Weight Weenies

Hey people. I have a EVO with SRAM red. There are many things about the sram groupset I like, hood shape, responsiveness but I don't like the front mech infact it's been the bane of my season. Dropped chains, won't shift from large chainring to small - I have tried all flavours of the SRAM front mech steel cage, to cage and 2013 yaw. I have set the bike up myself and had lbs mechanics set the mech up. I know many people don't have these issues .... Maybe it's just a run of bad luck or poor set up - I run a compact SL chainset.

I have now brought 7900 shifters, front and rear mechs. To fit would live to go 9000 but it's too much £ at the moment.

Do people think switching from red to 7900 would be a down grade ? What else could u try?

Happy to hear your views.

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I had the EXACT same issue. I liked everything about the old sram stuff except the front shifting which was admittedly garbage. So I spent the last few years on Campy because I didn't like the Shimano hoods. Campy was great for one and even two bikes but I started building a third (road, cx, and now tt) and it just got too expensive. So I went back to SRAM.

I use rival on the tt bike and force on the cx bike, I plan on building up my road bike this winter with red. The only difference is I put the new yaw front derailleur on all of them. That thing is awesome. The shifting is crisp and takes way less effort than before. You can snag them on ebay for $115 and it's worth it, I'm super happy with it. And just to clarify, everything but the FD is the old 2011 style.

I like that sram does a lot of grass roots sponsorship and neutral service for local races and I'm happy to be supporting them again, they really got it right with the yaw.

Lord no, on the contrary switching from Sram to DA is a significant upgrade (imho). I purchased a new Tarmac with Sram Red and had the same trouble with the front derailleur. Changed it to the steel version but still had problems shifting properly (sometimes the chain would float for a few seconds which is entirely unacceptable). The rear had noise issues and I could not stand it after a few months of tweaking. I then changed to a Shimano DA cassette and chain (based in info from this forum) and it helped a bunch... but by then I was fed up with Sram. I went to my dealer and traded my Tarmac for another with DA 7900 and it has been perfect. It shifts just like it should shift and I have not had one issue in almost two years. The only change was to put Gore Ride-on pro shift cables on it and it is butter smooth.

I sometimes think Sram's lower end groups might perform better than Red. Of note is that the new Red is suppose to be better than the Red version I had. But I would still go with Shimano.

Dura ace should help resolve the issue, however, a good deal of the poor shifting on your bike will also be down to the very light (and flexible) MKV chainrings.

I don't really see the point of your post. You already have the parts you need so you might as well give the dura-ace a go. If you don't like it just switch back.

Better ergos, nicer shift feel, better brakes, better crank, stays tuned for longer, when it's out you can use the 'love tap' feature. Easy choice. 7900 is a clear winner.
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=95457&start=30#p823819

I never had terrible issues with my Sram FD but admittedly is was not great. I now run an Ultegra FD with all 2011 Sram Red and it is absolutely perfect. It sounds like you already have 7900 components handy? Try throwing your 7900 FD on your red kit and see what you think. Although I think my FD is Ultegra 6600 not 6700.

Tokyo Drifter wrote:Dura ace should help resolve the issue, however, a good deal of the poor shifting on your bike will also be down to the very light (and flexible) MKV chainrings.

This is also very true. I got rid of my MKV rings and have had both Stronglights and Praxis rings that work much better. I've seen some pros riding the SL SRM with exogram rings, not sure if you can do that with a regular spider or not but it might be worth looking into.

Thanks for the replies some helpful views, the point is that the 7900 is in the boxes and if I decide to sell that - I'd rather not fit it.

Was considering installing praxis semi compact rings that may help by the sound of it.

Do you need to install gore ride ons with 7900?

change rings or get a 7800 NOS DA front der ..

i got RED levers/rotor 3d cranks with CT2 rings & RED 2011 front ..perfect ..no issues at all

I second the above. I run 2011 Red with 7800 DA FD + Q rings - perfect. No trim needed in big ring, instant upshifts. Perfect.

Wait, why change out the whole drivetrain when front mech is the problem? My understanding is that cable pull for shimano vs SRAM is only different for the rear mech. You shoulda just shelled out $70 for the DA front mech and been done with it. Is 2013 SRAM red different because of the yaw stuff?

Cable pull from 2012 to 2013 is unchanged.

There is a known issue with the SRAM red 2013 fd and compact rings with 2012 levers. The chain can on odd occasions suck up the rear of the ring and get jammed - happen to me a couple of times.
I figure if I swapped out to the Da then I could resell the SRAM - for pretty much what the da has cost me... So was interested to hear people's views. I did consider running a da7800 front mech but hate the thought of mixing and matching components but if people have had success with that set up I might consider... I thought the da7900 front mech had a different pull to SRAM red and 7800 which is why you need 7800 or similar ?

Your right on the pull ratios. I just checked my fd and it's an ultegra 6600. So either get that or a 7800 fd and try it out. It's worked very well for me.

mattlawro wrote:Do you need to install gore ride ons with 7900?

You do not "need," stock cables work fine for me.

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