SRAM Etap. Six months in, how you getting on?

[wheelbuilder]

I've had mine for 13 months and still love it despite a few problems. Shift is perfect, and exact every time without exception. Tactile feedback from paddle buttons is fantastic, and the speed of shifts despite what most people claim is virtually the same as Di2 in real road riding scenarios. Gear selection and battery level indicator on the 520 is really cool (but not necessary), battery life is really good.....I ride 130-140 miles a week and charge the batteries about every 7 weeks or so. I'm sure they could last much longer, but I never let them get below 50%.
It's not without it's challenges though. The front derailleur can definitely be fussy. I am a bike technician and have set up dozens of etap systems. Every bike is a little different and I believe chainstay length, and q-factor play a significant role in whether your front derailleur works well. I initially had mine set up perfectly and worked without a hitch for 12 months. Then this month it mysteriously started dropping chains to the inside when trying to shift from small to big. I figured it had moved from it's position over time, but had a hell of a time trying to get it perfect again. It is ok now, but there were two weeks there where I was messing with it almost daily to eliminate noise, slow chain pick-up, crank arm clearance issues, and general Tom Foolery. I also just had my first battery tab crack and chip away three days ago. Have a couple more batteries coming from Sram Rep, but they as of yet do not have a solution to the breaking tab issues.

[jeffy]

nmd

[KB]

It's not without it's challenges though. The front derailleur can definitely be fussy. I am a bike technician and have set up dozens of etap systems. Every bike is a little different and I believe chainstay length, and q-factor play a significant role in whether your front derailleur works well. I initially had mine set up perfectly and worked without a hitch for 12 months. Then this month it mysteriously started dropping chains to the inside when trying to shift from small to big. I figured it had moved from it's position over time, but had a hell of a time trying to get it perfect again.

Good post and i definitely think you are right about Q factor. I've recently had my Colnago resprayed including cable guides removed as I went on to ETAP. Tried to fit my Extralite cranks to no avail (the q factor is low). My mechanic did his best but the front mech just wouldn't work as it clashed. Fitted my Campag cranks and the problem was immediately solved.

[irishdb]

Anybody had issues using eTap with the SRAM RED 10-speed crank? Planning to upgrade next week but a little concerned reading some threads of rubbing, dropped chains etc.

Thanks

[RyanH]

I'm now on 9150 and not looking back.

[sungod]

Anybody had issues using eTap with the SRAM RED 10-speed crank? Planning to upgrade next week but a little concerned reading some threads of rubbing, dropped chains etc.

Thanks

i use it with both bb30 and gxp 10-speed cranks, it's fine - i had an initial problem with the limit screw, but it was easily fixed by taking a couple of mm off the screw, that was on initial release of etap, i'd hope sram would have addressed that by shortening the screw, but you never know

by now i think it is clear that overall frame geometry makes a difference (certainly it's behind the limit screw issue), etap may be fine on one frame but hard to set up on another, in extreme cases it simply may not be compatible - sram publishes frame fit info, but doing all the measurements will only confirm a frame is in spec., even a non-compliant frame could still work fine

i would say the vast majority of people have no issue, otherwise ww/other places would be swamped with complaint, whereas there're not that many posting about issues that can't be resolved (leaving aside posts about simply repeating what "x" said rather than based on actual personal usage)

wrt chain drops, unless the fd mount is flexing under load, i'd think the most likely cause is a set-up issue, the fd does seem fiddlier to get set just right, but i've had etap running now for c. 18 months, it's been fine

i've had a few trips with the bike box so it gets taken apart and rebuilt each end, but alignment rd/fd is maintained perfectly, unlike mechanical systems

whether electronic or mechanical, and irrespective of manufacturer, no system is perfect, you'll find people having issues/complaints with all of them

i'm really very happy with etap!

[irishdb]

Anybody had issues using eTap with the SRAM RED 10-speed crank? Planning to upgrade next week but a little concerned reading some threads of rubbing, dropped chains etc.

Thanks

i use it with both bb30 and gxp 10-speed cranks, it's fine - i had an initial problem with the limit screw, but it was easily fixed by taking a couple of mm off the screw, that was on initial release of etap, i'd hope sram would have addressed that by shortening the screw, but you never know

by now i think it is clear that overall frame geometry makes a difference (certainly it's behind the limit screw issue), etap may be fine on one frame but hard to set up on another, in extreme cases it simply may not be compatible - sram publishes frame fit info, but doing all the measurements will only confirm a frame is in spec., even a non-compliant frame could still work fine

i would say the vast majority of people have no issue, otherwise ww/other places would be swamped with complaint, whereas there're not that many posting about issues that can't be resolved (leaving aside posts about simply repeating what "x" said rather than based on actual personal usage)

wrt chain drops, unless the fd mount is flexing under load, i'd think the most likely cause is a set-up issue, the fd does seem fiddlier to get set just right, but i've had etap running now for c. 18 months, it's been fine

i've had a few trips with the bike box so it gets taken apart and rebuilt each end, but alignment rd/fd is maintained perfectly, unlike mechanical systems

whether electronic or mechanical, and irrespective of manufacturer, no system is perfect, you'll find people having issues/complaints with all of them

i'm really very happy with etap!

