So, it's about time to replace this derailleur, it's served me well but honestly the problems never really stopped with GX eagle.
I just don't know which route to take, since I run a helix cassette I could possibly jump to Shimano deoreXT for about $130 while keeping the SRAM chain. It should be compatible, but concrete information is sparce when mixing so many brands.
Even less information is available about the other option, LTWOO TX. Apparently for $50 shipped I can get a 12 speed shifter and derailleur. Every bike shop guy will tell you to steer clear of LTWOO but the stuff I've seen in person felt good quality. I can't find any food reviews on the TX group and even aliexpress shows maybe a dozen orders between multiple vendors. Really my biggest gripe with them is that spare parts seem to be impossible to find, everything seems to be disposable instead of rebuildable.
As far as I can tell there's no ultra reliable mechanical 12speed. Shimano is probably the best I can afford, but the mismatched parts are likely to lead to issues. LTWOO would save me enough to upgrade my brakes but I have no idea if it's just going to be a pain in the ass or actually usable. Honestly I really don't want to buy another eagle derailleur. From day 1 I've had nonstop issues, yet it's the option that makes the most sense to me.
If anyone has real experience with 12 speed outside of the usual setups your knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the ramble.
TLDR:
- Just replace the derailleur ($100)
- Upgrade to Shimano ($130)
- (Maybe) downgrade To LTWOO ($50)
I've been lucky enough to demo box's prime9 and absolutely loved it. It was only for an hour but it shifted great and I genuinely did not miss the extra gears. Idk exactly how reliable it is long term, but it definitely felt better than GX eagle.
The only thing holding me back from throwing prime9 on is that the cassettes are HG hub only, and this wheel is XD. When I got the helix I was so close to just swapping the entire wheel for an HG hub and going for box. It was just too expensive to swap so much of my drivetrain when the wheels and hubs are perfectly good. Hope you can find it in europe or demo a setup for yourself, if I could run box I absolutely would.