tejen2525

What I have always sensed seems to be confimred. SRAM truly does not care about their customers, just churning revenue.

There are no longer replacement parts for the SRAM Red etap and the *new* AXS is not backwards compatible? What an F-you to their customers. I bought the Red e-tap 4 years ago and now they just abandon us?

This is the second failure of my Front derailleur. Now I can't buy a replacement anywhere?

I did speak to SRAM and their idiotic suggestion was to either run a modified 1X set up or spend another $4,000 on the new AXS. I live in a very hilly area, i am not running a 1x on a groupset i just paid $3,000 for a few years ago. Nor am I throwing good money after bad at this point. How is this an acceptable answer. I would have much preferred he told me to go fist myself and move on.

After how many years are they going to give up on supporting the AXS? This was the last straw with SCAM.

Any other Red etap users having problems?

I am moving on to Shimano.

Wildwood 

Shimano? Shifters that cannot be repaired?
Campa - too expensive?
Microshift, FSA, others - unknown durability
They all have an issue. Move on.


edit: ultimate compatibility = go vintage (as defined by pre-87). Shifters by any company, frt der by anyone, rear der by anyone, freewheel by anyone.

shelbyfv

A friend has been unable to find a replacement for her 6800ish Di2 front derailleur. Shimano may not be much better than SRAM in this regard. Maybe you could use a regular FD and bar end shifter....

seypat

Is that you, Lance?

Iride01 

If you've only come out of your cave recently then ever since the early part of 2020 the supply chain for everything bicycle and most everything else is been disrupted. Inventories are low or non-existent everywhere. We are looking at mid-2022 or later for things to get more normal again. Unless some other catastrophe happens in the meantime.

As for spare parts for your shifters and such, many have long considered them a consumable item and when it breaks, you get another.

Dancing Skeleton

I was pretty frustrated with this too, but recently there have been some changes.
AXS Red & Force shifters will now work with 11-speed eTap derailleurs.
The 11-speed Red A2 RD is a replacement for both the short & medium cage Red eTap RD's.
Unfortunately there isn't a replacement for the 11-speed eTap FD, originally Sram had plans for an "A2" FD, but hasn't done anything.
A simple frimware update to the AXS FD would solve the problem.
The only solution is to but a used 11-speed FD (which I did) to have as a spare.

Seattle Forrest

Trying to convince everybody that 1x1 is the future.

Leinster

It's not a supply chain issue if the manufacturer has just stopped making the product.

And a $400 front derailleur is not a consumable item, especially if, again, the manufacturer stops making them.

Iride01 

Did they ever make spare parts for the SRAM Red ETAP front DR? If not, then it's considered something you replace when it goes bad. To me that is a consumable.

Sy Reene

hmm.. my read of this thread is that they stopped making the entire FD. I have no idea if that's the case or not though.

seypat

There are spare parts kits listed on the Bay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sram-Red-eT...-127632-2357-0

Racing Dan

Its not a spare part issue, nor is it a supply chain issue.

Its a SRAM stopped making the entire part, that you also couldn't repair in the first place, issue. Completely cornering the customer, forcing him or her to replace the entire drive train because current available parts are not backwards compatible.

I strongly suspect Shimano 6800/r8000 etc DI2 users will find themselves in a similar situation a few years down the line?

shelbyfv

Shimano is already there with the 6800. Used or NOS from ebay.

Racing Dan

At least R8000 parts are compatible and should be available for some time. But then what? R8100 is completely different.

mrv 

.... dang, and here I am irritated that Shimanos new 8 speed downtube shifters ($45) no longer offer an friction mode...... https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...s.php?id=65399

i'll just wander back to the Classic & Vintage section now. they only let me out once a week.

shelbyfv

This was the Di2 FD for 6800, don't know the correct #. Apparently the 8000 Di2 version will not work. Bummer! Edit- FD-6870

bahula03

Agree with other folks that the problem isn't just supply chain with SRAM stuff, even though it may have forced their hand in shutting down 11spd production sooner than desired. Shimano isn't exactly innocent in decisions like these (see the original 7970, firmware updates that broke certain component mixing, and the new 12spd stuff introduces a new e-tube connector), but they seemed, pre-pandemic, to do a much better job getting product to retailers. What makes SRAM's decision feel so egregious in this case is that looks like they hung some of their most loyal customers out to dry over easily addressable problems.

Consumables are generally items that are replaced at regular intervals because they wear out with use and/or time. I'd count hoods on shifters, jockey wheels, chains, etc as consumables. As much as this is semantics, the point you're making hinges on it- in the context of this thread I don't think I've ever heard of anyone regularly breaking and needing to replace derailleurs Or maybe SRAM stuff fails frequently enough that it's considered a consumable drivetrain

Leinster

A consumable is a tire or a chain or bar tape that you replace due to wear and tear and, crucially, does not have compatibility issues with available products 6 years after initial release.

But it’s worth pointing out, and I’ve said it before, there is NO excuse WHATSOEVER for a manufacturer to build a wireless electronic bicycle component that is not compatible with past and future generations of same product.

seypat

How about the lovely DA 7400 shifters/RD? Not compatible with anything but DA7400. They sure are pretty, though.

Symox

Sorry to the OP and I certainly understand the frustration. However, I doubt SRAM did this to harm their customers. It doesn’t make sense for a company to intentionally inconvenience their high end customers. It may have more to do with limited resources for projects and needing to shift them. Just my $0.02

znomit

Wait, what? I can buy just new derailleur instead of a whole new bike? Why would I want to do that?

sced

As you go up the cost and complexity curve there is less demand, so it is unsurprising that rarer stuff gets proportionately rarer once out of production. The op should get a backup bike with common components to use while saving up for the next big expense.

seypat

Or do what the C & V crowd does. Come up with a way to make it work.

seypat

Big Bike likes the way you think!

mstateglfr 

A 5800 FD, 5801 FD, R7000 FD, 6800 FD, 6801 FD, R8000 FD, 9000 FD, 9001 FD, and 9100 FD all pull the same. That is 9 front derailleurs to look for and choose from if your 6800 breaks. Some are older generations and some are current generations, but there are tons of new and used around, even in this supply chain shortage.

Companies should not be expected to support their products forever. At the same time, if a company only provides support for 2 years and offers no replacement components after a new model is introduced, that is worth complaining about.

I just sold a cx70 fd yesterday on ebay, I have a barely used 5800 RD up for sale, and also have a barely used 6800 RD up for sale. Buying used is a reasonable approach to maintaining a current system instead of buying everything new.
...maybe I should pull those ebay listings down and hoard it all. I love my 11sp mechanical shifting and have 0 interest in going electronic.