Sram Apex vs (10sp) Rival shifters

raymond82

Hi all!

After the internals of my right shifter broke I'm looking to buy new shifters, but I'm doubting between the 10 speed Rival and the Apex ones as they come at a very similar price (see below for the models I mean). My main doubt was regarding the internals breaking, I read here and there about both of them that this can happen. I had it happening on old Force shifters but also have a very old set of Rival shifters with alloy shift and brake levers on another bike which are still fine after 7 years of use.

Is this internal breaking of the gear lever something specific for a certain model? The comments I read seem kind of old, I was hoping that someone here might know if this is something particular for older models. Especially since the Apex ones are current model and the Rival ones seem to be an older model, I was wondering whether it's better to go for the Apex ones.

These are the models I mean:
Rival:
https://www.sram.com/sram/road/products ... p-controls

Apex:
https://www.sram.com/sram/road/products ... p-controls

Many thanks!!

londoncommuter

I've been told that Apex use the same internals and all (other than red) pre-2013 shifters were affected the same, with the very light weight but weak metal part.

2013 and later and you should be fine whatever you go for.

My personal experience has been failed Force and Rival right hand shifters. Also, if it helps, I've used 10 speed Apex, Rival and Force and they're all identical other than a tiny bit of weight so I'd go for whatever you can get the best deal on.

raymond82

londoncommuter wrote:

I've been told that Apex use the same internals and all (other than red) pre-2013 shifters were affected the same, with the very light weight but weak metal part.

2013 and later and you should be fine whatever you go for.

My personal experience has been failed Force and Rival right hand shifters. Also, if it helps, I've used 10 speed Apex, Rival and Force and they're all identical other than a tiny bit of weight so I'd go for whatever you can get the best deal on.

Thanks, that's the kind of info I was looking for! With me it was also the right shifter failing, It's probably not that common but I did realize that it's quite a pain even while I was on completely flat terrain. Can't imagine what that is like in the middle of a mountainous ride. Is there any way to recognize the pre-2013 shifters? I'm sure the Apex one are a recent model but the Rival one for reduced price might be an older model?

The weight difference is indeed very small, which is why I would take the Apex over the Rival if the Rival is the older model.

londoncommuter

raymond82 wrote:

londoncommuter wrote:

I've been told that Apex use the same internals and all (other than red) pre-2013 shifters were affected the same, with the very light weight but weak metal part.

2013 and later and you should be fine whatever you go for.

My personal experience has been failed Force and Rival right hand shifters. Also, if it helps, I've used 10 speed Apex, Rival and Force and they're all identical other than a tiny bit of weight so I'd go for whatever you can get the best deal on.

Thanks, that's the kind of info I was looking for! With me it was also the right shifter failing, It's probably not that common but I did realize that it's quite a pain even while I was on completely flat terrain. Can't imagine what that is like in the middle of a mountainous ride. Is there any way to recognize the pre-2013 shifters? I'm sure the Apex one are a recent model but the Rival one for reduced price might be an older model?

The weight difference is indeed very small, which is why I would take the Apex over the Rival if the Rival is the older model.

The boxes all have their build dates on so you'd have to ask the seller if you're buying online and can't check yourself.

StillGoing

londoncommuter wrote:

I've been told that Apex use the same internals and all (other than red) pre-2013 shifters were affected the same, with the very light weight but weak metal part.

2013 and later and you should be fine whatever you go for.
.

I don't know who told you that, but it is complete rubbish. I've used 2010 Force and Red levers on 2 bikes up until late last year without issue when both bikes were switched to 11 speed Force and Rival. Ride buddies have Force 2011 levers and Rival and Apex 2011 levers and neither of them have suffered or are suffering problems despite some very erratic and heavy handed shifting techniques by some of them. Sometimes it is simply the luck of the draw when a component fails and with items being made in such large numbers, it is no wonder that some are prone to failure. Any manufacturer can suffer component failure but as SRAM are the relatively new kid on the block as far as road bikes go, they get all the negatives.

londoncommuter

philthy3 wrote:

londoncommuter wrote:

I've been told that Apex use the same internals and all (other than red) pre-2013 shifters were affected the same, with the very light weight but weak metal part.

