First Look: Box One Prime 9 - A Wide Range, 9-Speed Drivetrain
Today, Box Components rolled out a wide-range, budget-friendly 9-speed drivetrain, along with an 8-speed youth drivetrain. If you haven't heard of Box, well, they've been around for a bit. Founded by Toby Henderson, Box has been making components ranging from handlebars and wheels to titanium bits. Oh, and a high-end seven-speed DH drivetrain that has been racing on the DH World Cup circuit under top riders, including Mick Hannah.
Henderson has been working to shake things up in the drivetrain market. Last year, we reviewed the 11-speed Box Two drivetrain and were told the top-tier Box One was in the making. Somewhere during its development, the decision was made to go from 11-speeds to 9. That's not a typo. Box claim there's less chance for things to go wrong, and their 9-speed sells for 626.99 USD. That said, it wouldn't be surprising to see a high-end 11 or 12-speed group from the brand in the future but for now, let's talk about the Prime 9.
Henderson has been working to shake things up in the drivetrain market. Last year, we reviewed the 11-speed Box Two drivetrain and were told the top-tier Box One was in the making. Somewhere during its development, the decision was made to go from 11-speeds to 9. That's not a typo. Box claim there's less chance for things to go wrong, and their 9-speed sells for 626.99 USD. That said, it wouldn't be surprising to see a high-end 11 or 12-speed group from the brand in the future but for now, let's talk about the Prime 9.
Box One Prime 9 Drivetrain
Rear Derailleur: Adjustable limited-slip clutch, forged construction
Weight: 293g (Actual)
Price: $174.99 USD
9-Speed Cassette: HG compatible, unibody construction, 11 x 50
Spacing: 11, 13, 15, 18, 22, 28, 34, 42, 50
Weight: 368g (Actual)
Price: $359.99 USD
Twin shift lever: Multi-release lever, up to 3 downshifts in one throw
Weight: 140g (Actual, with cable)
Price: $74.99 USD
PRICING UPDATED
Contact: Box Components
Rear Derailleur: Adjustable limited-slip clutch, forged construction
Weight: 293g (Actual)
Price: $174.99 USD
9-Speed Cassette: HG compatible, unibody construction, 11 x 50
Spacing: 11, 13, 15, 18, 22, 28, 34, 42, 50
Weight: 368g (Actual)
Price: $359.99 USD
Twin shift lever: Multi-release lever, up to 3 downshifts in one throw
Weight: 140g (Actual, with cable)
Price: $74.99 USD
PRICING UPDATED
Contact: Box Components
 | There are only two big players making drivetrains. We think there is room for a third one and we want to be there. |
Prime 9: "9 is Fine"
Box One follows in the wake of Box Two, the brand's first full jump into the drivetrain business. Taking what they learned from Box Two 11-speed and the high-end Box One 7-speed DH drivetrain, Box One brings an affordable, wide-range, 9-speed drivetrain into the ring with the mindset that less is more, saying, "9 is fine."
Prime 9 Derailleur
The Box One Prime 9 derailleur is a sturdy piece of mechanical engineering. Box claim that fewer gears mean a better chain line and less shifting. This is said to decrease wear and increase derailleur life.
The derailleur has a forged aluminum inner and outer cage, a hearty finish, and sealed-bearing pulleys. Box's tri-pack limited-slip clutch helps to keep the chain in place and minimize slap. The clutch emulates a multi-plate type similar to those used in motorcycle transmissions. Riders can tune the clutch friction with an Allen key to increase or decrease friction/resistance. The durable looking changer is backed by a limited lifetime warranty.
Box's Tri-Pack multi-disc clutch (under the orange cap) is user-adjustable. The Pivot-tech cable-stay helps to keep the cable in a comfortable position leading into the derailleur.
Prime 9 Twin Shifter
The Box One Prime 9 shifter can drop down three shifts with a single push of the thumb lever - that's over half of the range in one push. Helpful if you find yourself faced with a sudden uphill. The shifter's release lever operates by a push. It weighs 140g with a cable and sells for $74.99 USD. Box also offers a single shift version.
Box's fast release lever.
The most radical part of this 9-speed drivetrain is the lightweight Unibody cassette. Cogs are one piece of chromoly steel, backed by a splined aluminum driver.
