SRAM's new X.0 'family' will include a previously unannounced surprise: the clever XG-1080 'PinDome' cassette that mimics XX's incredibly light and trick X-Dome machined construction but at a far lower price point.
Like XX, the XG-1080 cassette uses a skeletonized dome-like construction but instead of being milled from a single chunk of chromoly steel (a precise but very expensive process), each cog is individually stamped in conventional fashion then pressed together with its adjacent neighbors with a varying number of short high-strength steel pins.
As a result, XG-1080 is still impressively light with a target weight of just 235g – just 11g more than Shimano XTR, which currently has one fewer cog and uses lighter but faster-wearing titanium. More critically, though, each cog is fully supported around its full circumference, reducing cog flex to virtually nil for faster and more reliable shifting and virtually eliminating the possibility of bent gears.
Like XX, torque is transferred to the freehub body via an aluminum innermost cog and the smallest cog will remain a separate bit. Planned gear ratios include 11-32T and 11-36T options.
Consumers won't be able to buy an XG-1080 cassette until around August but once they're available, pricing will be quite reasonable all things considered: just US$200 as compared to the only marginally lighter XX, which goes for nearly US$350. In addition, XG-1080's stamped cogs are expected to run more quietly, too.
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