SRAM Rival eTap AXS

Equipment
43

It seems something is wrong with your brake calipers or shift/brake levers. My Force AXS etap brakes have been impeccable: no rubbing and much better braking than the Shimano brakes I had before. As far as I can tell much of the braking system on Rival is identical.

1 Like
44

This has been my experience as well. Flawless performance since spring on Rival AXS.

1 Like
45

You definitely have some air trapped in the line, once you figure out how to bleed it, and shimmy the bike up and down to work the air out, they will work much better.

1 Like
46

So I checked this, turns out the calipers themselves were set very far back. So pulling the lever in moved the pads, but they just had to move very far. If that makes sense.

So took the wheel off, gently squeezed the levers a bit to ‘pop’ the calipers in more, and they are great :slight_smile: no bleed required!

2 Likes
47

Great to hear you could fix it. Enjoy your bike. Rival AXS eTap is a great value IMHO.

2 Likes
48

I’m been a shimano lad for life, and am looking at the rival groups now.
Few questions which will be obvious for Seam users!

  1. if you buy a bike with 1x are the levers the sam should you want to swap to 2x at some stage? Just requiring a front ax’s derailleur and complete 2x crankset.

  2. where is the best place to cut weight from the rival groupset? I’ve searched everywhere for weights, but there doesn’t seem to be much precise info.

  3. I have a set of new Zipp 303 Firecrest with a shimano free hub is it simply a matter of purchasing a xdr freehub-Approx $90?

Kind regards
Gg

49

Yes, the levers and everything by the cranks is identical. It is really as simple as buying a new crank, a FD and pairing it.

The crank. Get a Red crank and you’ll save a few hundred g. I don’t know the weights off the top of my head, but I think the Red 1x crank is about 200 g lighter than my Force AXS crank.

Yes.

2 Likes
50

What @OreoCookie said, especially re: the crank…that thing is a damn boat anchor. Hell, even the old Rival crank was heavy and IIRC, the new one is heavier.

2 Likes
51

Crank!

2 Likes
53

Yup. I would have gone for a Red crank for an extra $120 if it hadn’t meant waiting an extra 2 months (on top of the 4 months). I’m still eyeing Red crank arms and try to convince myself that spending 250 € for lighter cranks ain’t all that bad. :sweat_smile:

1 Like
54

This.

I have Force AXS with the same problem. They are great until the pads wear, then the lever throw before contact gets to be bad enough the lever makes contact with the bar at the point of max braking. Not dangerous, yet, but annoying.

I’ve had the bike in the shop several times to try and fix this, as well as a few bleed attempts myself. Nothing lasts. The shop was finally able to get the SRAM to warrantee them. Sadly, replacements won’t arrive until spring.

Now, when it gets bad enough, I pull the wheel and put in a pad spacer that’s a touch thinner than the rotor, and squeeze firmly. That usually works.

Park tool has a good video on how the system is supposed to work: How To Clean Hydraulic Brake Pistons - Tech Tuesday #104 - YouTube

I tried cleaning the pistons, and it made no difference.

-Tim

55

Maybe a new RD as well depending on what comes with your bike. The XPLR RD is 1x only.

1 Like