Ald1 

My experience with most good manufacturers of any product respond well after you send them a video of the problem when it's not working and give them a chance to correct it before posting it on youtube, various related forums etc.... Have used this successfully in my businesses for many years.

afonsogrf

What did Sram said? Did you contact them?

FlashBazbo

eTap was introduced in August 2015. Were you a beta tester?

GlennR

I got the "promo" mini group that my dealer got. I did the swap from Red 22 mechanical to eTap with the Sram rep there.

BNB

you are correct and this LBS has a horrible reputation. I bought the group from them after a phone call to me from the owner who made a very hard sales pitch (the shop is my club's sponsor) and I caved because it is my go-to shop for stuff I need quickly. nothing else nearby.

thanks for contact - i had found that but saw the "for dealers only" and figured they wouldn't help me. worth a try.

Bob Ross

Who's your LBS?

BNB

posting that publicly would not be wise for me.

Psimet2001 

Here in the land of SRAM we have been seeing and using eTap for a while. I have seen issues just like I would with any group once it is being used on a widespread basis. Mostly battery issues.

SRAM warranty. Those of us in shops that have to deal with them know a couple of things to be true: a; They're part of the super cocky inside culture that SRAM has developed and give snooty shops a run for their money in terms of off putting attitude b) Once they grasp that you know what you're talking about they send parts asap.

We've finally been converting those of us here in the shop to electronic. Mainly because we are working on it all the time now anyway. Leah went with eTap. I couldn't afford it even with shop discounts so I have gone Di2. Di2 is more solid, reliable and overall better thought-out built and engineered and manufactured. but.... etap is a helluva lot better and easier to set up and will become the way all of the companies go eventually.

Too bad SRAM hydraulic brakes, while improving, still leave a lot to be desired.

robbyville

Good luck OP. Happy to hear that it's working for now... When I had to call SRAM for a couple of things for our bike park rental bikes they were pretty good to work with, granted as a pseudo LBS (We sold parts, down hill helmets and gear, did repairs, and huge rentals but no bike sales to protect our relationship with local shops). I'm sure that if you explain your challenges with the LBS that they'll work it out with you and them.

nycphotography

NYC Velo.

It's a good shop, and they support several local teams.

BNB

Thanks everyone. I called the shop this AM with the weekday staff there now so better service. I explained I really needed this taken care of and they ARE going to take care of it! They called sram and the replacement will happen. Thrilled with this news. For now the tandem rear derailleur will go on my bike until the new RD comes in. Hope that derailleur continues to work cause I'm heading to cycling heaven in europe.

BNB

FWIW, my replacement derailleur started failing in June. It was infrequent and I wanted to believe it was a mis-shift on my part - I simply could not believe this was happening again. When it started happening much more frequently I obviously could not ignore it. I tried everything. I got off the bike and shifted without any load on the derailleur which mostly worked; this I had to do on steep hills and I was only glad it wasn't a race or a club ride! The LBS in CA refused to help me because I was in another state. I found a local shop who sent the rear derailleur in for me and I got another replacement. It's sitting in a box still because my very first etap rear derailleur, originally on the tandem, has never failed. It's off the tandem and on my single and I just dread putting yet another replacement on my bike.

FWIW #2 . My buddy, a tandem captain, decided to make the conversion to his tandem despite my dire warnings. His derailleur failed too after a few months. He too got a replacement. It's hard for me to believe this problem isn't more pervasive and maybe there's more info out there. I'll search but if anyone has an update I'd like to hear about it. This last LBS was strangely quiet when I went to pick up the replacement. I guess sram was trying to say it's my fault and I'm doing something weird with my bike. The only weird thing is that I'm old, female, and I ride more than most old females. All else is boringly standard. I would love for sram to contact me and I'd gladly show them my bike and where and how I ride ...

nycphotography

Try re-pairing the entire system. takes 60 seconds and it just might get it working again.

ogmtb

I'll see your sample size of two with my sample size of three.

Two buddies have been riding eTap for 2+ years. No problems.

I've been riding eTap for 15 months, 60/40 mix of often lumpy singletrack and fireoads/pavement. My eTap has been flawless.

rpenmanparker 

eja_ bottecchia

BNB

It's worth a try and, yes, easy to do. Just doesn't make sense that my one reliable derailleur has never failed. And the green light always lights acknowledging the signal was received and the battery charged. I see there's another similar thread on weightweenies ...

BNB

very helpful. I'll trade my next failed derailleur (should that happen) for yours or your friend's. I'll even pay for shipping.

Campag4life

I am not a big bike shop participant but know my local bike shop head mechanic well who has 30 years experience. He says Di2 is flat more solid and reliable than Etap.
They sell a lot of both. FWIW. Yes Etap is tempting from an installation standpoint. But from an ownership standpoint, Di2 has a pretty good rep in reliability and function.

sirkaos

2 years with the Di2 and it has been flawless other than App which kinda goofy.

ogmtb

Trsnrtr

Di2, eTap, it's all about personal preference. My year old eTap has been flawless. I charge it about every 30 hours and I do carry a spare battery for insurance in case of battery discharge.

Likewise, my friends with Di2 have been just as happy.

Anyway, never heard of the eTap derailleur failure until BF and I hope the issue gets resolved.

BNB

That is exactly what my LBS in CA said. Di2 is reliable and they are recommending steering clear of sram for now. They are not happy about having to deal with the etap problems. That info was too late for me as I was an early adopter. And, ironically, my very first etap groupset is flawless so far.

I was just hoping by this point sram would come clean on this and make the issue public. I guess it's all about $$$ and they aren't ready to take the loss. They are certainly controlling the local shops - it was just weird how "mum" my shop here in NH was. They were not going to talk.

My LBS said that it's not unusual for companies to blame the customer at first before taking the fall. (this actually happened to me once before, many years ago, with velomax wheels when my spokes kept breaking; velomax accused me of "riding off curbs". I wasn't but should have been able to if I wanted to! It turned out that their spoke threader was set to cut too deep and many failures later they figured this out and took full responsibility.)

Heading back to CA where I will install the replacement. Bike shops everywhere. Uber everywhere so getting stranded is not so scary. Not worth the risk here in northern NH where I'm often on the trails in the middle of nowhere with no cell coverage. Lesson learned for this environment. Stick with cables.

nycphotography

That's pretty melodramatic and over the top really, and a little tin foil conspiracy in the blame the company automatically.

Sure, companies do shady **** sometimes. But so do customers, and I see more shady customers than businesses, and really we all end up paying a little more as the businesses have cover both the cost of their own mistakes, and also the cost of cleaning up after trashy people.

SRAM replaced mine no problem. But honestly, they have sold tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of units of eTap, and I have seen only a handful of issues like this on the forums. Not hundreds. Not even dozens. 5 or 6. And I was one of them. It just be like that sometimes.

But I don't really see SRAM like scrooge mcduck over there counting their millions while the peasants all eat cake.

BNB

Now this post is amusing drama. Scrooge? Mcduck? cake? (yum) peasants? ... A fun read. Thanks! 😊