagle AXS breakdown between the wireless three, including their real weights. SRAM XX1 AXS at $753 / 831€ weighs the least at 374g with ceramic pulley bearings & titanium bolts. X01 AXS at $538 / 573€ adds just 13g at 387g in the switch to the same steel bearings & steel bolts. So, GX AXS at $390 / 406€ delivers pretty much identical performance at 452g.

Ratio Eagle AXS replacement derailleur cage, backside machining detail

So swap the Ratio Eagle AXS replacement derailleur cage onto your current GX AXS derailleur and be the same weight as X01 or within 13g of XX1.

Tech details

Ratio Eagle AXS replacement derailleur cage, CNC-machined 7075 alloy, made in the UK

The Ratio Technologies Eagle AXS replacement derailleur cage is machined in-house by Ratio in the Lake District of the UK. The 7075 cages plates carry a pair of smooth & quiet, CNC-machined Delrin jockey wheel pulleys. They spin on labyrinth-sealed stainless steel Enduro bearings, and all held together with stainless steel bolts.

Ratio Eagle AXS cage – Pricing & cost savings

Ratio Eagle AXS replacement derailleur cage, affordable SRAM AXS upgrade

The secret here is that the Ratio Eagle AXS replacement derailleur cage sells for just £90, or ~ $92 / 84€, with international shipping from £11.

SRAM GX Eagle AXS + Force AXS Mullet 44T x 10-52T wide-range gravel drivetrain
SRAM GX Eagle + Force AXS Mullet, 44×10-52T gearing

Buy a new GX AXS derailleur for $390/406€, add the Ratio cage and it’ll cost you a total of $482/490€. You get the same weight as X01, but for $56/83€ less. PLUS you have the original steel cage as a spare in case you crash down the road. I can’t really see any reason to buy an X01 AXS derailleur at this point, and I’m thinking my own GX AXS gravel mullet setup is in due for a weight-saving upgrade now!

Or, if you’ve already crashed and broken the cage on any XX1 AXS, X01 AXS, or GX AXS derailleur, this is much cheaper than having to replace the entire derailleur since SRAM doesn’t sell a replacement cage, and pretty much the only other option had been an inordinately expensive oversized pulley wheel upgrade from the likes of CeramicSpeed, Kogel, etc..

RatioTechnology.com

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23 Comments
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Rabi
Rabi
1 year ago

Message to the bicycle industry as a whole (from Ratio to SRAM) – you are struggling because you insist on chasing ridiculous marginal gains to cyclists and charging ridiculous sums of money for the privilege. The barrier-to-entry is increasingly widening to current and potential cyclists who, when shopping around for a potential hobby, cannot see the benefit of an XX1 groupset. Please, please focus your efforts on making bikes more affordable and easier to maintain, not more luxurious and complicated!

Exodux
1 year ago
Reply to  Rabi

I somewhat see your point, but no one is forced into XX1 or XO1 components . It’s like pretty much any industry, there is an entry level and if you want something with a little more options, lighter weight, better materials, etc, you have an option to pay up. Doesn’t always mean your always getting a better product though.

This being said, I really like what Ratio is doing.

Destroyer666
Destroyer666
1 year ago
Reply to  Exodux

You are missing the point. The problem is not that there are different options or that some of them are expensive. The problem is that most marketing, R&D etc is put on the expensive options which are many times based on very marginal benefits (at best) to most cyclists, often accompanied by inflated, misleading, ambiguous, claims of benefit (100e tool to replace a custom size bearing, carbon stem is stiffer, a lighter helmet is more suitable for climbers, a wheel is 3% more aero, a wider headset makes a stiffer front end, bigger pulleys for efficiency,…). All this hyperbole shoved into the market and down our throats often on a yearly cycle of renewal. All this creates the image of a sport where you need all this constant updating, expertise on details and standards, and expensive stuff to ride or compete or even enjoy cycling, which to the opinion of some is quite unique when compared to other sports. And the situation could/should be different.

Rui
Rui
1 year ago
Reply to  Destroyer666

EXACTLY.

Dinger
Dinger
1 year ago
Reply to  Destroyer666

The marketing is only as meaningful as you allow it to be. If you like this stuff, buy it an enjoy it, but it’s by no means the only choice.

