The more I use SRAM’s DoubleTap road group, the more I like it, and I’ve been riding it for years on several of my road and cyclocross bikes. The one issue that’s persisted across groupsets during that time is the shift lever occasionally getting stuck at the top of its movement. That is, when pushed all the way in to move the chain up several cogs at once, the shift lever can kind of grab the rubber hood on the way back down and stick partially depressed. The shift action isn’t affected, but in the heat of a ‘cross race or group ride, it’s a mental distraction that takes its toll over time.
Also, it’s really easy to fix…
Regardless of where I set my shift lever’s reach, it could catch. The solution was as simple as taking a pair of scissors to the bottom of the hood. The amount I removed here is probably even a little aggressive…about half as much should do the trick.
Aesthetically, the missing rubber isn’t noticeable when the bike is upright, but more artistic removal could be done with an Exacto knife or grooming shears, wire snips, etc.
And lest you worry about exposing the internals of the shifting mechanism, relax. They’re already exposed, and Shimano’s internals are at least 3x more exposed than these (scientifically proven by looking at them) and we’ve raced those in all manner of cyclocross muck and mud with no degradation in performance.
Just be sure, though, I took this bike to the local cyclocross race and splattered it with mud and all is still working just fine.
UPDATE: SRAM chimed in with the following, suggesting you take your bike into a dealer for evaluation prior to cutting the hoods or otherwise modifying your components:
SRAM fully supports all of our products. If you’re a user that perceives any product or performance issues we request that you please visit your local dealer for a complete technical evaluation.
