broken sram rival shifter

bobinski

Hi there,
The double tap paddle on my right shifter broke off today as I changed down. Its lasted about 15k.broken at the metal bracket. I am trying to source a single still shifter but without success. I assume I will not be able to get it repaired so my only option is to buy a pair? Somewhat surprised at the cost!! Perhaps second hand is the best option. Any suggestions gratefully received.
Cheers
Bob

majormantra

I guess given the distance covered warranty isn't an option? I only ask as this is a common issue. I have a friend who's broken THREE Rival shifters this way.

bobinski

Sadly no.
Blimey, thats bad luck or an indictment of Sram.
Funny thing is I was thinking of moving to campag as part of a new build. But not in this way!

dee4life2005

Guy in work had one of his SRAM Rival shifters break - sounds like similar story to yours. Pretty sure his bike was out of warranty but the supplier of the bike replaced it without question - even paying for the LBS labour to fit it.

It's worth enquiring as it does appear to be a known issue with the SRAM Rivals (of a certain age?).

racingcondor

Yours does have quite a lot of mileage in it (you don't say how old it is though) but SRAM have a reputation for shifters which fail in this way past their warrenty period.

ricky1980

i am collecting broken shifters and pull them apart and try to make working ones out of broken ones.

If you are looking to sell the pair on, I am happy to buy. However I do not have the part you described that is broken for fixing your shifter tho. this metal linkage is the most common sram breakage.

bobinski

Thanks guys. Good suggestions. 3 years old so i will email planet x and see what they say.

mtbboy101

Ebay. I got a second hand replacement for a left shifter for £20. Saw some right ones when looking

bobinski

Darn,all lefthand on eBay at the moment,or in pairs. Be patient...

gakko

I had a very similar story with my R Sram shifter after about 18 months of purchase and as everyone above confirms this is a very common finding with the Sram Rival shifters.

If the shifters were purchased and the warranty period (24 months) has gone by, you can still claim that the product was manufactured in a way which resulted that it did not last a reasonable amount of time. You can quote the part of Sales of Goods Act 1979 or consult trading standards with your case.

“Satisfactory quality” includes the notion of “durability” so an item should last a “reasonable time”. The above extract (Sale of Goods Act, Section 14) applies to your case.

Good luck.

bobinski

Gakko,
I know-I am a Lawyer! I have had it 3 years but then again the number of reported problems does seem to suggest an issue.
Planet x have not responded to my email so I am going to package it up and send it to them. Will report back.
cheers

ugo.santalucia

Class action against SRAM?

quickbrew

A year ago my right hand SRAM Force shifter paddle snapped off, and ruined my ride during a local sportive (got stuck on the 12 sprocket). Still under warranty, I got a free replacement after 3 weeks which was good, but I still had to re-build my bike with a different gear system to tide me over so I could do the Dragon Ride the following week.

Last week my left hand SRAM Force shifter paddle snapped off in same way, during a local sportive. So this is my 2nd Dragon Ride running I have had to re-build my bike in a rush because of SRAM. But this time I'm not even trying for warranty, claims against SRAM, etc, I have replaced it all with Ultegra.

Then this morning I heard from a work colleague that his SRAM Force shift paddle snapped yesterday.

I have seen on other forums some claims from retailers of this being "one-off", "bad batch" - don't believe them, this is a recurring theme. I really like their operation and feel, but if the SRAM shifter quality is so bad, unless you have a lot of time and money on your hands (and are happy riding 90 miles stuck on the 34 chainring when it snaps :-) why bother ?

john&tina10911

Guess what? another broken sram rival rhd lever looks like paddle tangs snapped off exactly as some photos I have seen

It happened whilst down shifting (lower gear)

This is my wife's Planet x carbon pro which has never been dropped and gets fairely light use (she is under 9 stone)

The levers are 4 months out of warranty hopefully sram will do the right thing fast

let you know

ian@mccashey.co.uk

Same issue with my sram rival rhs shifter.this came on my Boardman, which I bought from Halfords. Anyone had any joy getting these replaced by either sram or where they bought the bike, even when it's out of warranty?

velojay

Don't give up on trying to get a replacement. I have managed to break 3 Sram shifters in this way. 2 were Rival and one was Force and Sram have replaced all 3 despite the fact that one was 3 years old when it broke.

