Anyone ever executed this before? Sram Red/Sram Rival AXS lever swap

In the midst of moving my bikes to Red AXS E1, I realized I didn’t want to put $1300 shifters on a bike I crash a lot (I don’t have enough money for another set). My Lauf had Red D1 shifters on it, and I was always curious about brake lever compatibility with the newer+slimmer rival/force d2 shifters—I bought a pair so I could experiment, and they ended up being somewhat compatible. My hands get along well with the slimmer shifter body, so it was a worthwhile process for me.

It’s a clean swap to put the Rival brake blades on the Red body, aside from having to stretch a spring, cut down a small rubber bumper, and swap a plastic nub on the front side of the shift blade. Putting the Red brake lever on the Rival body requires a bit of dremeling so it sits flush (not necessary but I’m a perfectionist), so it’s not a completely reversible process. The shift blades can’t be swapped from rival to red unless you want to solder, and I didn’t want to.

Very satisfying swap, but I love tinkering so maybe it would be a pain for anyone else. I haven’t seen anyone else do this (or at least, I haven’t seen a post about it) so I thought it would be interesting to share. Weight-wise it’s a pretty unsubstantial change, going from the rival lever to red lever only saved 33g per shifter (263->230). I think it looks pretty nice though, so I’m happy with it.

I didn’t want to document the whole swap off the bat because it would take a ton of time and might interest zero people, but if anyone wants a step-by-step process I’d be happy to make one. It’s pretty intricate at some points, and I’d hate for someone to break their shifters trying to replicate it without a guide.