It looks like I have a pretty good opportunity to switch from my current rig with Dura Ace 9070 to another frame (same one, different color) with basically whatever groupset I’d like. The draw of eTap to me is being able to swap between 1x and 2x very easily. I do a handful of flat races a year and it would be nice to have the 1x option.
Are there any limitations with the eTap 1x that I might run into? I have been considering if I want the standard rear derailleur or to go with the wifli setup. Has anyone had trouble with the wifli?
I haven’t had any real issues with the DA9070. The only “issue” I would say is that the way my bike is designed it tends to put a lot of stress on the Di2 cable running from the front to rear of the bike. It has already shredded one. I guess this would ruin a race if you don’t keep track of it. This would be eliminated with eTap though.
The short answer is Nope. The Blip Box and buttons set up the same whether you use 1x or 2x. For a TT setup the need for a clutched rear derailleur is questionable. As long as you run a narrow-wide chainring you should have no problems with chain retention. I have been running the regular ETap Red rear derailleur with oversized pulleys, Campy chain, Wheels Manufacturing Shimano 11-sp conversion cassette on a PowerTap hub, using YBN quick links, and SRAM narrow-wide chainring on Vision cranks for about 9 months with no issues. If is works fine on my Frankenbike parts combo you should have no issues. Oh I also forgot to mention that the instructions say ETap isn’t compatible with the Shiv TT, but I am using it on a Nosecone Shiv.
So as you can see, ETap seems to work fine with just about any pile of parts you may have. Your biggest problem will be not wanting to mess with another wired groupo for as long as you live.
The short answer is Nope. The Blip Box and buttons set up the same whether you use 1x or 2x. For a TT setup the need for a clutched rear derailleur is questionable. As long as you run a narrow-wide chainring you should have no problems with chain retention. I have been running the regular ETap Red rear derailleur with oversized pulleys, Campy chain, Wheels Manufacturing Shimano 11-sp conversion cassette on a PowerTap hub, using YBN quick links, and SRAM narrow-wide chainring on Vision cranks for about 9 months with no issues. If is works fine on my Frankenbike parts combo you should have no issues. Oh I also forgot to mention that the instructions say ETap isn’t compatible with the Shiv TT, but I am using it on a Nosecone Shiv.
So as you can see, ETap seems to work fine with just about any pile of parts you may have. Your biggest problem will be not wanting to mess with another wired groupo for as long as you live.
Awesome, good to hear.
The only thing I am not excited about is the blips on the basebar. I haven’t seen anything, but is there something SRAM has in the works for a shifter/brake lever set up like Shimano uses? Or even like the one FSA just released at EuroBike?
I run 1x eTap now (mostly because I was too cheap to spring for the full kit) and have never dropped a chain. I just made sure I had a narrow-wide chainring.
Like others have said, use the narrow wide chain ring for sure. The only problem I’ve had was a dead battery when I recently did a travel race. It somehow discharged during its trip via Bikeflights/FedEx. Went to a local bike shop, charged it for an hour and was good to go.
For travel races I now take a spare battery AND my charger.
Otherwise I love the simplicity of the system, easy setup, etc. Love the modular batteries and wireless setup outside of the blips to blip box. Makes my front end easier to break down for travel too.
Since I have the front derailleur if I ever race Savageman or some other crazy hilly race… I can swap in a 2x crank setup with the front derailleur and that’s it.
If you go 1x, I’d def recommend getting the wifli rd. If you go to a hilly race and still want to use your 1x setup, the wifli will allow for a bigger cassette.
I run 1x eTap now (mostly because I was too cheap to spring for the full kit) and have never dropped a chain. I just made sure I had a narrow-wide chainring.
Out of curiosity where are people buying individual etap components?
EBay. Its not really cheaper to buy a full group individually, but it was cheaper overall since all I bought was the blip box and RD. I designed my own blips which saved a few bucks.
Would like to know as well as I would love to buy just the RD, Blip Box and Blips. I just need shifters on my aerobar extensions and that is it.
Mostly EBay. I picked up the Blip Box for 200$, bar-end buttons for my aerobars for 80$. Charger was 35$. Rear derailleur I bought from a local shop for about 450$. So a SRAM Red group for a bit less than 750$. Good luck doing that with Shimano.
These prices were from this spring when you couldn’t even find things like the Blip Box at a lot of shops, so you can probably do better now and there may even be some used parts.
The front derailleur is still about 400$, so I save 2 watts of drag and 400$. Not back considering most of the time you pay money to save watts.
The short answer is Nope. The Blip Box and buttons set up the same whether you use 1x or 2x. For a TT setup the need for a clutched rear derailleur is questionable. As long as you run a narrow-wide chainring you should have no problems with chain retention. I have been running the regular ETap Red rear derailleur with oversized pulleys, Campy chain, Wheels Manufacturing Shimano 11-sp conversion cassette on a PowerTap hub, using YBN quick links, and SRAM narrow-wide chainring on Vision cranks for about 9 months with no issues. If is works fine on my Frankenbike parts combo you should have no issues. Oh I also forgot to mention that the instructions say ETap isn’t compatible with the Shiv TT, but I am using it on a Nosecone Shiv.
So as you can see, ETap seems to work fine with just about any pile of parts you may have. Your biggest problem will be not wanting to mess with another wired groupo for as long as you live.
Awesome, good to hear.
The only thing I am not excited about is the blips on the basebar. I haven’t seen anything, but is there something SRAM has in the works for a shifter/brake lever set up like Shimano uses? Or even like the one FSA just released at EuroBike?
I use Blip Grips on the basebar combined with Sram Aero BL990 levers. No bar tape needed and feels/functions perfectly.
I’ve used both the standard up to 32t and the wifli up to 36t without problems. 2 Full years of almost flawless riding on the 1x setup. I did drop a chain at nationals when I coasted over the (covered) train tracks and was lucky to find the roughest section. Totally my fault as I just needed to maintain tension and would have been fine (as I was the 3 other times over the tracks that weekend).
Would like to know as well as I would love to buy just the RD, Blip Box and Blips. I just need shifters on my aerobar extensions and that is it.
I had a custom English built this year and had plans of putting the new etap hydro groupset on there, but when it came time, the hydro wasn’t out yet! So…I rigged up the etap aero kit and bought some regular mechanical sram hydo brakes. It has been working really well actually - better than I thought it would.
In addition to the above, I ended up buying a separate Wifli kit. Now that the sram hydro brake/shifters are available, I may sell the aero kit if you’re interested.
It would include a brand new RD in box (as I mentioned, I purchased the wifli kit separately and didn’t use the standard RD), blipbox and the two sets of blips. I’d need the charger though. I’m also in Canada.
My other option is to install this on another bike, but I could use the cash! I’m not sure about pricing though if you were interested - I have about 2500km on the blipbox and blips and the RD is brand new as mentioned.
Wow that is a great deal! I am searching eBay now. I can find RD for $525, clics for $120, blips for $90, battery for $40ish, and blip box for $300 so seems like you got a screaming deal! Will set up an alert since I don’t need them all now so I can buy when the prices get to their lowest.