There are people riding their 9 and 10 speed steel and aluminum bikes 1,000’s of km’s every year, blissfully unaware or uninterested in the latest wireless gadget being promoted on the internet.

Destroyer666
Destroyer666
1 year ago
Reply to  Dinger

My argument was and the whole issue is much more complex than you are trying to make it to be. Briefly:
a) the extent and way marketing affects us is not a simple of choice of allowing it or not.
b) my argument went way beyond marketing. To put a small bit of it into the context of your 9 speed bike riders – try and guess how blissfully unaware of the “latest gadgets” they can be when their Ultegra derailleur breaks and they go to the local bike shop to fix it?
c) just for the fun of playing your game – we can also say that there are also plenty of people riding their brand new bikes with the latest what-nots thinking that they’ve made an independend choice blissfully unaware of the ways marketing has affected these decisions,

Tom
Tom
1 year ago
Reply to  Destroyer666

Lord almighty, you act like the world doesn’t work this way – introduce new tech and sell it at high prices to recoup the investment. Gradually introduce the tech to lower lines so that other users can enjoy the benefits – think anti lock brakes, cruise control, AC, there’s literally an endless list. For the record, I don’t have electronic shifting on my MTB, don’t need it, don’t want it, don’t care if you want it or not. All I know is my 4 year old MTB is SOOO MUCH better than my last MTB that I am completely satisfied with the $5K I spent on it. And if you have a decent relationship with the bike shop guys, they can often provide a spare part from their collection of cast offs, and there’s ALWAYS Ebay.

Destroyer666
Destroyer666
1 year ago
Reply to  Tom

Damn, what an arrogant idiot you are

JEREMY MOORE
JEREMY MOORE
1 year ago
Reply to  Destroyer666

That’s true in every industry. People also buy cheaper versions of things because they can’t afford the top teir things they want. So the marketing works across the board

Destroyer666
Destroyer666
1 year ago
Reply to  JEREMY MOORE

Not sure what you mean to be true in every industry. Nonetheless, I doubt that such a blanket statement would hold water anyway. Although I was painting a broad picture of trends in the cycling industry and their effects, I certainly did not mean to argue that at individual level we all act and react in the same manner.

Tom
Tom
1 year ago
Reply to  Destroyer666

Sounds like this whole cycling thing is bringing you down, maybe you be happier if you quit riding.

Destroyer666
Destroyer666
1 year ago
Reply to  Tom

I’d be happier if you did.

JEREMY MOORE
JEREMY MOORE
1 year ago
Reply to  Rabi

I prefer marginal gains over no gains. And everyone is regularly improving their cheap stuff.

Destroyer666
Destroyer666
1 year ago
Reply to  JEREMY MOORE

You sure seem to think you know everything and everybody.

Oliver
Oliver
1 year ago

Going by real street (internet) prices rather than SRP, the GX Eagle AXS is with Ratio cage is more expensive than the X01.

Greg
Greg
1 year ago
Reply to  Oliver

I’d say it’s still relevant for people that already have GX AXS.
However, most people these days are aware of the inexplicably weak clutch on the GX AXS derailleurs. Too bad this cage won’t address the issue.

syborg
syborg
1 year ago
Reply to  Greg

Also relevant for folks who damage a cage.

paul
paul
1 year ago
Reply to  Greg

the clutch is the same, the cage has a 80 gram difference, the gx axs cage is the sage as standard mechanic nx/sx derialluers with the same clutch issue, it’s the added weight of the cage pulling the derailleur down, all my clutch issues when away when i swapped the cage on mine when i had the chance to.

JEREMY MOORE
JEREMY MOORE
1 year ago
Reply to  Oliver

You can buy oversized cages for cheap from Aliexpress. The bearings in the pulleys are trash but replacing those is cheap too

JMT
JMT
1 year ago

Can this be used to lighten a X01?

Branko
Branko
1 year ago

So saving 69 grams will help me with what exactly?

paul
paul
1 year ago

i put a stock xx1 axs cage on my gx axs and saved 80 grams, fo free, since the xxi derailleur it came from had a shot actuator.

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