2013 and later and you should be fine whatever you go for.
.

I don't know who told you that, but it is complete rubbish. I've used 2010 Force and Red levers on 2 bikes up until late last year without issue when both bikes were switched to 11 speed Force and Rival. Ride buddies have Force 2011 levers and Rival and Apex 2011 levers and neither of them have suffered or are suffering problems despite some very erratic and heavy handed shifting techniques by some of them. Sometimes it is simply the luck of the draw when a component fails and with items being made in such large numbers, it is no wonder that some are prone to failure. Any manufacturer can suffer component failure but as SRAM are the relatively new kid on the block as far as road bikes go, they get all the negatives.

SRAM are great and I have them on all my bikes and I'm not saying there is anything terrible but there is a small metal part which used to fail more than it should do on the older shifters. It's a tiny 10p part and unfortunately wasn't available as a spare part. SRAM were brilliant and warrantied my shifters both times (all I asked them for was the part!) so again I'm not slagging them off but if you do a search online you'll see this did happen to quite a few people. As a percentage, it's tiny but the issue was there.

raymond82

londoncommuter wrote:

raymond82 wrote:

londoncommuter wrote:

I've been told that Apex use the same internals and all (other than red) pre-2013 shifters were affected the same, with the very light weight but weak metal part.

2013 and later and you should be fine whatever you go for.

My personal experience has been failed Force and Rival right hand shifters. Also, if it helps, I've used 10 speed Apex, Rival and Force and they're all identical other than a tiny bit of weight so I'd go for whatever you can get the best deal on.

Thanks, that's the kind of info I was looking for! With me it was also the right shifter failing, It's probably not that common but I did realize that it's quite a pain even while I was on completely flat terrain. Can't imagine what that is like in the middle of a mountainous ride. Is there any way to recognize the pre-2013 shifters? I'm sure the Apex one are a recent model but the Rival one for reduced price might be an older model?

The weight difference is indeed very small, which is why I would take the Apex over the Rival if the Rival is the older model.

The boxes all have their build dates on so you'd have to ask the seller if you're buying online and can't check yourself.

Good point! I'll drop an email to the seller.

londoncommuter

This bit:

raymond82

londoncommuter wrote:

This bit:

Yep, that's it indeed... Never worried about it until now, like I said used the old silver coloured Rival shifters for years without issues. But when this happened to the Force shifters it scared me quite a bit, really don't want this to happen in the middle of a sportive...

StillGoing

londoncommuter wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

londoncommuter wrote:

I've been told that Apex use the same internals and all (other than red) pre-2013 shifters were affected the same, with the very light weight but weak metal part.

2013 and later and you should be fine whatever you go for.
.

I don't know who told you that, but it is complete rubbish. I've used 2010 Force and Red levers on 2 bikes up until late last year without issue when both bikes were switched to 11 speed Force and Rival. Ride buddies have Force 2011 levers and Rival and Apex 2011 levers and neither of them have suffered or are suffering problems despite some very erratic and heavy handed shifting techniques by some of them. Sometimes it is simply the luck of the draw when a component fails and with items being made in such large numbers, it is no wonder that some are prone to failure. Any manufacturer can suffer component failure but as SRAM are the relatively new kid on the block as far as road bikes go, they get all the negatives.

SRAM are great and I have them on all my bikes and I'm not saying there is anything terrible but there is a small metal part which used to fail more than it should do on the older shifters. It's a tiny 10p part and unfortunately wasn't available as a spare part. SRAM were brilliant and warrantied my shifters both times (all I asked them for was the part!) so again I'm not slagging them off but if you do a search online you'll see this did happen to quite a few people. As a percentage, it's tiny but the issue was there.

