Feedback on SRAM RED XG-1190 11-SPEED running with shimano

[Lukus]

Hi, I'm in the process of building up a Ridley helium slx with shimano da-9100 groupset.

It is a ww build at heart with some compromises using existing kit. I was thinking of getting a sram red cassette to lower the weight of the build relative to the current ultegra cassette.

I've seen threads around this before and people have mentioned issues with indexing. From your experience are they isolated issues or is shifting quality a compromise that I would have to take.

Any recent experience appreciated.

Thanks

[bch]

No experience with the SRAM cassette, but I have an otherwise all-Red mechanical drivetrain with Quarq Red crankset and have used Ultegra cassettes for years with both Dura-Ace and Red chains. I don’t perceive any any significant difference in the chains. Both work superbly when maintained and properly fitted. And both chains are hard to find affordablly lately ($90 now compared to $50 months ago). I don’t think it’s an issue of matching the gear so much as a question of whether the Red cassette performs well and whether it’s worth it for weight savings alone. For my money, Ultegra all day.

As far as indexing, I find it difficult to imagine this is a SRAM-specific cassette problem. So many reasons could cause bad shifting.


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[Weasel]

My partner's bike has Ultegra di2, and I've put a set of my wheels on it with an XG-1190 cassette, and although maybe marginally noisier, the shifting seemed ok. Or at least she didn't complain anyway!

[LanceLegstrong]

I've been running an XG1190 on an otherwise Shimano drivetrain for about a year now. No issues with any gear except the 11t. Sounds a little noisier than the Shimano cassette. Maybe slightly more finicky to get the initial set up and indexing, but not by much. And no shifting issues. The 11t just doesn't sound right. I've messed with the limit screw, the hanger isn't bent (bought a new one to make sure), did the Di2 indexing adjustments. All the other gears are great, just a grinding noise on the 11t, similar to a cross-chaining sound. I live with it as I'm not using the 11t very often. Would buy again for sure, it was 100g lighter than my previous cassette.

[Lukus]

Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like it is definitely worth a punt. I’ll do a build update when done.


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[OnTheRivet]

Let me preface this by saying, I've been wrenching on bikes my whole life, build bikes for shops in my spare time. I tried a SRAM XG1190 cassette on my Di2 Dura-ace/Ultegra bike and the cassette just didn't work well. Tried every trick in the book and it still shifted slow and poorly. I used a Shimano, a SRAM and a KMC chain and nothing helped. Had a new Ultegra (same size) that I threw on, night and day difference. Looking closely at the cassette it doesn't have anywhere near the profiling of Shimano (and lower line SRAM) cassettes. I think the strngth of the servos on SRAM electronic make complicated tooth profiling unnecessary.

[recoilfx]

I don't know what it is, but I've always had bad lucks with XG1190 11-32 on Shimano deraillers. I've had 3 different XG1190 too, with different derailluers (6870, 9070, 9170), on 3 different bikes.

Teeths from 12t-32t always shift fine, but shifting from 11t-12t is always crap. I can get it to shift with acceptable performance if I turn the B-screw and let the guide puelly go as long close as it can to the 11t, but then the derailleur is dangerously close on the 32t and grindy as hell. No problem with Shimano cassettes, ever.

I'd imagine the XG-1190 11-28 would be fine though.

[hannawald]

It works, it is noisier and slower but if you are not demanding on shifting quality then you should be ok. Sram cassette is more gentle on freehub body being one piece so slight advantage for Sram.

[BigBoyND]

I had the 11-26 with R9100. A bit louder (biggest cog only) and slower (forget which two cogs, but somewhere in the middle) than DA cassettes, but it's not terrible. If you want smoothest and quietest, stick with DA. If you want lightest get 3T (I had the 11-32 and thought it was good). The Sram cassette is somewhere in the middle in all regards. Also, check out BDop steel cassettes. Haven't tried them but only read good things about then.

[Luften]

I have a XG-1190 11-28 with DA9150 and tbh I'm not very happy with it. I mean, it works, I never miss a gear or anything like that, but the shifting is definitely slower, maybe up to half a second extra across the cassette on regular shifts. Sometimes there might be the occasional slower one too.

And then, at least for my bike, the largest three cogs are very noisy and no amount of fine tuning seems to want to change that. Let's say I'm on the second to largest cog. I can micro-adjust the rear derailleur all the way from touching the largest cog to touching the next smallest cog, and it's noisy at every point in between. I think this is my biggest annoyance, more than the slow shifting.

The idea of the weight saving was nice, plus not damaging the freehub body, but I was planning on switching back to Shimano soon.

I hadn't heard of BDop though. Maybe that's worth a try...?

[pdlpsher1]

The 1190 cogs are visually thicker than the Shimano cogs. This could explain the slow shifting and the louder noise. Sram may have done it to increase durability. Personally I haven't noticed that Shimano cassettes wear out abnormally fast. When I had 9070 I did have a 11-28 1190 cassette. I didn't notice any issues back then. When 9150 first came out people complained about compatibility issues between the 1190 and 9150. Some people claimed it due to the new upper pulley profile on the 9150. After my experiment with the 1190 I went back to Shimano cassettes and never bothered with the 1190 due to fear of the incompatibilty between the 1190 and 9150.

[Luften]

My post should have said 9150 not 9170 - edited. But no changed at the rear derailleur.

I've actually switched the pulley wheels to BBinfinite oversized ones. I wonder whether that's contributing to the issue..?

[KCookie]

I changed to a Sram 1190 11-32 cassette for today's ride and I'll certainly be changing back to DA 11-30. I have this cassette on my other bike and the shifting is quite, quick and just perfect.

The Sram cassette is slow shifting. Can't get the chain to drop in the 11 cog, if I do then two other gears don't work well. Dropping from one particular gear I have to double tap. I've spent untold hours micro adjusting and I just can't get perfect shifting no matter what I do.
DA all the way for me.


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[Lukus]

I have a XG-1190 11-28 with DA9150 and tbh I'm not very happy with it. I mean, it works, I never miss a gear or anything like that, but the shifting is definitely slower, maybe up to half a second extra across the cassette on regular shifts. Sometimes there might be the occasional slower one too.

And then, at least for my bike, the largest three cogs are very noisy and no amount of fine tuning seems to want to change that. Let's say I'm on the second to largest cog. I can micro-adjust the rear derailleur all the way from touching the largest cog to touching the next smallest cog, and it's noisy at every point in between. I think this is my biggest annoyance, more than the slow shifting.

The idea of the weight saving was nice, plus not damaging the freehub body, but I was planning on switching back to Shimano soon.

I hadn't heard of BDop though. Maybe that's worth a try...?

Thanks for the tip. Having looked at the helpful comments on here I had decided to look past the sram this time and experiment with the BDoP option. I’ll report back on weight and performance once I’ve got it and given it a shake down.


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[bluebottle81]

I have 11-32 xg1190 with Ultegra GS Di2 and also have issue with 11t. Shifts 12->11 fine but doesn't like doing 11->12. I got it working with an XTR chain - unfortunately that gives me issues on my AbsoluteBlack chainring FD shifts but might be useful for others.

Interested to hear how BDop goes