SRAM

With more Gravel riding under my belt this year, I realized that having an alternative location for shifting would be helpful, for comfort and for aero riding on the tarmac or smoother trails. Adding them to the crossbar, fairly close to the stem, was a great solution. After 5 days of gravel riding in Kansas, I realized just how wonderful they were. The only hard part was wrapping the handlebar tape around them to hold them in place and keep the wrap relatively smooth. The neighborhood bike store was very helpful in doing that as they wrap handlebars frequently.

Caught a sale, and I'm about to move some levers over to another bike, so got some new lines. No issues, work perfectly.

Sram - if you read this, can you stop sending your brake/caliper kits FILLED with fluid? We have to cut them anyway, it makes a mess, and we have to bleed, just send empty lines with a bottle of fluid if you want to be helpful. I don't see the point, I mean we have to at the least shorten them, not counting the internal routing factor.

Gem of a rear derailleur, next gen stuff. Swapped to the complete E1 system this season, 1500 miles so far and it still amazed me every ride. The shift is crisp, immediate and NOT A SINGLE mis-shift. Truly appreciate the immediate shift under load. Pair it with the amazing 13 speed cassette you won't be disappointed. Pricey! But totally worth it if I can get years out of it. Came from D1 Force and this rear derailleur is at the heart of the whole Red E1 XPLR groupset. Full mount setup is also a game changer, literally took me 5 minutes to setup from start to finish without fiddling with limits screws.

I recently upgraded my atypical drivetrain - 2x mechanical Shimano GRX 800 with an SRAM 10-42 SDR cassette - to a di2 setup. I had been using Shimano Ultegra chains, and I wasn't able to get the rear shifting dialed in so that it shifted crisply and ran quietly across all gears. I realized that I had just become adept at feathering my shifts when needed without really thinking about it, which I can't do with di2. I wondered if my derailleur hanger was bent, so I got a tool to check that, but it looked fine. I decided to try a SRAM 1130 chain, and it was an improvement. I wax my chains, and I like to have two at a time in use so that it is easy to alternate them. I decided to splurge on an 1170 to see if it would provide any benefits. I generally didn't like the hollow pin chains with wax, as the void is just filled with wax, but this chain substantially improves the shifting and drivetrain noise. I finally feel like I'm reaping the full benefits of my di2 upgrade. Now I'll be buying a second 1170 chain, and I'll be set for the next 10000 miles.