Red Blues. Red shifters failing.

[sungod]

mine are nearly 6 years old, with an awful lot of wet rides including wet salted roads in winter

when i've had the hoods off to redo tape or cables, i've not noticed any corrosion or other issues, nor done any maintenance on them - though except for the front brake cable (ss) i'm using powercordz, so no corrosion from the cables themselves and less metal in there to cause electrolytic reaction

is it possible the hoods weren't on tight so that it was easier for water to get in? i find i have to force some of the internal bumps, ridges etc. into the corresponding bits of the shifter otherwise they will not fully seat of their own accord

the sram manual doesn't mention any maintenance beyond a generic mention of grease on the pivot of brake levers
https://www.sram.com/sites/default/file ... -rev-a.pdf

if you're getting corrosion it might be worth treating the replacement with acf-50, once a year should be fine

[davidalone]

As I've posted before I'm a mechanical engineer who has had several SRAM shifters fail on me. I took them apart and my conclusions:

Red, Force, Rival, APEX all use the same base function with different materials.
SRAM's engineering decision prioritises ergonomics and low cost, light weight over longevity. some moving small parts in the shifter are such tiny bits of metal that are so thin that slackness of the cable tension (hence making you 'overshift' slightly to shift down to a lighter gear ) will stress the part and eventually cause fatigue damage... and eventual failure. it is not true what SRAM says about being 'more resistant to improper adjustment because of this.

SRAM shifters also tend to be slightly more exposed to the elements. the brake lever design, while cheap adn simple ( hence light), also allows it to get damaged more easily.I have seen several instances when racing that SRAM shifters cannot take a serious knock and keep going.

Don't get me wrong SRAM shift action is very nice and the ergonomics are excellent. but keep the sacrifices SRAM made in mind. in my opinion perfect if you have a follow car with a spare bike and like to race. if you want something dead reliable, Campy or the Big S are better.

[crankinstein]

I had SRAM Force 10 speed on my cross bike that was used rain or shine, mud and snow and I never had an issue with the shifters. I have 105 on my current bike and miss my SRAM.

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

[BlackMadone]

Trash it. Get your hands on Campagnolo Record or SR and you'll never look back. Campag is something you'll need to learn how to tune your self but that's part of the fun! Overall it lighting fast being able to multi shift in both up and down the rear cog. Hoods are so comfortable I longer wear gloves and the group is so beautiful I can't stop looking at it.

[F45]

So oil it periodically from now on. Why weren't you doing that after the first failure?

[nickf]

I spray in a little bit of tri flow in my red shifters around once every month. Depending on weather conditions. Or when i give the bike a really good clean and general lube i give the shifters a blast. At the shop we fix 95% of sticky shimano shifters by just blasting them with tri flow and letting them soak. Sram will just break while shimano after years of no lube will get sticky and stop working. Seems like shimano packs the shifters with grease that gets gummed up after some time. Also bad cables with to much friction wont help. Sram is really good with warranty claims.

[nickf]

Seen broken campy shifters also. Nothing is perfect.

Trash it. Get your hands on Campagnolo Record or SR and you'll never look back. Campag is something you'll need to learn how to tune your self but that's part of the fun! Overall it lighting fast being able to multi shift in both up and down the rear cog. Hoods are so comfortable I longer wear gloves and the group is so beautiful I can't stop looking at it.

[djconnel]

Pawl stopped engaging reliably on my GF's 1st gen Red rear shifter. You had to push it with your thumb to get it to engage (inboard side of hood). She got some newer Force shifters to replace them (the front was also having issues). My same-generation Red has been fine, OTOH, with much heavier use. So it seems to be a random thing whether these fail.

BTW Red was lighter and better ergonomics, IMHO, than Campy in that era (2008-2009).

[superdx]

Trash it. Get your hands on Campagnolo Record or SR and you'll never look back. Campag is something you'll need to learn how to tune your self but that's part of the fun! Overall it lighting fast being able to multi shift in both up and down the rear cog. Hoods are so comfortable I longer wear gloves and the group is so beautiful I can't stop looking at it.

That's the worst recommendation ever. Don't want to maintain shifters or tune them (what? why?). Haven't had to do so for SRAM or Shimano, like ever. Here's one person you've just convinced never to jump on the Campagnolo wagon.

[topflightpro]

I've not had these issues with any of my Sram shifters, and I am still running an eight-year-old set of Red shifters on one bike.

The one issue I've had is that I have cracked a pulley in two Red RDs.

[Mr.Gib]

Thanks for the link.

What is most amazing is how well shifters work given that most of us do zero maintenance over years of heavy use. I live in an area that has a fair bit of rolling terrain, many small hills that require constant shifting and I am shocked that I have had zero failures. In fact I am amazed I haven't worn out at least a couple of right shifters. One Red shifter in particular has seen many thousands of kms with constant shifting but still works same as new with zero maintenance.

Between my wife and I we have 3 bikes with Red and 3 with various Shimano, with the Red equipped bikes seeing 80 percent of the action. I have never cleaned or lubed any shifters. I think its time too start.

@juanmoretime, if you sweat a lot, and the sweat is making its way into the shifter internals, it's a near miracle that the shifters work at all.

[eric]

I've not cleaned or lubed my 2012 Red shifters either, and I ride that bike a lot and shift a lot. As far as I can tell they shift as good as new. I'll at least check in there to see if it's dirty.

I've had 7800 shifters gum up and fixed them by flushing them out with CRC Power Lube (per recommendation from my friend the LBS owner).

[szazbo]

I purchased from QBP 50 sets of right side RED G springs back in the day and was upgrading normal levers to RED springs. Noticeable difference. Anyone need some, I am more than happy to sell some for $11 shipped via USPS 1st class mail. As far as I know I probably am the only ones with these.