Thanks Sungod. It will be going on my Wilier Cento 1SR.

[MXGimp]

Only complaint I have for etap is the lack of adjusting the shift speed.

[aerozy]

Hey folks! Ive been 1 month now on etap (on one of my bikes) and during the last two rides the rear derailleur goes dead for a minute or so before coming back to life. Very strange. Its happened 3 times now over the course of 300km or so and I got a feeling its going to be an ongoing problem. Anyone experienced this before? What the hell could it be? When it goes mute it doesnt respond to microshifting either. Pressing the button directly on the derailleur seems to wake it up. Could it be the sensor is not picking up the chain movement and makes it go to sleep? Where is the sensor exactly?

[Spinnekop]

Hey folks! Ive been 1 month now on etap (on one of my bikes) and during the last two rides the rear derailleur goes dead for a minute or so before coming back to life. Very strange. Its happened 3 times now over the course of 300km or so and I got a feeling its going to be an ongoing problem. Anyone experienced this before? What the hell could it be? When it goes mute it doesnt respond to microshifting either. Pressing the button directly on the derailleur seems to wake it up. Could it be the sensor is not picking up the chain movement and makes it go to sleep? Where is the sensor exactly?

Cant be that it goes to sleep? I breath hard on the bike and the garmin picks up the taps.........

Battery secure and in place and not cracked?

[siovene]

Hey folks! Ive been 1 month now on etap (on one of my bikes) and during the last two rides the rear derailleur goes dead for a minute or so before coming back to life. Very strange. Its happened 3 times now over the course of 300km or so and I got a feeling its going to be an ongoing problem. Anyone experienced this before? What the hell could it be? When it goes mute it doesnt respond to microshifting either. Pressing the button directly on the derailleur seems to wake it up. Could it be the sensor is not picking up the chain movement and makes it go to sleep? Where is the sensor exactly?

I have experienced exactly the same. About 3 times in 2000 km. The rear derailleur just stops working for about a minute. Not even the small shift button on the body of the derailleur works. Once I removed the battery and put it on again, to no avail. Then it just starts working again all by itself.

On the first two instances, when it started working again it seemed to pick up the shifts that I performed while it was dead (so if I pressed "shift down" 4 times while it was not responding, suddenly it would wake up and shift down 4 cogs in rapid succession).

As a software engineer in trade, this makes me believe that it's a software problem such as something gets stuck in a loop or a race condition, or there's a memory overflow, then a hardware interrupt has a timer of perhaps 60 seconds and resets the derailleur if it stops responding.

It would be good to hear SRAM comment on this.

[Pschnei3]

Have been riding mine for the past 6months and Love it. Shifts perfect every time but wished it was faster.

[sungod]

with no detail of what proportion of units show such an issue, there's no objective basis for saying it's a hw/sw design issue

it could just as easily be due to high rf levels in the area - needn't be atc, even traffic radar systems can cause misbehaviour of electronics, doesn't need to be in the same rf band that the devices use

i've had no issue with etap in c. 18 months, thousands of km all weather riding, freezing cold, baking hot, lots of rain, dust, dirt, hand-numbing vibration, works fine

sometimes the simple explanation is the correct one, stuff fails, i'll bet on hardware fault

[seansis]

Hello.
I'm looking for a new groupset to replace the old ultegra 6700.
Which one is better to buy - ultegra di2 or eTap ?

I've heard a lot of good about di 2, but I do not like their wires.
Are there any functional advantages to the eTap?

[jlok]

Hello.
I'm looking for a new groupset to replace the old ultegra 6700.
Which one is better to buy - ultegra di2 or eTap ?

I've heard a lot of good about di 2, but I do not like their wires.
Are there any functional advantages to the eTap?

First I was a Di2 user and now a eTap user.

I love eTap for the elegance and simplicity. I couldn't miss-shift RD/FD as there's only one button per side. Paddles are bigger with more definite and assured click. Plus their hydro brake is better (the Contact Point Adjustment actually work; hoods texture and shape are more ergonomic).

I liked Di2 for the relatively long battery life (I shift a lot to maintain cadence, eTap RD battery lasted 6xx km only), and the syncho shift was actually quite good (I configured the Di2 shifting like eTap, left hand easy right hand hard, but with syncho shift the FD will shift to avoid cross chaining).

eTap is a keeper for me. You will have to judge for yourself.