Prime 9 Cassette
Box's One Prime 9 cassette sports an 11-50t range and is manufactured from 7075-T6 aluminum and chromoly steel. All nine cogs are one piece of chromoly steel riveted to a splined aluminum spider. Box calls it "Unibody construction" and the cogs have a black DLC coating finish for durability. Gearing is: 11, 13, 15, 18, 22, 28, 34, 42, 50, and the cassette mounts up to standard Shimano HG freehub bodies. It weighs 368g, including the lockring, and sells for $359.99 USD. Interesting fact: if you take away the lockring, the Box cassette weighs a couple of grams less than SRAM's top tier XX1 Eagle cassette.
The one-piece cassette mounts right up to any HG freehub body and is very minimalist.
What about a Crankset?
The absence of a crankset from the Box One groupset was purposeful. One-by drivetrains minimized the technology required for cranksets, so it didn't make sense to develop a dedicated one for Box's drivetrains. Most narrow-wide cranksets will work with the Prime 9 systems.
Prime 9 First Impressions
I managed to get my hands on their top tier, Box One Prime 9 derailleur, shifter, cassette, and chain a few days ago and mounted it up to get some first impressions. The Box One Prime 9 group came in nice packaging and was extremely straightforward to install and dial in. It's worth noting that if you're using SRAM's matchmaker clamp and shifter mount on the handlebar, you'll need to jettison it for a non-matchmaker clamp.
I've only had the group for a short time at this point, but I can say that the shifts are smooth. The jumps between gears, especially to the larger cogs, are a bit noticeable - exactly what you may suspect a wide-range 9-speed cassette to be. While pedaling, the drivetrain is smooth and quiet. There's minimal chain slap and the clutch on the derailleur seems to do its job well. I've experienced no dropped chains thus far.
The feel of the shift lever is solid and by no means does it feel like a budget shifter. The ergonomics are nice and the action bears a feel to the style of shifting that you get with Shimano's shift pods but, it's a push, similar to a SRAM shifter.
The big win in my mind is the weight of the cassette. The Prime 9 One does have bigger jumps in gearing than SRAM's Eagle, however, that cassette weighs much less than some of its competitors, although it is a bit pricey. Its 368g weight is actually pretty damn close to SRAM's 12-speed XX1 Eagle that weighs a mere 8g less. If you don't need 12 speeds, that is an impressive reduction in grams and a slight reduction in dollars.
In the coming months, I'll put some more time on the group and we'll do a more in-depth review.
| The Box One Prime 9 group hits the market with the potential to fill a gap in the realm of somewhat more affordable drivetrains, coming in under $700 with a lightweight cassette. The wide range, low weight, and simplified gearing will be enticing to many riders. That said, Box is going to have to prove its claims of improved performance and superior durability against flashy 12-speed options that are also good values with proven track records. |
Note: The original pricing we were given was incorrect. The first look has been updated to reflect that with the correct pricing.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
[UPDATED] Final Elite XC Results & Overall Standings from the Mairiporã XC World Cup 2024
42251 views
42251 views
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
ShimanoEngineer: "Who now do we copy?"
ShimanoSeniorEngineer: "Do not worry. By the time we have decided to enter the design phase in three to five years they will have worked it out."
and im hapy with my p12
- 1x (late)
- 1x12 (late)
- wireless electric (none atm + what's the purpose of having it electric with di2 when you still have cables to route in your frame?)
- carbon cranksets (none atm + issues with the hollowtech like on Ultegra)
- DH 7sp groupset (none)
- +220mm DH rotors for 29ers (none)
I may ignore some others as well.
Getting soft I see....
How where they late to 1x? It's up to you if you only mount one ring.
12spd is pointless so why waste time and money on it unless you have to. (Aka hope it goes away and you don't have to bother)
Carbon cranks is very niche small market with tiny gains but bigger risks.
Dh 7 cogs even smaller and shrinking market.
And bigger rotors not needed when your brakes are already powerful.
There just not going scatter gun all the time at everything like sram.
I reckon the last time they spent big on innovation an engineer came up with those brake levers that were also shifters! Remember them?
cdn.road.cc/sites/default/files/styles/main_width/public/shimano-deore-dual-control-hydraulic-levers-00120147-9999-1.jpg?itok=K2E5ghVv
Shimano may not have obvious innovations in the pipeline, they just make flashy stuff work.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Shimano are bad, I happily run various shimano (and SRAM) drivetrains on my bikes. Second mover advantage is not to be sniffed at, but in a two way fight it’s noticeable!
