Sram Red Yaw FD Tuning

[Stefano]

Hi all,

Has anybody taken theirs apart yet to see what the weight savings could be? I am thinking bolt kit and maybe a bit of drilling, but I'm not sure what would/ wouldn't affect the shifting performance. Would too much work undo the shifting performance? Mainly concerned with relieving too much cage material. Also, does anybody know if the integrated chain catcher is lighter than just a ww equivalent and Ti mounting bolt? hopefully it is, otherwise sram was just wasting their time.

Thanks,

Stefano

[thisisatest]

the sram chain catcher is separately mountable, and it uses an adjustment setscrew. you dont have to fiddle with front derailleur height/angle at the same time as positioning the chain catcher, and tightening the bolt. the setscrew also stiffens the mount, it wont just slip with a hard hit.
i believe most of the hardware is drilled ti.
good luck.

[Stefano]

I understand how the chain catcher mounts.
And I think that most ww are ok with a little extra setup time if the outcome is lighter. Is, for example, far and near with ti bolt lighter than the chain catcher from SRAM? Or are there washers and shims and stuff that make this heavier?
Re: the bolts, drilled titanium, I've never heard of a drilled bolt before, unless of course you mean hollow? Anyone know how much weight could be saved with nylon upper/ lower limit screws and maybe aluminum in other places?

Thanks,

Stefano

[TOflat]

I've gotten mine set up just recently yet I can already see a little room for improvement on the derailleur catcher. I plan on drilling a neat series of holes through it to save a little bit of weight but I won't be going as far as removing it. Seeing as how it's already taken one or two hits already. High and low limit screws will be replaced with titanium. I thought about the Nylon screws but the high limit screw especially would take too much of a beating. I'll be doing Nylons for the rear though and possibly the B-setting screw. Other than that, I'm not a fan of cutting around the cage or poking speed-holes in the sides. It seems to have much better shifting pickup than the first red cage did by leaps and bounds. A lot stiffer too, and I don't really want to sacrifice that.

[VTBike]

So about that chain catcher - are you guys using it mostly from the racing aspect? I've have probably about 100-150 miles on my yaw, with no chain catcher installed, and it works amazingly well. I have no issues with dropped chains as of yet. On my old setup, which was a 7800 front derailleur, I probably dropped the chain 2 times over 1500 miles. I can't imagine needing this unless you were racing, and that one time it drops could mean serious loss of standing. So just wondering what your thoughts are.

Without the chain catcher, I was able to use a lightweight clamp bolt that came with my MCFK clamp; saved about 3g there, and then left 10g off from not using the catcher.

[TOflat]

No racing on it as yet. I just get to go through a nice long construction zone on the way to work and I don't even think it was a result of a shift. Probably just the chain bouncing around. *it is properly tunes, rest assured.