Hey! I had a minor crash the other day. Luckily I was unhurt, but unfortunately my “brifter” (new word for me) took the entirety of the hit.
Over the past year I’ve been learning about bike maintenance, and now have a decent understanding in some areas but not shifters/brake levers and associated cabling. So… the silver linings is that now I get to fill that gap!
I’ve tried to research how to resolve my current brifter-less situation. I have a Kona Rove DL 2021, 1x11 gearing and SRAM Rival 1 group set. I have the following questions:
- Where can I find a replacement SRAM Rival 1 brifter!? I’m in Finland, and can only seem to find the SRAM Rival 22 or SRAM Apex 1. I don’t believe the SRAM Rival 22 is the same product, but all my searching directs me to it and it seems to look identical.
- If I cannot find a replacement SRAM Rival 1 brifter, what are compatible (/best) alternatives (<200€)?
Then, once I have a replacement brifter, is my understanding of the easiest replacement process accurate?
- Disconnect both the derailleur cable and brake cable
- Unwrap handlebar tape
- Remove derailleur cable and brake cable via broken brifter
- Remove broken brifter
Reverse process with new brifter and cables. And does anyone have any “gotchas” or tips for me to bear in mind?
Thanks for any advice!
I'm almost 100% sure the 22 brifter is the same part. 1 vs 22 seems to simply referred to 1x11 (1) or 2x11 (22). Confusing naming but on the 22 spec you would have one brifter with 2 gears and another with 11. On your bike you just have one brake and one brifter, the 11 speed.
So you just need a new SRAM Rival 11-speed brifter, which should be the same on both.
As for changing them over, you may as well replace the cables while you're doing the change. You'll need to remember to shift all the way down so that the holes for the cable line up nicely. Tons of YouTube videos on how to do this.
You will likely also need some cable cutters, a 5mm hex wrench and whatever tools the brifter needs for opening/loosening.
You will need to adjust the gear cable tension to ensure smooth shifting. This should only require tightening or loosening using the barrel adjuster on the derailleur, and shouldn't require any changes to the high or low limit screws on the derailleur. Again, plenty of YouTube videos for this.
Good luck and if in doubt, go to the bike shop
Really appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge and answer my questions, thank you! I’ll soon have my hands on all the replacement parts needed and will give the repair a try. Thanks again!
No worries, hope it goes smoothly. The bit I found hardest to wrap my head around was the barrel adjuster part. Basically if your derailleur didn't take a hit, the limit screws should all be fine still. These are what set the range of motion of the rear mech, and prevent it from moving beyond the range of the cassette on either side.
That should be all fine so all you need to worry about is the cable tension being correct so that each shift is nice and smooth. You don't necessarily want the cable to be 'tight', there is a correct tension. I.e. it can be too tight or too loose, so methodical quarter turns on the barrel adjuster is what will get you there.
Here's a video which likely has a decent breakdown of the main things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVLmpBpC0vU