Never had so many problems getting even basic shifting out of a drivetrain before.

Have replaced cassette and chain, bought a rear hanger alignment gauge and straightened hanger, checked B-tension against SRAM manual (12-16mm gap) and spent a fruitless half hour twiddling barrel adjusters, so short of replacing the rear mech I’m pretty much out of options, unless the relatively new gear inner/outer just isn’t cutting it.

So what is the creme-de-la-creme of inner and outer for troublesome setups?

and as a follow on, what’s the cheapest way of going 11spd Shimano, SLX?

Shimano SP41 outer and Shimano Sil-Tec inners.

Is the drive train all GX or are you running some sort of hybrid mix up?

I use the same shim cables as stated above. I reckon your problems might lay elsewhere though…..

11 or 12 speed?

Is the cable round the correct side of the Mech bolt?

Also, is it a new setup you are trying to get working? Is the whole lot new?

Yep, it’s a hybrid mix up, for some silly reason when the shifting started going south I assumed it was the cassette at fault as the chain just seemed to hang up on the biggest cog, also I was keen to shed some weight and the GX cassette was the obvious place to do it! New XT cassette and new SRAM chain.

Heard plenty of good stories re: mixing GX and XT though, didn’t think it would be the issue.

Cable is routed on the correct side of the bolt, seems hard to route it any other way actually…

Thanks for confirming the cable type, I’ve googled it and it certainly seems to be the cable of choice. If £10 on new cables doesn’t sort it I’m going Shimano mech and shifter!

Ta

Running GX mech with XT cassette no problem (also XTR on another bike with GX). Though I went with X1 shifter as read they’re better shifting and not much more in price.

Cable stuff, SP41 outer, any stainless steel inner.

KMC chain.  Been running them for a long time after hassles with SRAM chains though mostly due to snapping.

Indexed properly and well lubed, shifts great. Lube, I use Squirt.

OP, so you had a shifting problem and just changed the cassette, right?

Is the issue the same still, or different problem?

I’m a fan of SP41 outer too. I think everyone is tbh. I tend to run the black PTFE inner though, decathlon or Clarke’s, not fussy.

SRAM is quite sensitive to cable setup and does like the outer running as straight as possible to the mech down the seatstay. Definitely no loops and as little deviation as possible. Also, the thing about which side of the cable fixing bolt you’ve used is for real.  Once set up it’s pretty consistent though.  I’d second that the GX shifter is the weak link in the group. I’d always run X1 at least in preference.

I can sort of understand assuming it was the cassette and needlessly swapping it, but for XT to save weight?  That’s perverse.  NX is the only SRAM cassette heavier than XT!

To add the 11 speed gx cassette is xd driver so unless you changed the freewheel I’m assuming you had an NX level sram cassette to go xt. Or you’re 10 speed.

Got gx 11 speed on my Aeris – never had a problem with it and other than changing the chain and cleaning it I’ve not touched it in over a year and a half.

Recently built a hardtail – decided to go gx 11 speed again as I had an xd driver hub – easiest thing in the world to setup. Used Clark’s inner and outer, bolted the mech on and sized the chain, set the high and low limits, then pulled the cable tight and clamped it. One little twiddle of the adjuster on the shifter and s slight b screw adjustment and it’s perfect. Gx 10-42 cassette and eagle 32t nw chainring.

So easy to shift its made me realise the Aeris might be due a new inner/outer cable.

Yeah, just double checked, it was a PG-1130 cassette which is apparently Apex 1 level, stated weight is 538g for 11-42, the 11-40 XT cassette I replaced with is (stated) 411g.

Thinking back, I’m not sure if I sized the chain by the SRAM method or just by my own old school method, will double check and hope I’ve still got some spare links left if I need them.

Will also get the the SP-41 and siltec inners ordered. Wouldn’t be so bad but it’s the bike I use for racing CX, so once it’s liberally coated in mud it’s even harder to tell what gear I’m in and what gear I should be in!

When I sized my new chain I wrapped the chain round the biggest cog in the cassette and the chainring (avoiding the mech) and added 4 links. Although I counted every individual bit as a link when actually it’s probably 2 entire links I’ve allowed extra. Seems to be working fine – chain / mech isn’t too stretched and I haven’t got loads of loose chain in the highest gear either. Not that I use that very often – if I had a 30t chainring instead of 32 I’d use that end of the block a bit more.

Makes sense. NX is horrifically heavy as these things go.

Not sure I’d sweat the chain length if your ‘old school’ approach is the old trusty ‘big-big not through mech and add two links’ approach (amended if appropriate for FS chain growth).  That’s exactly how I set up my SRAM 11’s. Plus the standard setting up low and high without chain and winding shifter barrel all the way in then back out three turns before connecting cable usually results in correct shifting more or less immediately assuming B screw is in the right place, for me anyway.

It was the cables… 🙄

Stupid really, might have replaced the inner recently but realised the outers were stock, and also when I pulled the old inner out, there was a wee kink that I think must have been causing extra drag.

All is forgiven SRAM…