I'm quite surprised that your LBS hasn't seen the issue, but not surprised that you haven't had an issue with your groupset. SRAM might have fixed the issue, but we'll never know for sure. They don't even admit that there is/was an issue

Fact is though, the issue does exist.

Obviously you don’t like it. But your characterization of it is also not accurate. The stuff sells well, it’s used professionally, it’s relaible, virtually every signficant bike manufacturer offers a bike with it, and a lot of people like it. Would that happen if it was too expensive, unreliable, and error prone? No, absolutely not. By any measure, it’s been a very successful product.

There isn’t a product that was ever made - past or present - that did not have a problem. Nor will there be such a perfect product in the future. Heck, I’ve had warranty claims on a Shimano shifter. Shimano replaced it without out comment - notable that the LBS had seen several of them. Sound familiar? I also had a Shimano RD replaced under warranty when it failed. That’s what manufacturers do when they have a problem that is well within the acceptable error rates (typically classified as early life failures), they replace the part without fanfare and move on. It’s not possible to be perfect. Such is the case with your “sleeping derailleur” I’m sure. Acceptable rate of failure is why it’s not plastered in headlines everywhere.

That all said, I’m a Shimano fanboy - I like the stuff. Imagine my surprise when I converted a couple of mech bikes to eTap and discovered I liked it better. Some of the options that it opens up for frame builders are pretty interesting too.

So I’ll be interested to see how this new eTap AXS plays out. I’m not on board with the 10T based cassettes or with the one piece chainring/power meter set up. The price is high but that’s fungible based on market acceptance etc... and I’m sure that’s going to change relatively quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them follow this up with 11T cassette support at some point or maybe that’s part of what we’ll see in the Force rollout in April. 11T and 50-34 support would be welcome, I think.

Precisely what I like about Shimano’s 11-34 11 speed cassette for 2x. Smaller gaps in the middle and wider range gaps at the ends, especially at the top.

I can’t imagine buying a cassette with a bunch of 1-tooth gaps at the small cogs, even on their so-called “wide-range” 10-33 cassette.

That’s entirely consistent with my prior post about defect rates. This is meaningless unless you compare it to other similar products in the industry and with outgoing factory defect rates of electromechanical assemblies.

But I doubt you have any such knowledge except what comes across in front of you. I don’t know either with specifics about these products but I’ve spent a lot of time working on engineering issues in the electronics industry and understand how manufacturing quality and warranty replacement works.

Not what I was saying. I don’t want a 10T is because I had looked at the gearing range charts and don’t want more top end, I’d rather that range went lower. That’s largely true across the board with their charts. The max gear ratio of about 4.5 or so (50x11) is more than enough for me, I’d prefer that the range be extended on the low end. And when that gets low enough, I’d prefer that the extra cog be used to break up one of the larger steps remaining between cogs. Here’s the chart that’s interesting:






From a cost perspective, I don’t really want to replace my 50x34 cranks and power meter either. So I see limited benefit in going to a smaller cog at the top end even with smaller chainrings on the crank. I suspect they are going to get some pushback on that and we’ll see some support for 50-34 chainrings (ie. Cassettes 11-xx) show up presuming there is something that can be done to make that work with 50-34 crank spacing as a configuration item.

It’s going to be interesting - apparently the Ceramic Speed/Friction Facts guys are saying that there is a fair body of evidence that a smaller cog size has a significant cost in power. Not sure exactly what that is, but I’m sure it will play out over the next several months.