Posted on February 8, 2022 by Tyler Benedict
After a long period of testing with athletes and special needs riders, SRAM is formally launching eTap AXS Wireless Blips. But, going wireless with the Blips has been on their minds since the day they launched AXS.
The tiny little Bluetooth buttons are designed to be stuck just about anywhere you can imagine. Fully self-contained, they come with clip-on TT bar mounts, a vacuum-formed surround, and double stick tape in the package, giving you plenty of ways to attach them.
SRAM has been testing them for about a year, and found that beyond just giving regular riders more placement options, they solved a couple problems for triathletes. And a lot of problems for hand cyclists…
This custom grip was made by one athlete to house the blip inside the brake hood and handle. The elimination of wires and hoses makes installation much easier, and allows for more ergonomic controls.
The first you notice about the Wireless Blips is that there’s no charging port. And no battery cover. And that’s intentional. They need to be small to fit under the bar tape and the nooks and crannies of various handlebar shapes.
So, they are not re-usable. SRAM calls them “recyclable”, and not disposable, because you can take them to any place that accepts electronics for recycling, which includes Best Buy and Target, among others. Basically, you can drop them at any electronics recycling facility that accepts old cell phones, hearing aids, etc. So, what you do with them after they’ve made their last shift is up to you.
Fortunately, that’ll take a while. SRAM estimates they’ll last an average of seven years. More specifically, the lifespan by rider type is pegged at:
While it’s easy to dismiss this as waste, it’s also easy to see why: Once they’re wrapped under your bar tape, there’s really no good way to charge them or replace a battery anyway. And, supposing you change your bar tape once per year, changing the battery every time just to be safe would potentially burn through 4x to 7x more batteries than necessary.
And then there are the aforementioned benefits for special needs installations. SRAM says they’re a technical solution for those who want or need it, and they like to have options for everyone.
The sealed design means they’re able to achieve IPX7 waterproofness. Which is good for cyclocross, gravel, triathlon…everything really.
The Wireless Blips differ from the wired Blips and standard shift paddles in that they have a “momentary press” only. You press, and it fires off a single “click” for a single shift…for now.
Meaning, for now, you can’t hold it down for multi shifts, and that’s to save battery life so you’re not holding it down for long periods of time. Which means it also won’t work with the Reverb AXS since the dropper post requires a longer push-and-hold to give it time to drop…for now.
SRAM says a future firmware update will allow it to work with the AXS dropper seatpost and execute multi-shifts, but no definitive timeline is announced.
The Wireless Bliips need to pair with either drop bar shift paddles, the Vuka AXS 90 aero bars or a Blip Box to do the initial setup – basically any of their control units that has a “brain”. But once they’re paired to the derailleur(s), you don’t need any of those other shifters on or connected to the bike to use the Wireless Blips for shifting.
The catch is there are no adjustment buttons on them, so you’d need the AXS app to do micro-adjustments as necessary. Each pair is serialized, so you can see from within the app which pair you’re looking at if you’re running more than one pair on the same bike.
Retail is $99 (€100 / £90), available for sale in April 2022.
Comes in a set of two for $100, works with any current 12-speed eTap AXS group. Look for them on some Scott bikes right now, and more OE placements to come.
Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com. He has been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for 14 years. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel to killer riding locations throughout North America.
Based in North Carolina, Tyler loves finding new travel adventures to share with his family and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part to make his bikes faster and lighter. And, he’s totally gone down the NFT rabbit hole.
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They defeat the whole purpose by requiring a blipbox to connect them.
Agreed, that is a huge miss, maybe they can make it pair through the app in the future
Only for the initial setup, apparently.
It’s not required? It’s only required if your bike does not have any SRAM components to act as a master unit. It literally states that in the article.
Yeah, but reading is hard man.
You didn’t read the article did you
Your SRAM.com link at the bottom is set to SRAM.coOm.
This shifter box surrounding the button is quite huge. I will keep my self soldered Shimano-Sprint-Shifter-SRAM-Clicks.
Not compatible with reverb AXS –
The Wireless Bliips need to pair with either drop bar shift paddles, the Vuka AXS 90 aero bars OR a Blip Box to do the initial setup
So SRAM Rival shifters are apparently narrower since they don’t contain plug-ins for blips. I recall reviewers really liked this aspect of the shifters. Does this mean these new wireless blips can be used with SRAM Rival shifters and that this enables a new feature for this groupset.
Also, will the rest of the SRAM lineup get rid of the plug-ins in future groupsets?
The plug ins have their place. They are much lower profile. They are not as disposable. They mount more securely. I don’t know why they are so f’ing expensive though. Especially when they’re wireless version is 3/4 of the price.
“They are not re-usable. SRAM calls them “recyclable”. That’s just horrible, $99 disposable shifters…
Pretty cool. I think these could be great for use with clip-on aerobars for draft legal triathletes
Exactly! And you can move them to the drops for sprint shifters for crits.
wrapped and no signal, then how can I know when and in which race it will die?
you can monitor the battery through the app. if the battery life claims hold true you really shouldn’t have to worry about it till you’ve replaced the battery in the drop bars a few times.
possono essere utilizzati su Eagle Axs ?
What are the over dimensions of these (length, width, thickness)?
When these can do the axs reverb, I’ll pick up a pair.
So would it be possible to use these on a MTB and ditch the shifter? One for up one for down.
From what I am reading that IS possible and pretty exciting since I can’t get the sifter/brake lever placement quite right on my MTB.
I’m in the same boat. I’ve played with it for the past 2 years and it still doesn’t feel quite right.
While the overall battery life claim is great, it still doesn’t change the fact that the shifter is dead when power runs out. That’s never been the case with any other shifter before, and we’re supposed to accept it.
Really easy to claim these are “recyclable” when no one will hold you to it. It’s just like any plastic labeled “6” in the US, theoretically possible, but very likely these will be landfilled.
That’s what SRAM likes these days though, leaky dampers without available spare parts, damper shafts you can’t buy, fork bushings glued into place, hydro levers without any seals available, and now this. Good thing there are other options!
Dont forget the power meters connected directly to chainrings. But seriously, I think if you crack the plastic case you can replace the battery. There will most likely be something like CR2032.
While I will typically take any opportunity to hate on SRAM, these are cheaper than blips, more flexible, and not much larger. I’m sure that somebody will figure out how to open the case and replace the battery, even if it means losing water resistance. Not a big deal IMO
Does this pair with the Gen 1 Etap 11 speed?
more crime from SRAM both environmental as well as expensive. The way overpriced wired blips were the right answer they just needed to be priced correctly.
why do they need to pair to drop bar shift paddles? This would be the ultimate dropper lever in a clean cockpit. missed a chance there
Only available in 2024. Why annouce it now when you can’t even make the product available??
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