I read in Leonard Zinn's Art of Road Bikes that SRAM Double Tap Brake Levers can be modified to remove the shift mechanism. My cross bike is currently equiped with a Rival groupset and I'm ditching the 46T ring. While I don't always agree with Leonard Zinn I'm debating giving this a go.
Has anyone done this?

Why don't you get a SRAM S500 or S900 brake lever for the left one and retain the functionality of your left Rival for resale or to put on another bike?

The alloy S500 can be found for 30-40 USD per lever and you can pay more for the S900 carbon lever if you want to cut weight.

_________________
Felt FC: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=116061

It is very easy to take apart. Couple of screws on the side of the lever (after removing the hood), remove the brake blade, then everything pretty much comes out easily. They also go back together quickly as well. My first one took about 10 minutes.... now I think I can take one down in about 30 sec. We do this often for 1x10 setups for CX.

Thanks for the advice!

I was considering the S900 lever as my backup plan if it turned out I was way out of my league.

I also came across this article. http://www.cxmagazine.com/removing-sram-double-tap-shift-mechanism-single-ring
It doesn't sound that tricky at all and it doesn't even negate the warranty. I'll give it a go and post my build when I finish.

It is easy to take apart, hard to get back together!

Good luck

reinstall the gear shaft pin when done, otherwise the body can crack under heavy load

_________________
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

I've done this plenty of times, after about the third I figured out how to do it without removing the brake lever. That is the most frustrating part of the whole operation. After removing the cover and the shift pin stop screw use a pick with a 90degree end and you should be able to push the shift pin out from behind the brake lever blade. Then everything will fall out fairly easily.

_________________
Grover's Grumblings
Grover's Garage