I’m actually quite surprised that the aftermarket (particularly Sunrace and/or Miche) haven’t launched affordable, HG freehub compatible 12 speed cassettes with 2x12 road appropriate ratios. The demand seems obvious. Ax’s users would have to give up the 10-tooth cog, obviously, but I think it’s a compromise many would be willing to accept. Over in the MTB world, plenty have been more than willing to forgo the 10t cog to get a more affordable 12 speed Eagle setup, or to be able to convert HG-compatible wheels to 12 speed without the need for an XD driver. SRAM even went there with their two lower tier Eagle groupsets.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"