SRAM's Force AXS XG-1270 E1 cassette sits in the middle of the 12-speed road hierarchy, between the Rival PG-1231 stamped cassette below it and the Red XG-1290 above. The E1 designation marks the updated version optimized to work with SRAM's E1-series Flattop chains alongside the AXS electronic groupsets, and the construction method is what separates it from the tiers on either side. Where Red uses a machined single-piece mini cluster and Rival uses a fully pinned steel cassette, the Force XG-1270 uses FULL PIN construction with eleven stamped cogs held together by 123 stainless steel pins.

That construction gets you most of the weight benefit of the machined Red cassette at a lower price, with an open design that helps clear mud and grit from the cog spacing on wet rides. The nickel-chrome plating keeps things quiet under load and adds corrosion resistance, which matters on a cassette that's going to see wet-weather miles behind a Force AXS drivetrain. The gearing options cover 10-28T, 10-30T, 10-33T, and 10-36T — enough range to build anything from a tight 2x race setup to a 1x endurance or light gravel build.

The cassette requires an XDR driver body, not XD. XDR is 1.85mm longer than XD and is the road-specific interface SRAM uses to accommodate the 10-tooth small cog. If your wheels currently have an XD driver, they'll need swapping to XDR before this cassette will mount. Also worth noting: this is an E1 cassette designed to run with Flattop E1 chains, though it's cross-compatible with D1 Flattop chains as well, so existing SRAM 12-speed drivetrains can accept it as a replacement.... Read More