“Garbaruk 10–52T cassettes are fully compatible with 13-speed XPLR drivetrains originally designed for 10–46T. With correct setup, the stock XPLR derailleur handles a 52T cog — no cage swap needed.”
Riding the new 13 speed XPLR range from SRAM has been great, especially the new lever ergonomics on the brake/shifter. The one thing lack lusting is the cassette range especially riding in the mountains here in the north west. Typically our gravel that we ride is on forest service roads, some are old no longer in use or others are barely maintained. Having a larger range makes it easier get up those steep access roads, but yet you can still maintain a larger chainring for the road push to get you there. The new Garbaruk gen2.0 cassette fixes what Sram did not produce, allowing a bigger cassette range (which is 520%) to get you up those roads less traveled for there gravel XPLR series.
I rode the 10-46 cassette for a few months, while the shifts were good, easy to set up, there was still a few gears that were a bit louder while pedaling. Switching to the Garbaruk cassette all the gears are smoother, quieter, and the shifts have been crisper since changing the cassette. The Gen2.0 cassette is also lighter than the Sram XPLR cassettes. Rival cassette comes in at 383g, Force comes in at 348g, and the larger range Garbaruk comes in at 343g. This cassette looks amazing, with its one piece design, making it stiff, light and precise. The top ring is made out of aluminum and designed to be replaceable, so if that wears out before the rest of the cassette is it a much cheaper replacement. Running the Garbaruk cassette has been well worth the upgrade in all ways.
SET UP
When doing set up, I couldn’t find anywhere online I could find how to calculate chain length. Problem solving I put both the eagle and xplr drop bar set ups in the Sram app to calculate length. I started with Eagle, which was 122 links, did the set up cog, which is 7, and while shifting down the chain was too long making the chain floppy. I took the chain down to 120, where the XPLR set up recommended and that was the ticket. When setting up this cassette use the XPLR set up, which means if you currently have a 10-46 cassette, you will not need a new chain!
The cassette does come with extra two pieces, one washer that replaces the top jockey wheel one that is easy to swap, and the other is a cassette spacer to put behind the cassette when running the XDR freehub body. Other than that it is a quick motion to get the little plastic guard that comes on the Force or Rival derailleurs to allow the derailleur to clear the larger cassette. Here is the link for set up video from Garbaruk. Red derailleurs will need a full upgrade kit from Garbaruk if you want to run this cassette.
The set up cog is easy to find, you can count up 7 from the bottom gear or count down 7 from the top gear! They will land you on the same cog for setting up the Sram derailleur. I have seen some you tube videos that stated they needed to almost max out the micro adjust on the lever to allow this to work. I did not have this issue, I only had to do a couple clicks over from where the Sram cassette was at, allowing a easy set up.
The Garbaruk cassette is a bit more expensive than the Sram cassettes, but in my opinion it is fully worth the money spend. Having the 13 gears to maintain a better cadence, bigger range, lighter, and having a smoother, more quiet drivetrain is well worth it on all ends.
