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XX1 rainbow is losing color

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#42 ·
scsc said:
Guys, as I said, I'm customer and I don't care what's technology behind. Imagine frame paint fading out due to UV light. It's possible, but maybe in 5 years. This cassette has month.
They sell it as "rainbow" not "temporary rainbow" or "silver/rainbow".
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Last rainbow I saw didn't last very long either.
 
#43 · (Edited)
Ogre said:
putting it where it's going to wear out fairly quickly under normal use is fundamentally weird. There is a reason some parts aren't normally colored and I don't know why SRAM thought this was a good idea. I'm sure if you have a sponsor and can change out your cassette for TV every week it's great?
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I blame Jerry Seinfeld.

That is, the Gucci segment of cycling. A segment that can actually range from poseur to true core, but:
  1. For whom the cost of bikes and bike parts don't mean anything relative to their other outlays, and/or...
  2. Has so many bikes in their stable that short-lived bling that lasts 5 rides might actually take half-a-year to manifest. Or it goes on their special unicorn bike that they only ride on special occasions.
I think the original idea SRAM had was some limited-run parts for maximizing the exposure they get through racing, and for shows/displays... and then it became apparent there was actually demand for a vanity feature that any experienced biker would understand to be a bad idea for a workhorse bike. After that, you get the naive that would mistake a popular-enough feature (for a certain use case) for a good idea for themselves.
 
#44 ·
scsc said:
Guys, as I said, I'm customer and I don't care what's technology behind. Imagine frame paint fading out due to UV light. It's possible, but maybe in 5 years. This cassette has month.
They sell it as "rainbow" not "temporary rainbow" or "silver/rainbow".
Click to expand...
You're a customer, and it's YOUR responsibility to understand what constitutes unrealistic expectations. Drivetrain bits rub metal on metal constantly. Every single finish done for vanity is gonna rub off. I buy my **** for function. If what I want happens to come in a flashy color, then so be it. If that's on a high wear zone, then I understand from the start that it won't take much for the colors to start wearing off.

Ogre said:
SRAM selling a vanity component which is so quickly prone to wear is what I think is stupid.
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Is SRAM stupid for making it? Or are people stupid for buying it? SRAM wouldn't be making it if they didn't have a reasonable suspicion that people would buy it.
 
#45 ·
Harold said:
Is SRAM stupid for making it? Or are people stupid for buying it? SRAM wouldn't be making it if they didn't have a reasonable suspicion that people would buy it.
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Depends.

Are they doing their reputation any favors here by putting out a product which is going to piss off some of their best customers?

As a company, you'd think they would be vary careful how they treat customers who are willing to pay a premium for a product like this.

Otherwise... sure.
 
#47 ·
Fancy colored cassettes seem kind of like fancy colored tires (white, yellow, blue, etc) to me.

When brand new they do look pretty neat. But with any wear they suddenly look more grungy than a normal cassette/tire. That itself is usually enough for me to stay away personally.
 
#48 ·
Ogre said:
Depends.

Are they doing their reputation any favors here by putting out a product which is going to piss off some of their best customers?

As a company, you'd think they would be vary careful how they treat customers who are willing to pay a premium for a product like this.

Otherwise... sure.
Click to expand...
Gotta say, SRAM's been doing oilslick for awhile and this is the first tantrum I've seen about how it wears. A few ppl with some minor grumbles about cassettes with black finishes looking dingy, but nothing at this level.

Sure, I'd rather have a plain "silver" cassette (and the 10spd cassettes I buy for my gravel bike are always plain silver), but in their infinite wisdom, Shimano decided to make all their 12spd cassettes with black alu cogs. they get scratched up with use. but the dirt/grime kinda covers that up. so my lesson is not to wash my bike so much.

Ano has a tendency to rub off in high wear spots, too. Crank arms will do it where your shoe rubs. ODI grip clamps will do it, too.

Colored tires, saddles, and grips get dirty and stained to the point that they never look like new. White saddles get that way REALLY quickly.
 
#52 ·
Sparticus said:
Fashion vs function.
Does it shift alright? Be glad.
Nobody cares what anybody else's bike looks like anyway.
Lesson learned, next time save that money.
=sParty
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False!!! I totally care what mine and everyone else's bike looks like, it's part of the appeal. I just don't judge them. Too much. ?

My HT lends itself to something like this cassette. That said, I don't see the point in blinging out something like a high-wear drivetrain component. Instead I've gone with fixed points like bolts and the like. The OP would be smart to do the same in the future.
 
#53 ·
Harold said:
Gotta say, SRAM's been doing oilslick for awhile and this is the first tantrum I've seen about how it wears. A few ppl with some minor grumbles about cassettes with black finishes looking dingy, but nothing at this level.

Sure, I'd rather have a plain "silver" cassette (and the 10spd cassettes I buy for my gravel bike are always plain silver), but in their infinite wisdom, Shimano decided to make all their 12spd cassettes with black alu cogs. they get scratched up with use. but the dirt/grime kinda covers that up. so my lesson is not to wash my bike so much.

Ano has a tendency to rub off in high wear spots, too. Crank arms will do it where your shoe rubs. ODI grip clamps will do it, too.

Colored tires, saddles, and grips get dirty and stained to the point that they never look like new. White saddles get that way REALLY quickly.
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Fair enough.

I suspect there is also a bit of a bias. If you are willing to drop this much money on a drive train, most people are either wealthy enough to not care, or experienced enough they expect it and buy it anyhow.
 
#55 ·
Let me understand this: a cassette coating costs an extra $60?

Why would someone buy an item that suffers heavy wear with a thin color coating? I don't get it.

I clean my drivetrain regularly and most of the time it looks like crap anyway. I mean, it's a mountain bike, dust and dirt gets everywhere within 30 minutes of a ride. Hell, even my road bike drivetrain gets dirty quite fast.
 
#56 ·
It makes for good pictures. Which I think is the point. This is bling. It’s fleeting beauty, that needs to be captured quickly, as it vanishes.

Should SRAM put a warning on the box that says, “pretty coating will fade within a few rides so hurry and take pictures for your Instagram feed, before you ride it!” ? I don’t know, maybe. Or maybe just label the chain “for novelty use only.”

does the cassette still work? If yes, then mark this as a learning experience and enjoy your ride.

I’ve never seen these pretty parts on dirty bikes on Instagram. They are always attached to a showroom fresh bike propped up and looking social media cool. Know I know why.
 
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#57 · (Edited)
NoCanSurf said:
It makes for good pictures. Which I think is the point. This is bling. It's fleeting beauty, that needs to be captured quickly, as it vanishes
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It's not even beautiful IMHO. I think its ugly to be honest.

Not that I care that much about how my bike looks though. I prefer using bikes rather than looking at them. And when you use bikes, especially mtbs, they get dirty, scratched, etc...
 
#60 ·
scsc said:
Guys, as I said, I'm customer and I don't care what's technology behind. Imagine frame paint fading out due to UV light. It's possible, but maybe in 5 years. This cassette has month.
They sell it as "rainbow" not "temporary rainbow" or "silver/rainbow".
Click to expand...
The cassette surface treatment is a titanium nitride Plasma Vapor Deposition or PVD and will also not fade in 5-years if there wasn't a chain rubbing against it. In fact it would not fade in 1000 years if there was not something abrading it. The reality is no surface treatment like titanium nitride is more than a couple microns deep. That said, it does greatly extend wear life. We use it on cutting tools and they last 2-3x longer than untreated ones. So while it's not a pretty it is reducing the wear rate.
 
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