2025 SRAM Force AXS Review: Performance, Features, and Comparison to Red

New SRAM Force and Rival Groupsets

• 🚀 SRAM has launched new road and gravel groupsets for Force and Rival, inheriting significant upgrades from the Red AXS line.
• 💡 Key improvements include enhanced ergonomics, increased braking performance, and expanded gear ranges, particularly for gravel applications.
• ✨ New features across the Force and Rival lines include redesigned hoods and levers, bonus buttons on shifters, and faster, quieter shifting.

Ergonomics and Braking Performance

• 🧠 The redesigned shifter hoods and levers, inspired by Red AXS, offer longer hoods for more hand positions and comfort, potentially allowing for shorter stems.
• ⚡ Lever blades are also longer, providing additional hand placement options and improved control.
• 💥 Braking power is significantly enhanced, with consistent performance available from the hoods to the drops, comparable to the Red AXS group.
• 🛠️ Both Force and Rival shifters feature reach adjustment for different hand sizes and reshaped paddles for better feel.

Shifter Features and Shifting Performance

• ➕ Force and Red shifters now include bonus buttons on the inside, which can control external devices like bike computers or serve as additional shift locations.
• ⚙️ The front derailleur cage on 2x road groups has been narrowed for faster shifting, and an auto-trim function ensures silent operation.
• 🔗 The rear derailleur features larger pulley wheels, reduced weight, and compatibility with 1x and 2x drivetrains across a wide cassette range (10-28 to 10-36).

Gravel and Explore Groupsets

• ⛰️ The Force and Rival Explore gravel groupsets now feature 13-speed capability, offering a 10-46 cassette range, compatible with XDR bodies and flat-top chains.
• 🚲 This expanded range is achieved through a direct mount rear derailer, requiring a UDH-compatible frame.

Cranksets and Power Meter Options

• 📊 Force AXS features updated carbon cranks with a flatter, wider shape and reduced weight, available in multiple crank lengths and with three distinct power meter options (chainring-based dual-sided, spindle-based single-sided).
• 💰 Rival AXS cranks are lighter aluminum, also with a one-piece 2x design and a single-sided power meter option.
• 🧐 The variety of crank and power meter configurations can be complex to navigate, but offer significant performance at a lower price point than Red AXS.

Cross-Compatibility and Value

• 🧩 A major advantage of the new SRAM groupsets is their extensive cross-compatibility, allowing mixing and matching of components across generations and tiers based on budget and needs.
• ✅ SRAM has successfully brought much of the Red AXS performance, particularly in shifting and braking, to the Force and Rival groups at a more accessible price point.
• ⚖️ Key differentiators between Red, Force, and Rival remain weight, specific power meter options, and the availability of bonus buttons on Force and Red.