Cycling Product of the Year: Why SRAM Force AXS Won

SRAM Force AXS gets the nod as this year’s Velo Product of the year. Here’s how we got there.

When our team worked on the Velo Best Products of 2025 nominations, the winner involved a fair bit of debate. There were a lot of favorites. The reason that SRAM Force AXS got the nod is because it’s core to cycling while also being accessible and honest.

There was a strong argument for something more of the moment. The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses are a unique product that’s never really existed in history before. There was also a strong argument for Shimano or Campagnolo groupsets. Those are both core to cycling and they do specific things better than the competition.

SRAM Force AXS does something more than that though. What I really loved about the Force AXS is something I understood before I’d ever touched the product.

With SRAM Force AXS, SRAM did something brave. The company relied on the strength of branding and was honest with the consumer. Let’s back up though.

SRAM launched RED last year and people loved it. The full mount XPLR system on the gravel side was the first 1×13 electronic groupset and the bonus buttons on both road and gravel are seriously good. There’s also an amazing app with very cool insights such as the ability to see where you shift and how long you stay in particular gears. There’s even details on the power output you push for particular gearing and there’s the previous innovations of wireless connections with removable and swappable batteries.

The real innovation of RED though was the brakes. Part of it is the new levers and part of it is a redesigned caliper but either way, no one else currently touches SRAM when it comes to brake performance.

This is not about RED though, this is about Force. The reason the two are intertwined is because when SRAM launched the new Force AXS the brand said here’s the exact same performance as RED for less money. It’s heavier, and it looks different, but there’s no loss of performance. All you have to do is take everything I just wrote about RED and swap it to say Force. You can also swap it to Rival except you don’t get the bonus buttons in that case.

The brave part of that will make sense to anyone who’s ever worked in a corporate company. Can you imagine walking into an office and saying the second tier product should do the same thing as the top tier but cost less. The obvious response would be “absolutely not, why would anyone buy the more expensive product?”

You buy RED because, actual WorldTour racing aside, it’s a fashion choice. You can pretend the weight difference makes you faster if you want but I prefer not to delude myself. I understand that for certain situations you want the best available product even if it’s not about going faster. What SRAM did here was trust in that. SRAM was brave enough to trust in the branding and reputation of RED while still offering the same performance for less money.  For that reason, I want to acknowledge SRAM Force AXS for the incredible performance it offers at the price point it’s sold at. That’s worthy of the Velo Product of the Year award.

You can read more in the full SRAM Force AXS review.