SRAM etap rear derailleur

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aerozy
Posts: 775
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Andaluzia, Spain

by aerozy

PS: The title was supposed to be "SRAM etap rear derailleur issue" or something of the sorts. Could an admin change the title for me?

Hi to all,

I've been using SRAM etap for 4months now. After the first month my rear derailleur started to act up. About once every hour the rear derailleur freezes up and becomes completely unresponsive, then springs back to life about 30-60s later. Its not a battery issue, its not a pairing issue and i dont believe its an interference issue as during these freezes the front derailleur works just fine. For reference I live in the country side so I would believe the electronic pollution is reduced here.

I've contacted SRAM road through facebook and got this reply:
"You may have some internal damage to your rear derailleur. We’d be happy to assist you through our warranty and service process. SRAM has a two year from purchase date warranty policy on all products. We facilitate all of our warranties and service evaluations via local bicycle dealers at your original point of purchase. Please bring your eTap and your original proof of purchase to the bike dealer you've bought it through, and they will be able to contact our affiliate service center in your area for a warranty claim assessment."


I've contacted EVANS cycles (place of purchase) and got this reply:
I am sorry to hear you are experiencing issues with your groupset. We would normally ask you to bring this into one of our stores for our mechanics to investigate and contact SRAM in regards to a potential warranty. I can see you are in Portugal so this makes things a bit more difficult. Do you have a local bike shop near by that would be able to run diagnostics for etap in the first instance?


I've contacted a SRAM distributor in Portugal (place of residence) and got this reply:
Please go to the store where you purchased RED Etap and request a firmware update.


Two questions:
1) Does SRAM etap even have "diagnostic equipment"? I realize shimano has but had never heard of a sram equivalent. No portuguese stores seem to have heard of such a thing.
2) From what I can tell there have been no firmware updates for etap since its initial release. Version 1.1 is the latest which I believe is what I already probably have. Any way of confirming this?
Factor O2 Rim / Winspace 1500 Disk / Yoeleo R6 Rim / Cervelo S2 Rim

ooo
Posts: 1590
Joined: Sat May 21, 2016 12:59 pm

by ooo

USB dongle can be used to update firmware, and should be able to check version:
https://www.sram.com/sram/road/products/sram-etap-firmware-update-dongle

Latest eTap firmware version number can be found here (today it is 1.1):
https://www.sram.com/firmware/etap
'

by Weenie


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aerozy
Posts: 775
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Andaluzia, Spain

by aerozy

Thats my point and I quote:
Firmware Version 1.1
There are currently no firmware updates available.


I actually have the dongle but as it says on SRAM website there doesnt seem to be any updates available as yet. So why is a SRAM representative telling me to update my firmware? :noidea:
Factor O2 Rim / Winspace 1500 Disk / Yoeleo R6 Rim / Cervelo S2 Rim

mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

Reflash it. Don't update.

It's the "industry standard" first fix for lots of software issues.
There may have been an issue during original installation, or you may have done something odd during set up or use.

If the problem persists, it's hardware. (Or user error)

aerozy
Posts: 775
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Andaluzia, Spain

by aerozy

mattr wrote:Reflash it. Don't update.

It's the "industry standard" first fix for lots of software issues.
There may have been an issue during original installation, or you may have done something odd during set up or use.

If the problem persists, it's hardware. (Or user error)


Reflash it? Hmm sorry Im not exactly an IT guy... Is that basically re-installing the original software (firmware) in the RD? And how is that done?
Factor O2 Rim / Winspace 1500 Disk / Yoeleo R6 Rim / Cervelo S2 Rim

mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

Yes, thats exactly what i mean.

