Sram Red FD
 

Does anyone have failures to report with this FD? Mine seems way to flexible and frequently inconsistent, particularly on the up shift. Sometimes it just grinds and grinds and won't shift other times it's sharp and quick! What's up with that?

Mine is pretty fickle as well, I believe most people think the Force FD is stronger. The front chainring isn't the best shifting chainring either.

It's not that big of a deal to me as I don't shift between rings constantly, but many pro teams opt for the force over the red due to stiffness of the cage. Steel is stiffer than titanium. Then again, their bikes are so light to begin with, they don't care about weight savings nearly as much. I have both a red and force FD, I know the difference exists, but have never really noticed it while I am actually riding.

I just reread that you have two different experiences with your FD, also could be an issue with what gear combo you are in. Another thing would be to look at the adjustment and tension of the cables.

I've been riding Red since the second year it came out and have had no issues at all.

Then why are steel bike frames more flexible than titanium?

Metals are comparatively ductile (which means how much they will bend or stretch before breaking). Steel is the most ductile, then titanium, last aluminum.

My point is that some of this stuff is legend, someone read it someplace, someone they think knows what they are talking about told them therefore it is fact, etc...

Your last sentence is 100% accurate.

My LBS says Sram front derailleurs blow.

From all reports (except RW/Sram Shill).

Try adjusting your front derailleur properly. Another thing to look at is how much dirt and gunk may be in the derailleur. After longer rides I need to clean mine because it picks up road dirt and overspill from the front bottle...like if you use sugar drinks and the drip only picks up more dirt which will impede shifting.

Look beyond the obvious...

The next thing you'll tell us is Cannondales are better than Cervelos and that the Mets suck.

When I read reports, I generally look for the experience behind the report. Not much I read out here has validity. But it is amusing.

Riding a lot only means you ride a lot. Not much else.

Maybe they don't know what they are doing. This place is full of threads about shops that don't know what they are doing. And the customers know even less.

They know what they're doing. Do you know what you're doing? I don't know what I'm doing. But I'm essentially just on BF. That's not doing anything.

4:58 AM. Time to ride. Time to rock the Di2.

Time for intervals. That always hurts. Oh well.

You wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Besides, you admitted that the only reason you bought a Cervelo was to look cool. :) Nothing wrong with that.

As far as the Mets, that's baseball and I could not care less.

But if you don't know what you are doing, then you can't possibly know if they know what they are doing. However, they see you coming and they get out as many bright shiny things as they can....;)

I've been using sram since 2007- first force and then red. At least their shifters and rear derailleurs- that's about it. I tried a force FD for about a month, then switched to a lighter and more reliable campy chorus FD and I've been using that one since (no issues). I never used a sram crank so I couldn't help you there, but it seems as if the FD has always been sram's weak link.

I'm getting ready to switch my Force front derailleur to an Ultegra. Hopefully that fixes some of my issues.

You and the entire pathetic high end bike industry should kiss my friggin bike weenie ass for keeping you idiots afloat in the worst economy in 100 years. Actually, all these high end bike companies wound up with waiting lists for things like expensive bikes, power meters, etc., as they cut production in anticipation of weak demand. I think the prevailing attitude amongst high end bike customers was essentially 'I may be going to the poor house, but I'm going on a $10K Cannondale with an SRM'.

I should note that SRAM front derailleurs worked great on my Kestrel, they seem to be a known issue on the Colnago CX-1 though.

I've been running a Red FD for two years now with zero problems. It's probably just not adjusted properly.

And PCad, the Mets do suck.

I believe on some bikes they work better than others. For some reason SRAM fd's will not get in the correct position on Colnago CX1's. I thought it was just me until I got on the Colnago forum over at rbr.com. Believe me, if I had a choice the SRAM would stay on it.

I also suck, we are perfect together.

They also sold you Di2, yeah?

Well played....

Pcad...if you get VeloNews (now just VELO) be sure to look at page 78.

Yeah.