eTap 11 speed and AXS eTap 12 speed cross compatibility
 

Hey y'all,

I have a curious thought. Although the 12-speed Force/Red AXS cranks have grown on me aesthetically, I still don't want to throw down the money for those cranks. I am playing with some mix/match drive train testing to try to upgrade to wireless shifting from my setup incrementally.

Currently I have:
* Shimano 11-speed 11-30t Ultegra Cassette
* SRAM Red22 eTap 11-speed Exogram Cranks 50/34
* Force22 Shifters
* Force 10-speed RD (running it 11 sp)
* Red22 FD
* Shimano 11-speed Ultegra Chain

What I'm considering trying...
* SRAM Red22 eTap 11-speed Exogram Cranks 50/34t
* Shimano 11 speed 11-30t Ultegra Cassette
* SRAM Red eTap 11 speed RD
* SRAM AXS FD (no pref)
* SRAM AXS Shifters (rim brake version probably)

Would this work? I know that a new firmware update allows for backward compatibility for the new AXS shifters to work with 11 speed eTap RDs. but not sure if the shifters can be programmed to work with an eTap RD and AXS FD at the same time. And if I had an AXS FD with 11-speed RD, will I have problems shifting the FD??

FD must match the RD (or no FD).

The only cross compatibility they added was AXS shifters to 11 sp RD. No other mixes and matches are valid (yet).

Time to move on to 12 speed. 11-30 ultegra 12 cassette with force axs shifters and your choice of force or rival derailleurs. Shimano 12 chain will work.

I recently bought a pair of force axs mechanical brake shifters for $360 from bikeinn.

That’s not a bad price for Force shifters.
I’ll probably get those and then slowly source an AXS group set. Sigh.
I always thought that I had to get a flattop chain with the RD… if I’m using Ultegra 12s with a shimano 12 speed chain, can I keep using this Red 11sp Crank? I assumed I’ll have to get new rings?

marking this with the tag AXS Compatibility to help with future threads on this subject and search

I have a BNIB Force AXS rim brake mini group (shifters, FD, RD) I don't need afterall. I'll sell for retail price if interested.

Found this thread in weightweenies.
In short, regarding 12-speed Ultegra cassette with 12-speed AXS RD/FD, ymmv. It should work but someone will have to try it for themselves.

edited to add clarity on what I found...

https://weightweenies.starbike.com/f...b08e3&start=15

where in that thread does it suggest mixing the 11s and 12s derailleurs work? i would love for that to be true, but i'm almost certain it doesn't.

Did they have them in stock?

I recently read that bike inn can sometimes not have the inventory in stock as shown online.

Sorry, that was unclear. That message pertained to a question I had in a later post on whether an Ultegra 12 speed cassette/chain will work with the Road AXS RD/FD.

There doesn't seem to be any evidence that the 11speed eTap FD will work with the 12speed eTap AXS RD and eTap AXS shifters.

They did when I bought a couple of weeks ago, but stock and pricing change from day to day.

11 speed crank and shimano 12 chain should work, but the axs chain may work as well or better. I've used an axs chain with Campy 12. A shimano 12 chain didn't work well with my axs cassette in the 13-14-15 sprockets. Don't know why.

I just built a 1x bike with AXS 12s. The Absolute Black 1x chainring is NOT compatible with the flattop chain. It grabs it and doesn't let go. I just bought Wolftooth's 1x chainring which purportedly works, and will report back.

1X is a different situation since the chain rings are narrow/wide. The manufacturer usually list exactly which chains should work with specific rings. Wolftooth has detailed info for their rings.