I once rode with a SRAM Red front derailleur some years back and it was made from titanium, consequently the chain wore through it in no time at all. Now nine years later I’m SRAM AXS curious and was wondering which level I should be looking at, i.e. Red, Rival or Force in order to avoid another weak derailleur cage. Does the current Red AXS still use a non steel cage? What about Rival or Force?

Aluminium, it says here

https://www.bike-components.de/en/SRAM/Red-eTap-AXS-Front-Derailleur-p70505/

Cheers for the link. Seems to be the case for Rival and Force too which doesn’t bode well for longevity. Shimano use steel on their Ultegra and GRX derailleur cages whilst using aluminium on their XTR and Dura_Ace, and their cable Dura Ace which is what I have is Aluminium but with a replaceable plastic pad which is wearing away on mine.
Why can’t these brands offer replacement cages if they’re going to build them in a soft metal 🤔