Proper shift cable routing for SRAM Rival derailleur

Question

My bike has a SRAM Rival 1 Rear Derailleur (1x11). I recently replaced the shifter cable/wire and noticed the clamp orientation looks very different when on a low vs high gear. In the highest (physically smallest) gear on the cassette the cable routing through the clamp groove seems to properly match SRAM's documentation from what I can see.

On the lowest gear I noticed the clamp is at a very different orientation and almost none of the cable is running through the clamp's groove. It's almost a straight line for the cable from the barrel adjuster to the pinch bolt.

I had simply never paid attention to how the cable ran through the clamp until now that I've replaced it.

I think this is fine since the clamp would naturally changes position as the shifting changes and the derailleur moves, but seeing so little of the cable running along the clamp made me want to double-check. Is this normal?

Answer 1

Yes, this is normal. You only have control of the clamp location, of course the plastic fin must change orientation as the derailleur goes through its motion.

Another tell would be shift quality. An incorrectly routed cable rarely gives a good gearshift result through the whole cassette. If you can select every gear cleanly, followed the book and it looks neat, you have done the job well.