Is there something I am doing wrong? With the Shimano RD, it was easy just to slide the wheel into place even without touching the jockey wheels. This was with a short cage Ultegra RD.

Now I have a new bike with SRAM Force and I find it a real struggle to get the wheel back on, even if I move the jockey wheels with my fingers. Anything different that I am missing?

Do you shift into the smallest cog before removing/putting wheel on?

thats how you do it, and works better in the small ring up front

i tend to tug the little nub thats trailing the rear pulley and that helps it fit right in

Doing all of the above but the chain just tends to come off the jockey pulley. Will try it again and see.

I never really thought about it but my Rival bike is harder to get the wheel back in than my 105. Somehow or another this weekend, with the front wheel off and the fork resting inside the trunk of the car I managed to get my fingers stuck between the pulley, chain and drop out while taking off my wheel. Glad nobody saw that.

I have trouble taking off my wheel with force compared to my 105 bike. Getting the wheel on is fine, but getting it off is a different story. I can do it, it just takes some work, for whatever reason. With my 105 bike just by undoing the skewer loose enough i can just lift the bike and the wheel drops out of the dropouts, with my sram bike i have to kind of muscle it off.

Rotate the rear derailleur back. If you do it right, the derailleur will swing back without trying to move the chain up the cassette. The wheel will come out much easier. Same for installing it.

Bob

+1 That is exactly what I do and I never have any issues.

Thanks guys. I think I need to try that more carefully.

I'm glad to see someone else post about this. I have been having the exact same problem.

this plus small ring up front and big in back should equal an easier time. i will say that i too had issues getting the rear wheel off after switching to SRAM. no more though. later.

I've never tried large gear in the rear, I always do small/small and it works great. I do that with all bikes though no matter what groupset.

I always do small small also never really had trouble with Sram Red should be about the same I'd think.

Thanks guys. Got the hang of it today when I swapped tyres.

For taking out, I need to push the upper pulley slightly back, and for putting back, I need to follow Val23708s suggestion of pushing the nub on the rear/lower pulley.