SRAM Rival YAW front mech woes continue!

[Winded Lowrider]

Begin Ranting/Plea for help:

The SRAM rival YAW front derailleur that came with my V2o has caused me no end of troubles. I have reasonable (if outdated) skills fixing and setting up bikes. I have tools.

It did not shift up.
I adjusted. It worked.... sort of
It did not shift well.
I asked for tips
Nothing helped
I tightened the cable. It's fraying with every new attempt. Arrrgh!
Worked OK for a short while then on my last ride ...It stopped shifting up.
Start all over. Looked for a manual. Watched videos. Arrgh!
Reinstalled pulley with wheel further in (flipped). No clear improvement.
How exactly is YAW an improvement?
Is it the Vendetta's angle of cable attack? the pulley? or is this just a piece of S#@!$
This has really ruined my Vendetta experience, I've gotta solve it, replace it or go 1x11. Can anyone help?
Set up is a long tedious process using the low stop screw all the way in to push the mech all the way out. Jeez!

What position do you mount the cable? low? high? The cable mount seems to be oriented "wrong" for the angle of cable coming from the pulley....wrap it or straight? How do you get it sufficiently tight? Can you tell I'm frustrated?

I'm reluctant to go to my LBS because its a "non-standard situation" and I've had some bad experiences.

Thank you for reading my rant

 

[waswadener]

Hang in there. This will work out. I’m so happy with my V20 and hope your experience ends up there too.

Are you near Seattle? If so, I would be very happy to meet you and help sort out the shifting problems. I would be able to meet sometime early next week, as I’m away for work until then.

Bill

 

[RojoRacing]

post some pictures so we can see if you have anything obvious wrong. There are a dozen tiny things that can ruin you FD experience.

 

[cpml123]

Begin Ranting/Plea for help:

The SRAM rival YAW front derailleur that came with my V2o has caused me no end of troubles. I have reasonable (if outdated) skills fixing and setting up bikes. I have tools.

It did not shift up.
I adjusted. It worked.... sort of
It did not shift well.
I asked for tips
Nothing helped
I tightened the cable. It's fraying with every new attempt. Arrrgh!
Worked OK for a short while then on my last ride ...It stopped shifting up.
Start all over. Looked for a manual. Watched videos. Arrgh!
Reinstalled pulley with wheel further in (flipped). No clear improvement.
How exactly is YAW an improvement?
Is it the Vendetta's angle of cable attack? the pulley? or is this just a piece of S#@!$
This has really ruined my Vendetta experience, I've gotta solve it, replace it or go 1x11. Can anyone help?
Set up is a long tedious process using the low stop screw all the way in to push the mech all the way out. Jeez!

What position do you mount the cable? low? high? The cable mount seems to be oriented "wrong" for the angle of cable coming from the pulley....wrap it or straight? How do you get it sufficiently tight? Can you tell I'm frustrated?

I'm reluctant to go to my LBS because its a "non-standard situation" and I've had some bad experiences.

Thank you for reading my rant

I feel your pain. I have the same FD on S40 with 50/34. It has been shifting ok if I follow a specific sequence all within 2 seconds... 1. slow down or stop pedaling, 2. shift, 3. push on the pedal carefully to pull the chain to the big ring. If I don't slow down the pedaling or if I push too hard when pulling the chain up, the chain will drop. I found the FD needs micro adjustment with 1/4 turn at a time. I even bought a 52T chainring last week thinking that 52T ring will enable the gap between the teeth and FD to be within a couple mm vs big gap now. I haven't replaced the outer ring yet because it has shifted tolerably ok this past weekend (only dropped chain once). Plus there is no guarantee it will work, and I think I will need to make the chain longer, so potentially more cost there. All and all... Quite annoying.

I contemplated 1x and sort of tried it this past weekend by using only the 34T for a while. I really didn't like it. When it gets to the fewer teeth cog, I feel the incremental jump was too big. And I like my low gear of 34T front with 40T in the back.

 

[super slim]

I feel your pain. I have the same FD on S40 with 50/34. It has been shifting ok if I follow a specific sequence all within 2 seconds... 1. slow down or stop pedaling, 2. shift, 3. push on the pedal carefully to pull the chain to the big ring. If I don't slow down the pedaling or if I push too hard when pulling the chain up, the chain will drop. I found the FD needs micro adjustment with 1/4 turn at a time. I even bought a 52T chainring last week thinking that 52T ring will enable the gap between the teeth and FD to be within a couple mm vs big gap now. I haven't replaced the outer ring yet because it has shifted tolerably ok this past weekend (only dropped chain once). Plus there is no guarantee it will work, and I think I will need to make the chain longer, so potentially more cost there. All and all... Quite annoying.

