Etap 2019
Caterina Haggins
The entire process takes less than a minute. At this point if you press the shift buttons on either shifter, it should cause the rear derailleur to shift up/down. If you hold both shift buttons together, then the front shifter should react.
They are wired though to your shifters, rather than being another wireless component. So the wires run from the shifters (left and right) to an individual blip. Blips are also used on triathlon bikes.
The blips attach to one of two ports on each shifter. So in theory you could have two buttons on each side (for a total of three shifters per side, or six shifters per bike). Just stick the cable in the port and then go ahead and place it where you want.
In my experience, eTAP responds just as quickly (or quicker) than any well maintained mechanical set. I know a lot of people want to weigh in on this and dissect it to all eternity. Within my FAQ section I offer my (probably humorous) analysis of speed to shift.
SRAM RED eTAP is the first electronic shifting system to use the ANT+ Shifting device profile to transmit gear status information. As of today, April 13th, 2016, two different companies have released support for eTAP: Garmin with the Edge 520/1000 & Wahoo Fitness with their ELEMNT.
You can see the battery status displayed on a standard data page. In the case of Garmin, they list the lowest battery out of the eTAP four (compared to Wahoo not having a data field on the main page, but instead showing each battery individually via the settings). So a bit of Apples to Oranges.
Extra shifters: Both systems allow secondary shift points, aka blips in eTAP lingo. Note that these blips are actually wired to your main shifters in eTAP on a road bike (though the junction box on a tri bike). In Di2 they go into a central junction box.
Weight: Exact weights will vary depending on how many blips (shift points) you install, as well as length of brake cabling. But in general eTAP will be slightly lighter (barely) than Di2. Note that sometimes sites forget to include the brake cabling/housing.
Cost: Generally speaking (again, depending on the exact components you select), eTAP will be a little cheaper. Especially once you add in aspects like the Di2 ANT wireless transmitter.
My hope is that when the time comes that a vulnerability is found (and eventually, there will be one), that SRAM moves just like any other software company would to get people to update their units via wireless firmware update. After all, they did include that USB updater stick with every kit.
of course i did! it works brilliant. bare in mind that a 50/33 front and a 11/30 cassette is not the same as 34 front and 32 rear. you can compare this with 34 front / 30,5 rear. it works flawless no adjustments to make. i also added the quarq powermeter and all is working perfect als under pressure.
Great review thanks. The one issue not addressed is availability. There seems to be a shortage especially for us here in South Africa. Do you have any idea when the tri system will be easily available?
With all things in the SRAM ecosystem, there is a very good possibility of a recall. That should be factored into a buying decision if you only got a single bike to ride. While the recall is free, the process takes weeks. You may not be able to get out on your bike during your recall, and reinstalling a wired groupset is a pain in the ass.
I do get the purpose of them, on a road bike setup at least, but in that sense they are no different to the di2 satellite shifters that you can get (climbing, sprint). And again, those different di2 options seem to be designed so that they ergonomically work in a much more natural fashion, and are visually attached to look much cleaner.
Thank you Ray
I already own Red eTap Groupset and I agree it is as simple as it can get. Very impressed with performance and still no chain drop or any kind of issue. I even test a new DuraAce shimano cassete / chain and it works flawlwesly
It seems the clearance of the front derailleur and crank arm due to its size its very small.
I do noticed during installation using my red crank the driver side arm is very close to FD cage (only 2mm) when is is set outwards. This could be an issue with other types of cranks which may contact the cage.
Great review and blog! I love my eTap, which works great on my Ritchey Break Away, where wireless = -2 cables.
Yet, I had the weirdest thing happen during a ride with hefty cross wind in Palm Springs, CA: after 1hr, my right shifter no longer worked! Very annoying: was at top of hill in little ring. Could no longer shift rear derailleur BUT also NOT front derailleur. I was stuck riding in little gear downhill.
Then I found the mechanical buttons on the derailleur so at least could put in one gear and ride home in that gear.
It would make sense that the front woruldnt work either, as you need to press both buttons to engage the front mech on this, so i would expect that if just one of the shifters loses battery power you will lose power to both front and rear mech. Just thinking logically.
