Problems with xx1/x01 rear mech shifting?

@ DanW, a couple of years back, Sram had lots of problems with stiff pivots, and weak springs preventing X9 mechs from selecting top gear. I lost count of the amount of them we had to send back for replacement, suffice to say it was a total PITA considering the quantity of bikes we were selling with them, luckily we won’t be selling many of these if it all goes pear shaped again.

My lbs reckoned it was a tight pivot too, one side felt smooth and the inner side felt quite stiff, he was pretty sure that was the cause, but he took them out and cleaned and greased, still felt as stiff mind lol

Pivots or spring for definite not much else it could be

Full Strip down every so often could be the cure, but shocking after 3 months if so and it appears numerous people with the same :/

I still love it though, just hope it’s either fixed or sram sort warrantys out asap

Not used the 11 speed stuff, but I’ve seen this loads of times with regular mechs. My view is its all down to insufficient spring tension in the mech, where Shimano / SRAM have dropped the tension to get lighter feeling shifting (which is fine when everything is clean and the spring is new).

First noticed it when Shimano switched to a coil tension spring in the middle of the parallelogram around 1995 – one firm even brought out an aftermarket stiffer spring which sort of worked but was a nightmare of a job to fit.

Back in those days, early Gripshifts were always a bit draggy compared to rapidfire, so SRAM made a bodge called a “Bassworm” – basically a length of silicone tube that acted as an additional spring to tension the cable from shifter to chainstay. This meant the mech spring could just get on with moving the mech rather than tensioning everything through the upstream cable friction etc.

So until the manufacturers start fitting stronger springs and we accept a bit more shifter effort, the problem will crop up as soon as the spring weakens a bit and things get sticky.

Right update

Gear shifting back to like new into 11th now, shifts straight from 10th to 11th as fast as any other gear

No idea what caused it or what fixed it, but 25 miles today and it shifted into every gear and more specifically 11th with ease every time no matter how slow or fast I was going / changing gear

The cure was either :- immense cleaning if mech (debris , mud, anything really), a new inner cable, dismantling the pivots and giving them a clean and lube, and finally giving the spring a good clean too

Can’t narrow it down but it’s one of the above as that’s all that was done whilst I watched

Very strange but it appears nothing was broken per se, but maybe just needed a mega cleaning etc? I’ve now fully washed the bike after today’s ride and it’s still fine shifting into 11th so wasn’t a fluke on the ride

So anyone had/having the same issue it’s something that the lbs did as above

Sorry can’t be much clearer but I really don’t know, just glad I can now get into 11th easy as it was when new

Shifting back to the silkiest I’ve ever used

Basics done? Casette tight ? Wheel in dropouts correctly ? Hangar, jockeys and mech tight ? Narrow and wide teeth on the jockeys into the proper links on the chain ? Hangar pin on straight.

11 speed has no room for any error in setup.
Been a mechanic I would love to have a go with this, all the ones I have setup have been flawless and have never had problems.

basics yep, they didnt touch the high/low limit screws, b-screw, mech hanger was straight, absolutly every other gear shifted fine, it was’nt badly setup or user error as per every member above with the same issue, it just started happening out of the blue

its bizarre but i think the clean of mech itself has probably done it (including the spring etc)

As has been suggested above, older sram used to really suffer from springs going baggy and not getting into the smallest cog.

The problem/solution was to make sure you always put the bike away with the bike in the smallest cog, so it’s stored with all the tension out the spring and it doesn’t stretch as much.

On shimano now, but still do it as it seems like a good habit to be in.

cheers IA, never thought about leaving it in 11th TBH, thats not a bad little tip so thanks for that

its defo something menial that was easily fixed so yep you could well be right

will make mental note to leave it in that gear overnight now

Im a bit sad really, the one habit i have is i always clean my drivetrain, quick spray with GT85 on pivots and spring to get excess water out and store bike in smallest cog to keep all tension out of the spring.

That sounds like a faff but it really isn’t. 5 minute job and i very very rarely have any drivetrain issues,

The rest of the bike can stay honking but i like my shifting to work 🙂

Now i am running X01 is seems that wee routine will definitely being carried on 🙂

The problem/solution was to make sure you always put the bike away with the bike in the smallest cog, so it’s stored with all the tension out the spring and it doesn’t stretch as much.

This was my thoughts too when I first saw and used the “cage lock” feature of the newest mechs. It is a convenient feature to keep the cage out of the way of the rest of the mech with no wheels fitted (I have to store my bike with the wheels off) but I couldn’t help thinking it introduced the possibility of creep in the spring. I always store the bike in the smallest cog and don’t use the cage lock for any extended length of time.

Can I check you mean the 42 ring when you say 11th?

