Weight Weenies

Hi, when out riding today the right hand shift lever on my Force broke off in my hand when shifting up, the lever seems to have sheered clean off! It didn't feel under strain or any different to usual when I shifted.

Has anyone had this happen before? And do you know if the shift lever can be replaced on its own or weather the whole dual control unit needs to be replaced?

Thanks

Contact SRAM. Their customer support is outstanding.

But post pictures first!

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Have you ever tipped the bike over in the past? Just asking, because either it is a manufacturing defect where there was a void or seam in the material or it was previously damaged.

Did it look like this?

I think it's a Rival. Not mine. Though I had a Rival left shifter crap out on me.

It happens, SRAM has excellent customer service.

Looks exactly like that, I guess it was just a fault. Thanks, I'll contact Sram.

This seems to be a fairly common problem with Sram Force shifters, not sure about the other level products, but I have seen the same part break off on both left and right shifters 4 times so far this season, no crash damage, just one day the shifting starts feeling dodgy, then the piece breaks off.

From what I have seen, it looks like the material they use to secure the shift lever (the part broken off) in the whole unit is not strong enough to stand up to the use and simply fails too soon.

Edit: This has happened on both 2008 and 2009 Force levers that I have seen. Haven't seen any broken 2010 stuff yet so don't know if they have fixed the issue, but I am pretty sure they know about the issue.

I've had the same thing happen to me twice already with a rear Rival shifter and notice the same. First the shifting goes dodgy, then soon after that:
http://yfrog.com/04sramshifter1j

Both times I temporalily put a Shimano sti+rear derailleur on, but I'm getting fed up with it, especially during race season .
Does anyone know if Sram has already fixed this? Or if it's possible to receive a Red shifter by paying an upcharge (haven't seen Red shifters with this problem yet)? I don't have a lot of confidence in yet another Rival lever..

Ps: does anyone know Sram's customer service email adress? On their website I only seem to find a telephone number..

youre in Holland and they are in Holland as well. Amersfoort. Just give them a call @ 033-450-6060

Good luck!

Thanks Frankie, but I already did that last time and the telephonist told me to solve things with the dealer, which I then did. However this took over 1,5 months.. I'd like to solve things a bit faster this time and would like to see if it's possible to get a 2010 Force or a Red shifter this time as I don't want to have this problem again in a couple of months..

This happened to me too on a 09 Force lever. I brought both levers in to the shop and SRAM had a set of 2010 levers to me by the end of the week.

If that really took 1.5 months I think you should still go to your dealer and talk with him. He knew it took that amount of time last time tell him you think that that is unacceptable. I can understand that Sram would like you to go through the dealer as they have two companies in Holland who sell their products.

And... A good dealer would have given you another lever and waited on SRAM to replace their stock rather than making you wait...

Seems pretty common, here's mine

I am currently sending it back to the local distributor. You can read about the continuing adventures of bike company customer service departments here:
http://waywardcyclist.wordpress.com

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I broke 3 sets last season (two 2009 models one 2010 - all was the right side). Well, I am back to Shimano... I am on RED on my cyclocross-bike however: Raced one season here without any problems.