Yes, of course, with one shifter out, you loose front ring shifting by definition;
and, depending on the left or right shifter, you loose shifting down or up in the back too so you cannot reverse the rear derailleur:
Also: Garmin eTap support, is this in the form of a new firmware 5.30 or something? My Garmin Express only sees 5.20. That said, there is a CIQ data field that works with eTap gears which works as advertised.
I ordered mine yesterday for tri-bikes, but the bike shop told me ti works for 10 gear and 11 he had installed it on both? can you elaborate a bite more on this point, and the other question any chance you see for integration with fenix 3?
When changing the front derailleur to the small ring I instinctively change three or four cogs smaller in the back to compensate. During my (albeit five minute) eTap test ride I could change the chainring and then the cogs, or vice versa, but I could never make it as smooth as I get with stock Ultegra. IMO, if they are going to stick with the both-buttons-shift-the-front-derailleur paradigm, they need a programmable solution to allow for some type of simultaneous rear derailleur adjustment.
If you want to shift the FD with one hand, you can run a blip from the left shifter to near the right shifter (or vice-versa), then you can use the blip and the nearby shifter button together to shift the front derailleur. In fact, you could do all the shifts with just one hand.
@TomH: Late reply. The front derailleur does not auto trim. It works independently from the rear derailleur. Because of this, i think the SRAM eTap system will not work on all bike frames. For my old (2012) Cervelo R3 size 58, it was quite frustrating that i could never eliminate chain rub on many gear combinations when i had the SRAM Red yaw front derailleur.
eTAP is simply my first foray into reviewing electronic shifting. One has to start somewhere, and this makes the most sense as a starting point. No bias in drawing a line in the sand and calling that the starting point.
As you say this is your first foray into Groupset review and its pointless going back to review Di2 (i agree) what about the Rotor Uno (Fully Hydraulic) groupset that the Dimension Data guys are riding? would be and interesting alternative to the current electrical and mechanical market?
Hi Ray. Regarding rear derailleur alignment, I think from your description you used the limit screws to er, set the limits, and then micro-adjust to tune the shifting within the limits? But the Sram installation video says you should use micro-adjust to get the low limit right, and then the screw just seems to used as a physical back-up, presumably if anything goes amiss with the motor.
My wording may be confusing, but I did check with the SRAM guys this week at Sea Otter. Specifically the guy in charge of eTAP from a technical standpoint (plus other SRAM tech folks that read it). They said there were no technical accuracy issues with the post.
Hi, I missed the reference to 11-30 being ok in the article. If it is there can someone direct me? I did find on the web a reference by someone who says they have used an 11-30 with the eTap rear derailleur. I have eTap set up on one of my bikes, and just ordered a SRAM 11-30 11 speed rear cassette. I will report how it works when it arrives. I have had pretty good success with Shimano and Campy rear derailleurs going up 2 or 3 teeth over what the spec was, but no experience with SRAM before.
Mark
Hi Ray,
I have installed the tap. Great new system! Very happy with it. Thanks also to your review.
I must say that in combination with a hollowgram BB30 SISL, the crank is coming VERY CLOSE to the front derallieur limit screws. When riding even 5311 in clear no scraping mode (chain deralieur) even touching it.
Did you find the same probleme with the SRAM crank?
The shortest one is what I used. However, I have narrow compact geometry bars. The shortest one is almost too short, so if I had to do it again, I would get one size up and just manage the extra cabling appropriately.
With regards to chain ring compatibility have you tried other types of chain rings with the system? Currently using SRAM 10 Speed TT rings on an InfoCrank classic power meter and really hoping that the front derailleur will accept my crankset.
Hi Greg, if I understand your question (you have regular road dropped handelbars with aero extensions), you can definitely run the regular road shifters AND the blips at the same time. You can use two sets of blips in fact, placed wherever you want. I dont use aero extensions, but I do use the blips as shifters when my hands are on the top of the bars while climbing. Sorry if I misunderstood your question.
I purchased eTap from my LBS about a month ago. In general, I love it. Specifically, I have one small complaint. When pedaling, the chain seems to click ever so slightly on the front derailleur. It seems like the solution should be a simple adjustment, but after 2 tries, the LBS is unable to get this clicking to disappear. Is this a common problem with a good solution? Otherwise, I am really enjoying the smooth shifting, the wireless system in general, and the clean appearance.
c80f0f1006