Mine is 3 months old and hasn’t been shifting properly for a month or so. It was awesome brand new, stealth silent and crisp as you like. LBS have mugged up the tension on the cable but it’s no longer silent and crisp. If I slacken the tension a touch the shifting is great but it will not stay in 42. Enough tension in the cable means the rest of the shifting is wrong, so this thread caught my eye.

I keep the bike clean etc, but what’s the cure?

😆 how is the 42t ever going to be 11th gear?

1 to 11 goes down the cassette not up, anyways joking aside, nope it was the smallest cog on the cassette i had the issue with

ive never had a problem what soever with the 1st cog (42t), id suggest you check your b-tension screw, its absolutly vital to get this right or it simply shifts crap if its out

it needs to be circa 12-15mm from top jockey wheel to bottom of 42t in (1st gear) 42t

This is all new to me, be gentle!

I’ll throw money at the problem and let my LBS fiddle with it, if you think about it, I don’t know the difference between 1st and 11th, so how the chuffing heck do you think I’ll cope with a b screw!

gonesailing, its worth figuring out for yourself THB. The SRAM techdocs have all the details. Plus its very easy to set up. Knowledge on how to do it is key though.

OW, i had a small issue like this for a while, but after every ride ill give the mech pivots a quick spray with GT98 and all issues gone. X01 s a thing of beauty 🙂

gonesailing 😆 sorry wasnt being arsey, just amused me thats all, but fair point if your struggling it is genuinely just worth taking it the LBS, my lbs set up my old x01 from new and it was absolutly precise! its just worth having it done there for a tenner TBH if your not confident

the b tension screw is absolutly the most important thing on x01 to get it smooth and once its setup right it should be sweet in every gear

mac – exactly the same, its about keeping the pivots/spring nice and lubed/sprayed with something to keep it moving, as above also helps if you store it in 11th cog when not using

i find if i havent (especially in shitty weather) washed/cleaned it for a few rides it does struggle more so than when spotless, but it still shifts better than any other gearing system ive ever used, just try and keep the chain/jockey wheels etc clean and its perfect

i still cant fault it, its just an amazing gear setup to me

After much frustration throughout this thread I think I might have cracked the 11th gear issues I’ve been having (touch wood!)

Full length outers 😀

The spring in XX1 seems so weak that even the minutest amount of mud or slightest incorrect cable tension would through everything out of whack. By eye it all looked and felt fine but clearly the smallest amount of grit was enough to disrupt things. Full length outers have made a world of difference!

Don’t worry, my skill set is elsewhere and it’s an easy mistake to make, in my head at least.

I’ve increased and decreased the B screw tension and it makes no difference, it will not go into 42T, or should I say it only goes in and stays in if I keep my finger on the shifter. Only cable tension works but then the other 10 are out of sync.

Anything else you can suggest as a quick fix or it’s back to the shop for this fool?

That just sounds like a limit screw issue gonesailing. XX1 is very sensitive to this too- as in a quarter of a turn sometimes feels too much when fine tuning. A few of us also noticed that there is some play in the XX1 mechs so although you set the limit screw correctly for the 42T sprocket without the chain on, the small play in the mech pulls the top jockey out of line from the 42T. I had to set the limit screw so the top jockey was a fraction inboard towards the hub. Once the chain is back on everything lines up nicely. An odd quarter turn made a massive difference to the noise in the smaller cogs too, so although everything might look aligned by eye when you first set up the mech it is worth making very slight adjustments with the chain on.

I tried a little bit of that Dan, but I’ve decided to support my LBS and let a professional sort it.

If I play around too much I’ll really mess it up, so I’ll leave it for now, thank you all for your help.

gonna keep this thread alive, given i started it!

so no issues for me since the 11th cog issue, except ive suddenly not been able to shift down into 3rd biggest cog, shifts up fine, and shifting in every other gear is spot on, but 3rd has become really really really hesitant, it eventually goes in though but is a pain for climbing

so anyone else had this? a few folk have suggested its the cable, which is more than likely the case, but thought i resurrect this thread given the amount of xx1 users on it

definitely spring tension, have replaced cable and outer(full outer) all adjusted perfectly all cleaned but still wont shift to 11th cog. however if you just give it the slightest tug on the mech itll shift, maybe its time sram went with the customer and give us the option to fit a stiffer spring at the expense of light shifting. I ask this question though has the guy who tests the shifting got unusually week thumbs?????

After breaking and replacing a chain at BotB last weekend my x01 won’t shift into the 11..I always store it in the 11 (old school rider) is it likely to just require a bit of a clean and lub on the pivots?
I really, really don’t want to replace the cables as its an internal routed niner which means taking the bio-centric BB out and spending about 4 hours threading the cable….