So I installed the Force FD today, and it's not much better. Maybe it isn't the Red FD after all. One thing I do know- I'm getting quite tired of my front shifting woes.
I spent hours upon hours (pretty much the whole day) adjusting, trying it out, readjusting, trying it out, etc. It's like it either won't shift on to the big ring, or it moves the chain over too far and it falls off the right side. It's almost impossible to find the sweet spot in terms of the high limit adjustment. I've tried every conceivable position in the 1-3mm range recommended by SRAM. Tried parallel to the rings, slightly inward, slightly outward, etc. Have 1mm chain clearance when in low-low combo, then I tension the cable, and try to adjust the high limit for optimal shifting to the big ring. No luck. There are a million threads online with people complaining about the same thing. Here's just
one example. I'm having the exact same issues.
I don't get it. I had a 2011 Cervelo R3 with Rival and that thing shifted perfectly up front.
Almost as well as 6700 as a matter of fact. It was awesome and I didn't adjust it any differently. Then there's the Rival on the Litespeed M1 I bought my girlfriend. Poor front shifting just like my 595.
Is it the bike? Are some bikes just prone to poor front shifting with SRAM? I've heard that this is the case, but I find it hard to believe.
I had 6700 on my 595 for a very brief period of time before going to Red. Front shifting was amazing, but otherwise I didn't like it at all. Now with SRAM everything is amazing
except the front shifting. I can't win here.
I think my next step will be trying a 6700 FD with my Red group, and if that doesn't work I'll just have to deal with the crappy front shifting and soft-pedal shifts until Ultegra Di2 comes out.
Final note:
I installed my Quarq power meter today (compact Red rings), which are the same rings I had on my compact Red crankset. So both the Red FD/Red crankset and Force FD/Quarq yield roughly the same poor results. Could it be the Red chain rings maybe? If I end up trying the Ultegra FD I can determine for sure whether or not it's the Red chain rings since I know the Ultegra FD shifted beautifully with the 6700 compact crankset.
Damn you Shimano! Bring us Ultegra Di2 already!