SRAM Battery for eTAP, eTap AXS, Eagle X01/XX1 AXS: 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.

A review for a battery, how exciting can it be? Well, if you have SRAM Eagle AXS drivetrain, this small battery is the key to your day out on the trail. Not all batteries are the same, some can hold a significantly longer charge. Thankfully, the SRAM battery does just that. Check out Dustin's review to get his thoughts!

Overview

Okay. So you're likely thinking, 'how far can this review go? It's just a battery.' Well hold on the yer britches, Sally. Here we go. First, let's discuss the name AXS. Is it pronounced Access? Is it pronounced Axis? The world demands answers, SRAM. And vowels. We also demand vowels.

Next up, the battery cover. It is red. A very fiery and passionate red. More of a SRAM red than firetruck red. But I don't have the pantone swatches to verify. The cover also has a little indicator switch on it that you can flip to keep track of whether the battery is charged or not. There are little battery icons molded into the cover near the switch. And you guessed it, one is a full battery icon, and the other is a not-so-full icon. Could be useful if you have more than one battery laying around. I can definitely see myself screwing this one up at some point and leaving a spent battery in a charged cover, so I'd prefer to just keep everything charged all the time.

Next item. The price. Sweet Moses on a lawnmower, these things are expensive!! 50ish bucks for a little battery?? It's not Worldwide Cyclery's fault. It's our fault for buying them. MY fault for buying them. Sigh. Oh well. I did it, and it's nice to have a backup battery in case things go bad.

Performance

Now let's discuss the battery itself. It is a battery, inside an elegant and slimming black case. It's small enough to fit in a small receptacle of some sort. A pocket, a tool pack, or perhaps taped to your top tube like an enduro banana. Quick changes are so enduro. It will also fit up inside a Fox 36 fork tube, but not very well with the cover in place. And with the cover off, it kinda fits with a Fork Cork holding it in place. But the fork cork doesn't fully seat, so I abandoned my plans and resorted to just checking the battery level before I ride.

On to waterproofing. This little baby has a waterproof rating when it's installed on your derailleur. Not sure about when the cover is on. It's installed rating is IP69K. This is big-time sealage, Karen. Like, remember that time when you ate at Taco Time and got the hot snakes while in line at the Hobby Lobby? This thing would have kept it in. All of it. That's the kind of seal power we are dealing with here. Splashes, dust, mud, river crossings, mild spray washers. Sealed deal.

Battery life. Hot dang, these little boxes last a long time. Riding one or two times per week, I'm still over half charge after 8 weeks. It's actually very impressive battery life. It's got as much staying power as that Flo lady has with Progressive insurance commercials. Did you know they bundle??

Final Thoughts

So who will this work for? Anyone who woke up in a Vegas bath tub minus one kidney and plus one AXS on their bike. (Again SRAM, is it Access or is it Axis??? Vowels are owed). This will work with Eagle AXS for you glorious, unwashed dirt herding masses. It will also work for the dentist roadie who had his hygienist McKenzleigh purchase the SRAM Red AXS for his '97 Serotta when he couldn't find a shop willing to fix his Campy SuperRecord gruppo. Boom. Roasted.