My point was that for high end mountain bikes, Shimano saw the 1x as a fad/budget option but bike manufacturers/consumers decided that 1x was going to be the long term standard.
- 1x (late) What are you talking about, have you ever heard of single speed? SCAM didn't invent the single chain ring, it's been around forever.
- 1x12 (late) Who cares, it doesn't matter and the gears are so close together you always shift more than once (hence the attraction of this).
- wireless electric (none atm + what's the purpose of having it electric with di2 when you still have cables to route in your frame?) They are wires, not cables and they don't wear, stretch or get dirty like cables. wireless is super cool though.
- carbon cranksets (none atm + issues with the hollowtech like on Ultegra) Why does Shimano need carbon cranks? There's tons of them to choose from and their cranks are the bomb should you want a non carbon option. And re: Hollowtech… You think SCAM has never had an issue? They have and instead of telling you about it they just leave you in the lurch with their garbage and release a new version that completely ends any hope of cross compatibility for their customers who bought the last hype.
- DH 7sp groupset (none) DH'ers wouldn't buy it and Shimano knows this, that genre prefers SCAM as it has a cooler image.
- +220mm DH rotors for 29ers (none) Again, why do they need to make such a niche item when there are so many rotor manufacturers, its a waste of their resources.
The only think I can thing of that SRAM has done to truly revolutionize things is wireless shifting.
buuuut yeah, they make better stuff
What has number of gears got to do with speed?
youtu.be/kem5Rk863WA
Most of SRAM's "revolutions" came as a result of buying out other struggling brands for their good ideas / tooling and then throwing more capital money for R&D at those new divisions. When they bought out Sachs for example they got RELIABLE twist shifters, carbon composite derailleurs, and at the time the best chain alternative to Shimano. Buying out Avid got them great brakes and levers. Truvativ got them cranks and chainrings, etc. Rockshox for suspension technology and experience with hydraulics.
Actually NO they weren't. Ritchey was first in 1997... when SRAM didn't make anything but shifters and included a wider range 11-33 cassette for it at the time...back when Shimano's widest was still only an 12-32 8 speed for XTR or 11-30 8speed for XT/LX. Shimano didn't go to 9 speeds for mountain bike groups until 1999, but they'd gone to it for road groups starting in 1996.
ritchey.vintagebicycledatabase.com/catalogs/ritchey/1997/1997RitcheyComponents.pdf
As to the internally geared crankset... i'm sorry but shimano had one in the 1970s called the FM-5 which was a 5-speed gear crankset and which Miyata had equipped many bikes with. Greg Herbold used one on his downhill bike back in the early to mid 90s for awhile.
Do any of the shifters use bushes instead of bearings.
Hate shifters with bushes they don't last and feel crap. Aka slx vs xt. Night and day at the shifter
I do disagree with one point though...there is not room for 3 players in the drivetrain market; so get wrekd sram
Am also on a well specced bike but with a cheap cassette. I ride bikes because I enjoy it & botching a shift or putting down power knowing you are chewing out an expensive component (that only lasts 6 months anyway) does not sound like a good time to me.
The e*13 cassette is lighter at 300 grams, but the XT derailleur is 100 grams heavier than the box one, which is weird. That makes the total weight difference about 30 grams.
The 9-42 gives you a 467% range, and the 11-50 455% range. The much smaller 42 cog means a shorter cage, and the shimano shadow derailleur means your drivetrain is much less exposed and vulnerable.
The Box is steel for all cogs, which means it should last a lot longer. The e*13 11 & 12 speed cassettes can come apart and have the allow cogs replaced independently, but IDK if the parts are interchangeable with the discontinued 10 speed.
Just food for thought.
The Garbaruk cassette only gives you 410% range, and in theory a 9-42 should shift better than a 11-45, but execution is obviously more important than the max cog size. My e*13 does shift terribly, but I have a bent hangar and a 10 year old X9 derailleur thats beat to crap. The Garbaurk probably is a better option if you don't have an XD driver, but man I love the look of a smaller, 42t cog in the back and the all black.
Now that mistakes have been removed, it's my coment that doesnt make any sense.
I personally love the fact that Box is throwing their cards on the table. It's nice to see another company take risks like this, and I would love to try their 9 speed stuff out. I believe it does have a solid market for many riders who want the simplicity and robustness of the 9 speed with very wide range.
