SRAM 34T X-Sync 2 Direct Mount Eagle Chainring [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for. 

When looking for a new chainring, SRAM is tough to beat. They make some of the highest quality products in the industry and they come in just about every size, shape, and color. In this review, our customer Ernesto was looking to replace the stock Race Face chainring on his Santa Cruz. Check out his review of the SRAM 34T chainring and see what he had to say!

Overview

I originally bought my Santa Cruz chameleon with a SRAM NX 11 speed cassette and a 30t race face chainring. I noticed i was always riding in the higher gears all the time until I purchased this SRAM 34t x-sync 2 eagle chainring! The one I purchased has a 3mm offset and the color is polar grey. I am fairly new to the bike world. I just got my bike a year ago and have learned so much. Worldwide cyclery was great help in answering the questions I had on what chain would work with the chain ring and the cassette I was looking into. I swapped out a bunch of other components when installing the new chain ring including an x01 eagle 12 speed cassette, SRAM dub cranks and SRAM dub bottom bracket.

First Impressions

The SRAM chainring is the perfect set with the SRAM X01 eagle cassette. I love the polar grey color its offered in and it looks awesome on my bike, in my opinion of course. The installation for this SRAM chain ring is pretty straight forward with SRAM’s direct mount design. There are 3 t25 torx bolts that are included with the chain ring. Once you have the chain ring lined up to the proper bolt holes you just torque the bolts. The torque spec is on the chain ring which I think is very convenient. The x-sync 2 design does it’s job in keeping the chain on and running smooth. The chainring is super light weight compared to the race face chain ring that came on my bike. This chain ring is CNC machined aluminum where as the race face is steel if I'm not mistaken. Aesthetically the chain ring looks awesome.

On Trail Performance

Going from the 30t to 34t chain ring is a very noticeable change in pedal feel. Pedaling is definitely heavier with the larger chainring but it keeps me in the middle range of my cassette for most of the riding that I do.

I feel like I get more use of the higher ranged gears as well as on the lower gears of the cassette when needed having the SRAM eagle 34t chainring.

The SRAM eagle chainring feel is super smooth going through the gears and it is also quiet.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think I made a good choice. I like having as many parts as possible on my bike from the same manufacturer and even though there are many chain rings out there that look and I'm sure are awesome, SRAM makes great products and this SRAM eagle chainring is no exception. If I happen to be in the market for a chain ring again I would definitely purchase this SRAM eagle 34t chainring again.