It seems that Red does not suffer from this problem so much.

wishitwasallflat

Sounds like there is a case for SRAM to replace but just incase you can get right on its own

http://www.tweekscycles.com/Product.do? ... tAodFysAtQ

http://www.fudgescyclestore.com/index.php?p=167765

and other places

ian@mccashey.co.uk

Thanks guys, very helpful. Does anyone know where and how to contact SRAM?

majormantra

Doubt you'll have any luck if it's out of warranty, and manufacturers almost never deal with these things directly anyway - it's always done through the shop you originally bought from.

gakko

It is best to contact the dealer/shop that you originally purchased the product/bike from. They will most likely contact the UK distributor in this case fisher outdoor, be prepared to wait for at least a couple of weeks. Don't give up hope as previous posts indicate that even with products out of the warranty period they are likely to exchange it.

jack_flap

Another case of the right shifter lever failing whilst downshifting.

I quite liked these shifters but am slightly sceptical about replacing with identical models as it seems like a fairly common occurrence.

The replacements seem to be the same model year so it doesn't seem like the internal design has changed.

Did anyone have any luck with Halfords out of warranty?

Old_Timer

Since that initial bad batch, as it was called, yours is the first broken paddle in a bit I have read about. Not sure about Halfords when out of warranty, it is wort a shot to try and get them to pony up for a unit or if SRAM had a paddle available a replacement paddle you could install. Maybe a shop in your area has any spares from salvage they would sell you a shifter or just the paddle at a decent price.

Did you have a shunt or have the bicycle fall on the shifter side? I'd be interested in what broke and why. My Rival group just passed 2-1/2 years and if I need to watch something I'd appreciate knowing.

jack_flap

Old_Timer - I bought the bike in 2011 - it has probably covered 6-7K miles in generally drier weather, no crashes (though it has probably fallen over a couple of times here and there).

I think it's disappointing that the failure is down to the metal part which holds the paddle on to the axle - the metal used appears to be too fragile for this application/design needs to be slightly adjusted.

The spares available eg http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Rival-Shif ... B004MY2AMG don't seem to include the affected part.

No signs that it was about to fail - had shifted perfectly since new. I did wonder if having never changed the cables may have added extra stress but as everything worked smoothly I think it's unlikely.

I would really have expected around twice the mileage from this - maybe with a gradual deterioration. From reading around on the web there are a good number have failed in this way.

My concern with my replacements are that if used - they may well just have the same problem very shortly (and no warranty), new - where sold it seems to be a model from 2009-11 model but at least should be covered for 2 years.

I'm not sure whether there is a change in the design around 2013, but I think that the force/apex shifters share the same internals too.

Am tempted to go down the 105/Ultegra route - I run Ultegra 6600 on another bike which works well but they are both quite a bit heavier (well half a water bottle anyway) than Rival.

Will have a shop around for any good deals.

londoncommuter

Why don't SRAM sell those little metal bits on their own? Sounds like loads of us have the same problem and extortionate shifters could be repaired with a 50p component. Wouldn't mind if they marked it up massively to £10.

On a completely different (but slightly related issue), anyone know where you can buy 110bcd SRAM spiders at a reasonable price in the UK? I got a s901 standard chainset for a new build but my puny legs mean I should really "convert" it to a s951 compact so just need a new spider and SRAM Red rings.

StillGoing

londoncommuter wrote:

Why don't SRAM sell those little metal bits on their own? Sounds like loads of us have the same problem and extortionate shifters could be repaired with a 50p component. Wouldn't mind if they marked it up massively to £10.

On a completely different (but slightly related issue), anyone know where you can buy 110bcd SRAM spiders at a reasonable price in the UK? I got a s901 standard chainset for a new build but my puny legs mean I should really "convert" it to a s951 compact so just need a new spider and SRAM Red rings.

What length crank arms? I've got a SRAM Red/Black 110bcd spider (and compact rings) taken from one bike that have 170mm crank arms. Keep meaning to stick them on eBay.

londoncommuter

Thanks for the offer but I'm not sure that's the bit I need. It's this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TEAMSSX-New-SRA ... 4620c9069a

Salsa

Just take it to a shop that your friendly with and who deals with Fisher (pretty much all of them). I've sent quite a few back stating in the rma request that they were out of the warranty period and if Fisher don't honor the request the customers ok with that. Never had one warranty request denied, even had a couple of lucky customers upgraded from Rival to Force as they didn't have Rivals in stock.

londoncommuter

Just had another Rival shifter fail in the same place. Completely out of warranty but I've asked Halfords if they can help (Boardman Team Carbon). They didn't sound optimistic but will call SRAM on Monday. Any tips I can give them before they call? They seemed sure it was SRAM not Fisher they should be calling but is that right?

Thanks for any advice (or links to cheap replacements......)

Old_Timer

I'd still take the parts in and ask that SRAM handle this, if you haven't already sorted things out. I had a pre-load lock nut strip out the set screw on an S-500 crank set/BB 30, and the LBS here got a replacement from SRAM, in short order and at no cost to me.