Also, I've had 0 issues with chain wrap on the 9t cog, even with a thrashed X9 derailleur. Garbaruk doesn't list an XD compatible 10 speed, but I emailed them and asked.
Suspension/Wheels/Tires is where my $$$ goes.
@Luniapuanrider I've never heard of that brand before, is it just a rebranded Sunrace cassette? They have the same thing at about the same price, and its lighter than the newest 12 speed XT cassette for dirt cheap. My issue is still that my hubs on both my mountain bikes have XD drivers, and both my 28T oval chainrings are perfect for 42T cassettes. I would have to replace a lot more stuff to get equal to your setup.
www.sunrace.com/en/products/detail/csmx3
www.sunrace.com/en/products/detail/csmx9x
One is a 11-46 ten speed, the other an 11 speed for an XD driver with a 10 tooth cog. Since the smaller rings are separate, could you not just take the spacers and smaller cogs (on the XD version they sit on an adapter piece) and mix and match to get 10-46 10 speed? Or even just dump a middle cog from the 11 speed setup and put the spacers in from a 10 speed cassette? I have a few old 10 speed 11-36 cassettes floating around.
We'll see what will happen to the gearboxes. If Hayes really wants a piece of the OEM cake (already offering wheels, suspension, brakes, handlebars etc) they definitely need to bring some gearing to the market. Most likely would be to dig out that old B1/PeteSpeed patent they bought someday and sell gearboxes. Even if they work very different internally, if they make it such that it fits the mounts of a Pinion box, they could actually take a chunk out of that.
Not trying to argue, i'm just curious, since before SRAM 1x stuff all jockey wheels were designed like that, and a lot of them still look like that today.
Anyways, I can't give you a better reason why you've had those issues.
Throw that XD gash in the bin like I just did and upgrade to less gears. Throw the entire GX line in there while you're at it.
When I first went 1x drivetrain (about 4/5 years ago) it was with a 9 speed SLX/XT set up and 11-32 cassette. I liked it and if could have had a wider range, like the 11-42 or 46 that came out for 10 or 11 speed, I'd have been all over it.
The numbers on this look great and if the price comes down, it'll be my next drivetrain. Shimano take note, make something like this, it will sell like hot cakes. No custom drivers, with SLX price and durability please.
I agree it's sad that nowadays $100+ cassettes are just a normal thing.
I would be all over this, but if I have to spend an additional $40-$60 to convert my hubs back to an older standard, get a new, larger chainring for another $60 (since my current chainring is optimized for a 42t rear cog), then whats the point?
Not true. With an average front ring, 10 tooth is great at bike parks when you wanna go big.
An example that I can remember is riding my Yt Tues with 27.5 and 34 up front and 9-21 e13 cassette in the rear. At Bryce Park in VA, there is a good size step up with a pretty big flatter section between it and the drop in on one of the black diamond trails. I remember that during dusty days, you couldn't get as much speed out of the berms before the drop in, so you had to give extra strokes on the flatter section. Doing it with the 10 cog in the rear felt right. 32/11 would have required too high of a cadence.
And both 34/9 and 34/10 have taller gearing for a 27.5 wheel than a 32/10 on a 29 wheel.
Right, and that is the whole point of wide range cassettes. The 10 cog is for bike parks (or road rides if you have an XC bike with fast rolling tires), and the 50 cog is for climbing.
I love Sram type of shifter, and prefer shimano RDs, so it's a match!! Thank you so much!
That's been known (though of course not advertised by SRAM & Shimano) got years that the DynaSys clutched 10 speed derailleur cable pull geometry is virtually identical to SRAM's 1:1 ratio geometry... thus... 10 speed clutch Deore GS cage derailleur + nine speed SRAM shifter. and an 11-42 cassette and poof, there's your 1x9.
All this 11/12/13 spd stuff is not going in the right direction.
The sport gets rougher/thougher and these Drivetrains more sensible. If you bend your hanger on the 9spd you will still ride the whole day before fixing it. Not possible with 12spd where the smallest bend will stop it from working properly
I really appreciate the direction Box is going with this. Reliability and durability would be huge selling points to me.
And my eyeballing is pretty accurate, I have it calibrated often.
I would love to hear how this drivetrain compares with the MicroShift 9 speed you reviewed earlier
m.pinkbike.com/news/review-microshifts-125-advent-drivetrain.html
People shopping for a 630 $ groupset probably own already an xd equipped hub to pair...
I.e what is single and multi in the designation of the Prime 9 Two???
