Weight Weenies

I'm just curious as to if anyone else has had issues trying to get a force rear derailleur to line up with the cogs.
This is the third frame, countless hangers and two derailleurs.
My setup is a Guru Evolo, SRAM force, derailleurs and shifters with an Ultegra cassette (the SRAM one was cockeyed) and a Dura-ace chain. I've also used an Ultegra cassette with a SRAM chain and with a KMC chain. I've also tried it with a Guru Geneo and a Dedacciai Nerissimo.
The main issue is that with the frame correctly aligned, the derailleur hanger straight as a pin, my rear derailleur cage, when in my 53-12 combo, points at least 7 degrees away from the bike. If you try to back pedal in that gear,, well,, you simply can't back pedal in that gear. re-setting the hanger to work correctly in that gear causes it to go out elsewhere. At first I thought it was just a bent derailleur, but the new one I just put on is even worse.
Am I missing something, was there a bad batch of derailleurs? The cages on both of mine do not line up with the rest of the derailleur body, is this normal?
Any input from SRAM experts would help. I'm quite fluent with Campy, but this is my first SRAM drive train.
Thanks in advance.

Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com

I had the same alignment issue with my previous Force rear derailleur (used it for about 2 years), and now with the current one, whichi is about a month old. The hanger is straight, and I have also changed it at least once during the last couple of years.
If I align the upper pulley with the second to smallest sprocket, and I shift up to the second to largest, it is out of alignment. On top of that, the lower cage is not vertical, but pointing slighly sideways (cannot recall if it's outwards or inwards), which makes riding in the biggest sprocket very noisy.
The best I was able to do was to align the derailleur with the sprocket in the middle, and let it be slighly out of alignment towards both ends of the cassette.

My Rival RD has the same issue. My frame's hanger is perfectly straight but the RD's cage is not parellel to the rear wheel(in the horizontal plane). No matter how I adjust the cable tension, the upper pulley just can't precisely match the cog's position in some gears.

Glad to know it's not just me. If it was just a visual thing,, I wouldn't really care. But I get kind of tired of listening to my chain rattle over the gears after awhile. Compared to my Chorus stuff, the Force drivetrain sounds like a truck coming through. I don't want to change it though, because I love the double tap shifters.

It seems Force and Rival RDs have this issues; the question that comes to my mind is whether Red and Apex RDs also have this issue. I am not going to assume yes (or no); members, can someone report back please.

Needless to say. Getting a smooth drivetrain is impossible. The best way to describe it is like someone trying to wipe grease off your chain while you're pedalling.

I have same problem. Just about to put a new rear derailleur on.
This one was twisted when new.
I can get it adjusted on the stand but then the smallest bump will make the chain go off the
lower pulley.

I ran SRAM drivetrains (Red/Force/Rival) for several years since 2009. For the most part they were OK but I found plenty of little issues throughout that just doesn't happen with the others. I find Shimano/Campy just seem to work better without the little hiccups.

Strangely, I've never had any issues - and have run (and currently run) a range of SRAM's derailleurs. Some of them have been substantially tuned... which one would think would make a derailleur more susceptible to these reported issues, but that is not the case in my own experience.
Have run/am running without issues:
Red (pre 2012) (heavily tuned)
Force (~2010 model) (heavily tuned)
Apex (multiple years) (one lightly tuned, others normal)

All quiet - not including the obvious, distinctive 'thunk' of gear switching.

Hopefully y'all can resolve the issues you are finding.

Sram rear derailleur parellelograms are NOT parallel. this misalignment is intentional. that said, I have found that SRAMs tolerances are a bit wide. Biggest thing I've seen is upper pulley bolts that would be skewed when threaded into the cage, making the top of the pulley vary in position (left to right) depending on what position the cage is in (front to back).

At the risk of stating the obvious, you are properly aligning every new hanger you have installed with the proper alignment tool and not assuming because the hanger is new that it is aligned ....yes? EM3

Yes indeed. Both dropouts and hanger have been checked with the proper tool.

This is really disappointing to hear. Fortunately SRAM is very good about replacing parts that aren't quite right, although it sounds like the problem may be a bit chronic.

FWIW there have been 5 SRAM RD's used in my stable and never any problems with alignment or noise. (One main spring did break but SRAM took care of that ASAP.)

No doubt, I love the SRAM. I personally believe that double tap is light years ahead of any other mechanical setup, I just wish that I could set up a decent rear derailleur.

I've been running sram since 2007. First force and then red. Never had an issue with the rear derailleurs and I had a force rear derailleur, red and even an apex RD on my TT bike.

Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com