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I've had my CX bike for a year and the Apex 1 setup (shifter, mech and crank) has always been pretty poor. It's just a special feature where it manages to be lazy both up and down the cassette.
I've got full length housing, but its not the best of cable runs. I've tried straightening (running externally) that, to no avail. Changed inner and outer cables. Went through every setup thing I could find on google and its still rubbish (and seemingly getting worse).
However, something occurred to me the other night. The bike came with a 32t cassette and currently has a 36t setup. To get the b-tension where it should be (I have the wee Sram tool) the screw is fully backed out, to the point that if I just remove it completely it makes no difference. I then noticed that the only Apex 1 mech is long cage, and the only Apex 1 cassette (Sram website) is a 42t. Could this be the issue? I've heard of 1x Sram being very picky about b-tension and chain wear (not an issue here). So wondering if the cassette might just be a bit too small to work well with that cassette? Choices to fix would be either a new cassette and chain or a new Rival 1 medium cage mech, so would rather get my confidence up before buying more kit.
Cheers, Mark
tl;dr Apex 1 is crap, any thoughts?
Bump for those using work bandwidth
Got to be asked, have you checked the mech hanger alignment?
I have Apex1 , never worked properly since I have had it, about 1000 miles now.
Give me Shimano any day.
Fair question, hanger is good
Dave, was that with the 42t cassette too?
Yes , I have the 42t cassette, first time with Sram 🙁
My mate has had the same issue with his on hos Cross bike, it's just turd. It's (the groupset) now being replaced under warranty with a higher spec one, he's already had 2 complete bikes to try and resolve it.
FWIW my Force CX1, 42 or 38t front with 11-36t rear has been ace, it's done 2000km of mixed riding including a winter of commuting and a whole 'cross season (10 regional, full national trophy series and national champs) under another rider and the shifting has just got a bit dodgy, fine going up, slow down so it's a simple case of a shifter clean & re-grease and a new gear cable.
I've heard (from a rather respected mechanic) the steel internals in the Apex shifter corrode, but the higher spec shifters are far better due to fancier materials - added to the fact that the shift mechanisim is essentially exposed as the cover on teh lever doesn't fully cover it, leaving the bottom of the ratchet exposed to dirt ingress - a major issue on a CX race bike.
Hydro or mechanical? If it's hydro, and anything like my Force levers, the gear cable routing from the lever is appalling, and pretty much sets you up for failure. It improved when I switched from the original Force 22 rear mech to a Rival 1 clutch mech. I'm guessing it has a stronger spring in it.
Having to back out the B tension screw all the way on a 36T cassette seems odd. Is the chain too long?
Interesting, my other half also had the same experience with Apex 1 on her spare CX bike. It was horrible shifting everywhere. Double annoying as the Force 1 groupset on her other bike was and had been perfect.
Anyway, I lost the plot chasing issues with it, so she took it to a mech friend, who's a bit OCD & loves a challenge. He traced it down do something cable routing/cable related & now its absolutely fine. I rode it 50k over Xmas & it was totally faultless. Maybe, you have the same issue as she did. Worth taking it to a decent mech to have a look at?
My GX was much improved for fitting Shimano's fanciest gear inner (omni-slick or something) and SP41 outer. About twenty quid's worth of cabling for one rear mech but seemed to do the trick...
I've had similar issues, on my CX bike. Started with Force 1, but the internals on that shifter broke, and so I changed the shifter to a (cheaper) hydro Apex 11 speed 1.
At the same time I elected to run a full length outer. After a bit of trial and error, I added a 4 inches to the outer itself before fixing it in place. I then methodically slid the outer forwards and back at the frame ports, essentially extending the bits where it was required to take itself through the frame.
Eventually I hit the sweet spot where it shifted up and down perfectly. I'd say that routing is probably your issue.
I had similar issues - particularly when shifting to smaller sprockets, it just would not drop down and the mech was not picking up the slack in the cable.
Got the bike in September, SRAM replaced the shifter in November under warranty. Worked perfectly for a while, but went again and the bike shop replaced mech with a Rival one a couple of weeks ago. Same thing happened again.
I was fed up with taking the bike back into the shop every couple of weeks. Bike shop have now replaced the bike with an alternative model with Shimano and 2x as opposed to 1x. Has been faultless so far!
Researching it appears to be a recurring problem with SRAM 1x.
To be fair to the shop they have worked with me constantly and been brilliant.
Is the chain too long?
From the Sram guide (which is pretty standard “round the big cog +2 links”) it’s actually a link short. So not enough you’d think to make a difference
Inner is now Teflon coated with a nice Jagwire outer - so again shouldn’t be the problem
pdw, it’s hydro and you’re roght about the horrible run out of the lever!
My apex-1 shifted horribly with the original 11-32 cassette, swapped it for a SLX 11-42, no problems since.
Not sure if i’m considering that good or bad news - means I’ll need to give the cassette I have here a go then!