Note: Other 9 speed chains are compatible with the Prime 9 derailleurs and cassettes but may increase the possibility for dropped chains, we recommend using a Box Prime 9 Chain for optimal performance!
The Box 2 is a much cheaper option, but man at 650 grams for the cassette its got major curves.
Why are the prices not accurate? Seems intentional.
These are BOX TWO's prices not ONE.
The BOX ONE groupset costs around 650$ USD and is quite pricey given the materials used.
It's a nice marketing trick to sell 9 speed groupset twice the price of 12sp SRAM GX Eagle... without cranks?!
"Prime 9 chains have internal dimensions that are compatible with modern Wide / Narrow chainrings and perform similarly to 11 / 12 speed chains.. Externally, Prime 9 chains have dimensions similar to existing 9 speed chains. This unique geometry allows for thicker side plates than 12 speed drivetrains which resists stretching over time increasing shifting performance while decreasing wear on the cassette and chainring."
@ssteve : No Idea, i'm just a random guy on the internet who copy pasted something from another website.
If that’s the case, you can run a 9spd chain with no issue but theirs will be less prone to dropping.
IMHO that should be the biggest selling point of this system because that’s the biggest issue with other systems like Microsoft Advent. There’s no n/w 9spd chainrings!
My SRAM 1x11 manual says that I should always replace the chain, cassette, and chainring together...
There’s plenty of ways around this issue that will work acceptably well for most but it seems Box has created an engineered solution that will solve all the issues with none of the downsides. Kudos to them!
Whether or not Sram is telling the full truth here or being annoying and trying to get people to buy expensive chainrings instead of cheaper chains, is another matter.
If the spacing is the same as 11 speed and the cassette requires a spacer then I can run my current 11 speed sram shifter with deraileur and just get a 9 speed chain, I would just have to limit the deraileur for the narrower cassette.
I'd just like to know a bit more detail and understand what's going on. While I don't like to make conspiracy theories, "12spd chains wear differently" sounds just a bit vague and marketing-y.
@SintraFreeride: Shoot an email to Box, i'm sure they can help you out.
Note: Other 9 speed chains are compatible with the Prime 9 derailleurs and cassettes but may increase the possibility for dropped chains, we recommend using a Box Prime 9 Chain for optimal performance!
Who needs more than 9 gears anyway? Most of the time i shift 2-3 gears at the time with the 11 speed on my current bike.
A 9sp with wider range sounds very intriguing. That being said the 10sp setup cost under $200 while this is retailing for $500+
Also, really hope they have upped their shifter feel. Their first attempts were not great.
There is a way to get all steps within the range of 18 to 23% so I assume there's a reason for the sizes they've chosen?
more like $350
Also Pinkbike commenters: 9 speeds? This is f*cking stupid. What year are we in? 1999?
www.aliexpress.com/item/32988536537.html
I run their 42t version 9 speed on my Commencal Meta HT 2014 with a Sram X5 derailleur and shifter, works like a charm for now.
I am wondering who is manufacturing the Box cassette, their previous cassettes were outsourced to Sunrace.
(also, both GX and NX are trash)
1x9 with big jumps? Yeah why not, if prices are according to PB and not on the comments!
For less than 150euros I get a SLX 11s upgrade kit {RD+Cassete+Shifter+chain)
Hard pass. TRP’s new drivetrain might end up being that 3rd option.
Those last jumps on the cassette are huge and must really impact shifting & cadence.
All I want is Shimano to make a wide range 10 spd. in XT flavour. 11 - 42/46. Don't need/want a 50/51 tooth dinner plate on the rear.
630$ USD is budget friendly? The derailleur and shifter are resonable but 360$ for a cassette is nuts for the average human.
Anyone know what the chain width is?
Maybe the lower tier box 4 might come in at these prices, but the box 1 is advertised at $649 www.boxcomponents.com/Box-One-P9-X-Wide-Multi-Shift-Groupset
I think the gearbox has some merit on a gravity oriented bike, not to sure on yer regular trail bike.
When you take those aspects into consideration the weight battle no longer has such a clear winner.
If one is doing mostly lift assisted rides or only ride with partners who are less fits or using similar bikes I understand it doesn't necessarily matter though.
@Box: No...thanks. Microshift Advent it is. 5 complete drivetrains for the price of one of yours.
You couldnt have said Mick and Tracey Hannah? @Daniel Sapp