Machined from a single block of steel, the XG-1290 E1 cassette eliminates the pins, bolts, and carrier spiders found in traditional cassette construction. SRAM's X-Range gearing philosophy drives the design here, using a tighter progression between cogs that keeps your cadence in a narrower, more efficient window as you move through the gears. The Red AXS XG-1290 E1 represents the weight-focused option in SRAM's 12-speed road cassette lineup, shaving significant grams compared to the standard Red AXS cassette while maintaining the same shifting precision.

The single-piece construction does more than save weight. Machining all twelve cogs from one steel billet means the tooth profiles maintain exact positioning relative to each other, which translates to consistent shifting feel across the entire range. You're not relying on separate cogs staying aligned through thousands of shifts and power spikes. The trade-off is replacement cost when the cassette wears out, but for riders chasing grams on race day or simply wanting the cleanest possible shifts, the engineering justifies itself.

X-Range gearing shows up in the available ratios. The 10-26T, 10-28T, and 10-33T options all start with that 10-tooth small cog, which lets SRAM deliver wider gear ranges without resorting to massive jumps between cogs. A 10-33T cassette gives you legitimate climbing range while keeping tighter gaps in the gears you actually use on flat and rolling terrain. If you're running Red AXS and want the lightest cassette option that still delivers full X-Range capabilities, this is the piece.... Read More