There have been failures, but it isn't all pre-2013 models as you've been misinformed by someone. A bad batch of parts were used affecting a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of shifters. The vast majority of pre-2013 model shifters work absolutely fine.

raymond82

philthy3 wrote:

londoncommuter wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

londoncommuter wrote:

I've been told that Apex use the same internals and all (other than red) pre-2013 shifters were affected the same, with the very light weight but weak metal part.

2013 and later and you should be fine whatever you go for.
.

I don't know who told you that, but it is complete rubbish. I've used 2010 Force and Red levers on 2 bikes up until late last year without issue when both bikes were switched to 11 speed Force and Rival. Ride buddies have Force 2011 levers and Rival and Apex 2011 levers and neither of them have suffered or are suffering problems despite some very erratic and heavy handed shifting techniques by some of them. Sometimes it is simply the luck of the draw when a component fails and with items being made in such large numbers, it is no wonder that some are prone to failure. Any manufacturer can suffer component failure but as SRAM are the relatively new kid on the block as far as road bikes go, they get all the negatives.

SRAM are great and I have them on all my bikes and I'm not saying there is anything terrible but there is a small metal part which used to fail more than it should do on the older shifters. It's a tiny 10p part and unfortunately wasn't available as a spare part. SRAM were brilliant and warrantied my shifters both times (all I asked them for was the part!) so again I'm not slagging them off but if you do a search online you'll see this did happen to quite a few people. As a percentage, it's tiny but the issue was there.

There have been failures, but it isn't all pre-2013 models as you've been misinformed by someone. A bad batch of parts were used affecting a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of shifters. The vast majority of pre-2013 model shifters work absolutely fine.

Good point, it's always tricky extrapolating individual experiences I suppose. However I do see quite some comments on breaking internals, that's why I wanted to ask. And I experienced it myself (albeit with a set of shifters I bought 2nd hand) so I might be paying extra attention to these stories. Although I also have to say my ~2008 Rival shifters are still doing great after all these years.

Regarding recognizing the model, I just noticed two different versions are offered:

On model with SRAM written on the lever:
https://www.sram.com/sram/road/products ... p-controls
http://www.futurumshop.nl/sram-rival-sh ... peed.phtml

And another model with "Rival" written on the lever:
http://hollandbikeshop.com/sram/sram-ra ... -10-speed/

The one that broke on me had "Force" written on the lever, would it be right to assume that the newer models have "SRAM" written on them? Also because that's the model listed on SRAM's website?

londoncommuter

philthy3 wrote:

There have been failures, but it isn't all pre-2013 models as you've been misinformed by someone. A bad batch of parts were used affecting a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of shifters. The vast majority of pre-2013 model shifters work absolutely fine.

You're quite right, I could have been misinformed, but I'd been told that prior to 2013 that component was made of a zinc alloy and it was changed to steel for 2013 onwards. As I'm sure I've mentioned, I'm not in anyway suggesting these failures are endemic, the majority of pre and post 2013 shifters are absolutely fine and you'd have to be very unlucky for it to happen to you.

Why do you think there was a bad batch and, if it was, how would that cover multiple years?

This is probably no worse than with Shimano or Campag, the bit I found frustrating was that the shifters were so easily disassembled and could be repaired for pence if SRAM had made that bit a spare part.

diamonddog

The Rival shifters on my 2012 bike have worked superbly and continue to do so.

raymond82

Probably I should just take my chances with either of them and hope they last as long as my old Rival ones. Now all that I have to decide is which ones I find better looking...

Garry H

Happened to me too, same bit. Rival, 2009 I think. Carbon brake lever, alloy shifter.

raymond82

Ordered the Rival ones today, hopefully all will be ok. Found this interesting thread on another forum referring to the same problems and mentioning the update that was done with newer models:

http://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/ ... fters.html