SRAM/XT woes..

David Martin said:

As reported previously my SRAM 5.0 rear mech had given up the ghost, so
I decided to replace it with an XT one.

Nice shiny kit arrived (thanks wiggle) and was duly installed. I did
manage to find the powerlink under all the crud on the chain, and gave
the chain a good clean too.

Now I discover that the SRAM gripshift is not compatible with the XT
rear mech.. giving me a few gaps and misalignments in the changes.

Oh. did no-one think to mention that sram has two types of shifter -
shimano-compatible, and their own (functionally superior) which has
double the cable pull? Sounds like you have the latter.

Oops!

James
--
If I have seen further than others, it is
by treading on the toes of giants.
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames/home/

James Annan said:

David Martin said:

As reported previously my SRAM 5.0 rear mech had given up the ghost,
so I decided to replace it with an XT one.

Nice shiny kit arrived (thanks wiggle) and was duly installed. I did
manage to find the powerlink under all the crud on the chain, and gave
the chain a good clean too.

Now I discover that the SRAM gripshift is not compatible with the XT
rear mech.. giving me a few gaps and misalignments in the changes.

Oh. did no-one think to mention that sram has two types of shifter -
shimano-compatible, and their own (functionally superior) which has
double the cable pull? Sounds like you have the latter.

I had acquired various parts of the drivetrain over a relatively short
period of time. I thought I had got the shimano compatible one. It
doesn't seem that there is twice the cable pull, it just misses a few
gears.

I'd agree with the overall design being better, especially with regards
to the cable routing. But the longevity of the 5.0 was not good and the
parts were all non standard.

New 8-speed thumbies on the way anyhow.

The scary thing today was the drivechain on the road bike deciding to
make expensive noises. Might be time to turn my Uniglide sprockets round
and check the chain stretch.

...d

in message <[email hidden]>, David Martin

(') said:

As reported previously my SRAM 5.0 rear mech had given up the ghost,
so I decided to replace it with an XT one.

Nice shiny kit arrived (thanks wiggle) and was duly installed. I did
manage to find the powerlink under all the crud on the chain, and gave
the chain a good clean too.

Now I discover that the SRAM gripshift is not compatible with the XT
rear mech.. giving me a few gaps and misalignments in the changes.

Grr. Oh well, gives me a chance to ditch the gripshift and put some XT
thumbies on.

Don't do that. Or if you really, really want to, talk to me about the
XTR thumbies I ditched to put SRAM gripshifts on. Of course, the best
solution is to get a SRAM rear mech.

Shimano thumbies? You can't trim 'em, you can't shift more than two cogs
at a time, and they're generally nasty to use.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

IMHO, there aren't enough committed Christians, but that's care
in the community for you. -- Ben Evans

David Martin said:

New 8-speed thumbies on the way anyhow.

If you decide that you prefer the Gripshift, I have an 8-speed indexed
one for Shimano that is in good nick (Only actually used for 1 week!).

Jon

Simon Brooke said:

Shimano thumbies? You can't trim 'em, you can't shift more than two cogs
at a time, and they're generally nasty to use.

They're not thumbies. They're Rapidfire+, a far inferior product.
Thumbies were killed off by Shimano because they lasted too long, worked
too well, and had too few moving parts.

Simon Brooke said:

Don't do that. Or if you really, really want to, talk to me about the
XTR thumbies I ditched to put SRAM gripshifts on. Of course, the best
solution is to get a SRAM rear mech.

Shimano thumbies? You can't trim 'em, you can't shift more than two cogs
at a time, and they're generally nasty to use.

ITYM XTR Rapidfire. I've had XT for about 7 years now and never needed
to trim them. Changing up is one cog at a time but I can dump four or
five cogs in a single push on the downshift.

Its one of those Campag/Shimano arguments that comes down in the end to
personal preference IMO

If you want proper thumbies by the way, Paul Components in the US make
them. http://www.paulcomp.com/

Tony

Tony Raven said:

Its one of those Campag/Shimano arguments that comes down in the end to
personal preference IMO

Totally agree, my XT rear mech works perfectly everytime with my Dura
Ace downtube lever, one really great thing about Shimano is that they
have kept the multiplier/ratio in the rear mechs the same for years and
across their groupset ranges enabling mix and match like this. Anyone
know if this is still true with 10 speed ?

NB no one mentioned Campag.

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, David Martin

(') said:

As reported previously my SRAM 5.0 rear mech had given up the ghost,
so I decided to replace it with an XT one.

Nice shiny kit arrived (thanks wiggle) and was duly installed. I did
manage to find the powerlink under all the crud on the chain, and gave
the chain a good clean too.

Now I discover that the SRAM gripshift is not compatible with the XT
rear mech.. giving me a few gaps and misalignments in the changes.

Grr. Oh well, gives me a chance to ditch the gripshift and put some XT
thumbies on.

Don't do that. Or if you really, really want to, talk to me about the
XTR thumbies I ditched to put SRAM gripshifts on. Of course, the best
solution is to get a SRAM rear mech.

I had an SRAM 5.0 rear mech. It worked fine till the jockey wheel died
(tension pulley). Said jockey wheel is not a standard part so the whole
mech gets binned. Not particularly good value for money, seeing as it
cost nigh on what an XT one would.

Quoted message said:

Shimano thumbies? You can't trim 'em, you can't shift more than two cogs
at a time, and they're generally nasty to use.

Two cogs at a time is fine for me. We'll see how they go, and trimming
them is not something I tend to need to do on the fly (for the rear, the
front is a different story).

...d

"David Martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Shimano thumbies? You can't trim 'em, you can't shift more than two cogs
at a time, and they're generally nasty to use.

Two cogs at a time is fine for me. We'll see how they go, and trimming
them is not something I tend to need to do on the fly (for the rear, the
front is a different story).

I think it's the front which he's talking about.

I chose SRAM ESP for the back because it seems more sensible, especially
with the rather long cable run the tandem has, and the front would have a
gripshift if I started from scratch, except the existing thumbshifter hasn't
broken yet despite me stripping the threads (smaller screw worked).

cheers,
clive