Thought it was just me, shifting on my sons Rival 1 is rubbish. As above it doesn’t shift cleanly but if you pull the cable it works. I still haven’t fully sorted it, trying full outer next, but a few things I learnt so far.
As above b tension is far more important than with shimano. I set it so that it just about shifts into the 42.
A teflon or some sort of slick cable is better but still not perfect. I think half the problem is outer cable routing as it exits the lever and follows the bar. Generally without the cable taped to the bar the shifting is much better. Tried a couple of bars but still the same.
Check you have the inner cable routed correctly on the rear derailleur. On Rival it comes about half way round the black quadrant in want of a better description and then goes through the small hole. Not all the way round the quadrant like a local shop had set it up.
But all in all shifting was great for a couple of weeks and since then rubbish. This is on his cx bike so gets pretty filthy bit my Force 1 on the Slate has been fine if not as slick as Shimano. If it wasnt for the cost of replacing it I would be taking the Rival off and fitting Shimano.
Wait4me – changing the inner is not too bad but you may find it easier to remove the tape, not essential, but its fiddly getting the inner cable into the outer as it exits the lever.