A few weeks ago I installed a Rival on the wife's bike. She is complaining that the shift from the small chainring to large is too hard for her to do. I find it a bit hard, but then I don't have her small hands. It does indeed seem to require more force than Shimano.

Am I missing something here or is this common. I am new to SRAM but have been installing components and doing bike builds for over 10 years so I consider myself fairly aware. I checked all other possiblilites such as possible binding of the cable in housings and as it runs under the BB etc and everything checks out okay.

Someone help me out before the wife makes me rebuild the darn thing with Shimano.

Thanks.

I had it and it is harder to shift up than shimano, no doubt about it. One thing you can do though, is if you have barrel adjusters, tighten them down all the way after you have it set up to increase the cable tension, makes the throw start earlier. If you dont, then get some

It does indeed seem to require more force than Shimano.

I haven't built anything with SRAM yet but I've ridden two identical bikes with different cables and the difference in shifting was remakable. Nokon cables made it a lot easier to shift up. Maybe part of the problem with your wife's smaller hands is that the force required exacerbates the throw?

Try positioning the controls about 3 degrees out from the centerline of the bicycle. In otherwords, instead of making the controls parallel or in-line to the drops on the handlebar, point them outward by three degrees. This will bring the levers back toward the drops a little and make them more accessable for smaller hands. Give it a try.