No idea how to do it. Not familiar with the user interface/software.

charlieboy52000
Posts: 111
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 5:43 am

by charlieboy52000

They are giving you the BS run around. You need to get a spare so you can keep riding. You have to go to a store that sales SRAM in your area. Problem is no one is going to do any testing. It is total BS. Went thru it myself with the batteries that the tabs were braking off. It took me over 3 months to get them all replaced under warranty. I called SRAM 2 times and they told me that it had to be done thru the bicycle shop.
The bicycle shops do not like this sort of job. Sending stuff back etc. Dunno why.
Do you really think a mechanic from a bicycle shop is going to do an electronic diagnostic on a piece of equipment like etap? What are the chances that the same thing will happen when they test it? As of my last knowledge SRAM had not released any updates within the past 6 months?
I had to put my foot down because they didn’t want to warranty my batteries on the bike shop. I had to call SRAM and call them BS. THey questioned my honesty since I had broken 6 in about 3 months. Well it was a defective batch.
Trust me fight for a warranty replacement and ride your spare bike or get mechanical until you can fix the rear DR.



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Shrike
Posts: 2019
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 5:08 pm

by Shrike

My eTap RD seemingly died after a month of buying it, and it only had 2 or 3 brief dry but cold rides in that period. Was working fine then one day it just didn't respond at all.

Made a thread here about it.

The way the handled it was different though. I bought it online so the retailer had an authorisation done from SRAM for the return, that took a few days, then I sent it back. I got either my repaired one, or another replacement one (still no clue which, or what really happened to it) back a few days after that again. Whole thing was done in about 10 or 11 days total. Would have to go back and find the thread to jog my memory.

No point dealing with SRAM/Zipp etc. They don't want to hear it. That said, the UK service centre will actually reply to technical email queries if you fire one their way! Probably hate it when guys like me find their email address and harass them but they seem cool in email :P

FWIW I put that returned RD through hell after getting it. Even had my hanger snap bombing down a hill and the eTap RD was bouncing along behind the bike! Apart form some scrapes on it, it works perfectly!

Definitely a tough bit of kit, but I think there's some technical issues that they're tight lipped about. V2 eTap will be a monster bit of kit, looking forward to that :)

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wheelbuilder
Posts: 1184
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 2:10 am

by wheelbuilder

As far as I know, there are no "diagnostics" nor "updates" that can be done by the LBS. This is as of yesterday 11-15-17 when I left work. This is what "should" happen. You take derailleur or bike to Sram Dealer. Sram dealer either notes problem, or if they are cool, take your word for it. They contact their Sram Rep, or Sram Warranty Tech department if they don't have a rep. Derailleur goes back, new one is sent. Usually simultaneously if the lbs has a good relationship with Sram. Should take about 7-10 days. The key is having a rep. They can make shit happen faster and will generally take the word of the lbs tech for any problems. Rep will take old derailleur with him/her and get new one out asap.
Never cheer before you know who is winning

aerozy
Posts: 775
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:48 am
Location: Andaluzia, Spain

by aerozy

Thanks for the informative replies folks! Yeap got tired of the vague answers by SRAM people and have shipped the RD to EVANS cycles (which so far have been quite nice). I'll let you know how this all pans out.

But very interesting how SRAM keep their problems so lip tight. Its all about marketing and reputation nowadays.
Factor O2 Rim / Winspace 1500 Disk / Yoeleo R6 Rim / Cervelo S2 Rim

charlieboy52000
Posts: 111
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 5:43 am

by charlieboy52000

aerozy wrote:Thanks for the informative replies folks! Yeap got tired of the vague answers by SRAM people and have shipped the RD to EVANS cycles (which so far have been quite nice). I'll let you know how this all pans out.

But very interesting how SRAM keep their problems so lip tight. Its all about marketing and reputation nowadays.


Yep. No one wants bad rep. These forums help out a lot since they can not control it. There were only 3 reviews about the batteries breaking off in amazon. The heat came from here!!!


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pats2000
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 4:52 pm

by pats2000

I've exactly the same problem with de rear derailleur. How is the problem in the end solved?

sungod
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:37 pm

by sungod

pats2000 wrote:
Sat May 26, 2018 4:56 pm
I've exactly the same problem with de rear derailleur. How is the problem in the end solved?
warranty

insightt47
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu May 16, 2013 3:02 am

by insightt47

looks like its going to have to be warranty for me too after less than 200km of use

by Weenie


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