I contemplated 1x and sort of tried it this past weekend by using only the 34T for a while. I really didn't like it. When it gets to the fewer teeth cog, I feel the incremental jump was too big. And I like my low gear of 34T front with 40T in the back.

Go with the strength, GO SHIMANO!!!!

 

[Winded Lowrider]

Pictures? Switch to Shimano?Arrgh!...Deep Breath..."this will work out" yikes I need to fix before I ride today. Maybe I can peg it in the big ring for a flat land ride.

cpml123: My experience aligns perfectly with yours.

Bill: I'm 25 minutes north east of Seattle.

 

[Winded Lowrider]

Just re attached the cable along the outside of the bolt. When moving the shifter all the way over ( which should shift UP) the cable moves very little, not enough to nudge the derailleur even a little bit. I wonder what is going on with the lever mechanism? Anyone disassemble that end?

 

[Robert Holler]

I have SRAM Yaw front DR on all my bikes and it is awesome when set up just right. The above video is a pretty good one.

The too-large gap on a cruzbike from a 50T ring has not typically been an issue, but definitely can be if the adjustment is not spot on.

 

[cpml123]

Just re attached the cable along the outside of the bolt. When moving the shifter all the way over ( which should shift UP) the cable moves very little, not enough to nudge the derailleur even a little bit. I wonder what is going on with the lever mechanism? Anyone disassemble that end?

hmm... my Rival RD seems to move out normally. I think it moves a little too much sometimes due to some reasons, and that causes the chain to drop on the outside. Maybe you have some slack in the cable?

Pictures? Switch to Shimano?Arrgh!...Deep Breath..."this will work out" yikes I need to fix before I ride today. Maybe I can peg it in the big ring for a flat land ride.

cpml123: My experience aligns perfectly with yours.

Bill: I'm 25 minutes north east of Seattle.

I am now wondering if the FD woe is the feature we had to pay big bucks for it.

Mark @rx7mark lives near Brier and you can probably go see his 1x11 T50 set up if you want to go the single chainring route. It was very nicely done.

 

[Winded Lowrider]

I'm currently thinking the Brifter might be defective/broken. The cable really does not move enough to make the cage move over. Looking at brifter repair has my head spinning with unnecessary complexity. I long for the days of 10 speed down tube friction shifters, worked perfectly. Now I sound like an old grump..."Darn these newfangled crappy parts!"

 

[dtseng]

I have Microshift Centos 11 drive train on my bike. Using two shifting levers, the shifting is so smooth and so easy to setup. The whole drive train, including cables, PYC chain, 11-32 cassette , caliper brakes (Tektro), brifters, front and rear derailleurs cost 6,000 Taiwan dollors (200 USD). FSA 50/34 crank, 40 USD. Why bother to use that slam dung, all made in Taiwan anyway.

 

[Winded Lowrider]

Watched that video so many times in the last I can recite it by heart. Now I really think the problem was always the brifter not the derailed cage adjustment....

 

[dtseng]

First of all, the front derailleur hanger and the stalk must be installed correctly.

 

[dtseng]

Shifting chain ring is such a simple mechanical action: the front derailer pushes the chain toward the side of the large chain ring, the studs on the side of the chain ring catch the chain and bring it on the tooth of the large chain ring. That's all there is to it. Why would you need that YAW? It does not shift any better than those without. You are paying a premium price for more troubles and more added weight.

 

[Winded Lowrider]

Don't I know it! Much of the "progress" in bike tech is an illusion.

 

[mattwall]

You could identify if the problem is the brifter or the front derailleur by disconnecting the cable and seeing whether it will shift by moving the front derailleur cage with your hand while rotating the crank.

 

[Winded Lowrider]

The cage will move by hand. 90 percent sure a got a bad broken/brifter.

 

[Robert Holler]

If your shifter on that side is broken send me an email to support@cruzbike.com and I can send you a replacement.

 

[LMT]

If it's cable tension then an in line barrel adjuster is the way to go. Worked for me with my set up, although I have not got a YAW mech and do you really need one? With the chain length being ever so slightly longer than a DF you should have less chain rub and therefore less need to trim.

 

[Winded Lowrider]

This SRAM YAW brifter thing is clearly over my head, so I'm taking it in to the LBS for evaluation. Robert has chimed in with support so there could potentially be a happy ending to my woes. Crossing my fingers now.