Problems with setting up indexing SRAM Rival

Gary P

Hi all

I'm a fairly experienced cyclist and amateur mechanic. I just bought a 2010 Boardman team which is lovely and has a full SRAM Rival groupset. However, I'm struggling to set the indexing up properly for the full range of 10 gears.

The front changer doesn't seem to give me the range to get the full set of rear 10 cogs and I'm getting chain rub at the extremes of high and low.

The rear changer is not happy to go down to the smallest cog.

I've set up the alignment of the rear mech, started from scratch on the cable tension and still it won't work properly.

I've never had this problem with any Shimano I've had but SRAM claim theirs is the easiest system out there to set up and when sorted, stays set. Also, Shimano shift seem a lot sweeter.

The bike's done less than 200 miles from new so it is unlikely to be chain or cog wear I would have thought?

Anyone else had this problem and do you have any tips on setup please?

Thanks

Gary

Monty Dog

In terms of the front mech, chain rub is unavoidable with almost all modern transmissions.

Does the rear mech get into the lowest sprocket with the cable disconnected? Have you checked the rear hanger alignment? If all OK then it's almost certainly the cable install e.g. Pinched liner on the outer cable.

farrina

Monty Dog wrote:

In terms of the front mech, chain rub is unavoidable with almost all modern transmissions.

I don't wish to be confrontational in any way, but I find this statement extraordinary.

I would acknowledge that chain angle at the extremes (big ring biggest sprocket etc) is not likely to be particularly satisfactory.

Regards

Alan

Gary P

Will check the dropout and mech alignment first tomorrow then the cable routing. Thanks.

StillGoing

SRAM FDs are usually set so that when in the big ring, you can get the full range on the rear cassette without any rubbing. Conversely, when you change to the small ring, there will be some slight rubbing when using the smallest sprockets on the cassette. SRAM figure you want the full range of gears when in the big ring to minimise changes on the front and that when in the small ring you only really need the bigger sprockets to help with climbing.

Gary P

I spent some of this morning with the bike on the workstand and starting from scratch. Gears are now much better and all index properly. I still think that to get the whole range with the SRAM double shifter is not possible as whatever way you set it up it has some chain drag at either the upper or lower end.

Having ridden all sorts of group sets over the years and having just changed from a 105 compact set up on my old bike to the SRAM on the Boardman, my personal experience is that the Shimano stuff is not only less fiddly to set up but performs much better/smoother, especially 105.

My winter hack Giant SCR is running Sora/Tiagra mix and also runs smoother than SRAM.

StillGoing

Personal opinion. My Force/Red set up has none of the issues you describe. On the big ring I can use all the rear cassette without any rubbing and only get slight rubbing on the small ring.

farrina

Gary P wrote:

I Having ridden all sorts of group sets over the years and having just changed from a 105 compact set up on my old bike to the SRAM on the Boardman, my personal experience is that the Shimano stuff is not only less fiddly to set up but performs much better/smoother, especially

Well that may well explain my incredulity as to the comments above about it not being possible to avoid chain rub - I have only ever used Campag ( many moons ago) and for the last 15 years exclusively Shimano DA.

Learn something every day .....

Glad you sorted it.

Regards

Alan

juankerr

I've got the same bike. It took about 3 attempts to get the front DR right, but on the third time it was perfect and I didn't need to touch it for ever again. There is a trim function but I've got it set up so that I don't really need to use it. Big ring to big cog isn't so great, but then you shouldn't really be doing that should you?

Gary P

How does the trim function work? I've yet to find it.

mpdouglas

I've got Rival on my Boardman Hybrid Pro and can use all of the rear cassette whilst on the big ring with no chain rub on the front mech so it should be achievable.

Is the front mech low enough on the seat tube i.e. the bottom edge of the cage should be only 1-3mm clear of the teeth on the big ring. If the mech is too high, the chain will pass through the front mech cage a little further back than designed and this could make it more likely to rub (looking from above, imagine the triangle formed by the chain in its top and bottom cassette positions - the nearer the rear axle that the chain passes through the sides of the front cage, the broader the base of that imaginery triangle and the wider the cage would need to be to avoid rubbing). It could also be caused by the front mech cage not being completely parallel with the chainrings.

Official set up doc is here:

http://cdn.sram.com/cdn/farfuture/c90h_ ... eurs_6.pdf

crapshot

I have just bought a boardman hybrid pro, and i'm also having the same problem with the gears.
I have full access to all the gears in the larger front cog, but in the smaller front cog, i get rubbing on the front derailer using the three smaller rear coggs. Halfords have told me that i should not use these gears as they are overlaped with gears in the larger cog and it could damage the rear mechanism.

Is this the case with these gears or do i need to go to someone else for help.

please help!!!

Slo Mo Jones

I'm having trouble shifting into the big ring on my new Rival set up.

Is there a barrel adjuster/ cable tensioner somewhere? What does it look like? Sorry for the crappy newbie question.

peteone

Slo Mo Jones wrote:

I'm having trouble shifting into the big ring on my new Rival set up.

Is there a barrel adjuster/ cable tensioner somewhere? What does it look like? Sorry for the crappy newbie question.

Not for the front no. I tend to add an inline one for my front mech.

Slo Mo Jones

peteone wrote:

Slo Mo Jones wrote:

I'm having trouble shifting into the big ring on my new Rival set up.

Is there a barrel adjuster/ cable tensioner somewhere? What does it look like? Sorry for the crappy newbie question.

Not for the front no. I tend to add an inline one for my front mech.

Is it ok just to unclamp the cable, give it a pull and re-clamp? Assuming it's in the small ring and big cog at the time?