OK, so I was in a bikestore today talking to the owner about possibly getting some sram components. He personally did not like them but at the same time said that none of his customers that have bought sram have ever complained, thats right, 0!!! He did say that the biggest complaint among dealers is "drivetrain noise". He said this is due to the rear cassette. So I want to know from those who ride, especially those who have ridden full campy or shimano setups to compare it to, do you notice this "drivetrain noise"? Also in general, how do you like your sram components, what do you like the most and what do you wish was different? Thanks in advance!

Recently had 2 bikes at my house for a day of test riding, one was a Campy Record and the other was a SRAM Force. The Force bike used a Dura Ace chain and cassette. I own a bike with Dura Ace. I thought the Force bike shifted as smooth and maybe a tad faster then the Campy Record bike. All 3 were properly adjusted and ran smooth and quiet. I was disappointed with the new Campy Record skeleton brakes, Dura Ace is still the benchmark and Campy missed again.

I just recently put a Rival group on one of my bikes, and have found it to be a very smooth, quiet-running drivetrain. I've ran 9 sp. campy veloce on my cross bike for a number of years and I'd say the Rival shifts a tad quicker. That being said, I've bastardized the Rival group somewhat by adding a Chorus UT compact crank, and a Record chain (I've had awesome luck with the campy chains for longevity, etc.)

As a side note, I've found that 9 sp. campy and 9 sp. shimano are so close that I've ran wheels with shimano cassettes consistently with no adverse shifting. It's kind of nice cuz it increases the number of wheelsets in my possession that are compatible with that bike.:)

Please read my post under SRAM: nothing but problems. This was a very noisey drive train and I couldn't get the crankset tight enough to stop an irriating clicking noise (even took it to my LBS). I have since put a full Campy record set up and all the irritating SRAM problems have gone away. I have Dura Ace on my other Orca and I still love that bike. In my experience, Dura Ace and Campy are pretty much even for shifting and drive train Smoothness. I liked the SRAM double tap shifting and smaller hoods though. the shifting was very good, and the set up easy. Maybe the SRAM red will be different. Mind you, this is just "one man's experience."

Please read my post under SRAM: nothing but problems. This was a very noisey drive train and I couldn't get the crankset tight enough to stop an irriating clicking noise (even took it to my LBS). I have since put a full Campy record set up and all the irritating SRAM problems have gone away. I have Dura Ace on my other Orca and I still love that bike. In my experience, Dura Ace and Campy are pretty much even for shifting and drive train Smoothness. I liked the SRAM double tap shifting and smaller hoods though. the shifting was very good, and the set up easy. Maybe the SRAM red will be different. Mind you, this is just "one man's experience."

I have 3000 miles on my Rival Group - NO PROBLEMS
Perhaps you should find another LBS...

On Your Left:ciappa:

i haved put 6,000kms so far on my sram rival. no trouble whatsoever. never a missed shift. the drivetrain was indeed loud, but it quieted down after about 2,000km. however, recently i swapped chains (as in yesterday) and the drivetrain remained very quiet and smooth. granted, i had my sram chain replaced with a record chain i already had at home.

hope this helps.

Noise? They all make noise. Listen to Napalm Death, now thats some noise....

I put 6000 miles on my force group, and now upgraded to red. Love it all. The Issues anyone has is due to poor setup, either by them or a shop mechanic. I don't count manfacturing defects as long as the company fixes them. The sram stuff does need to be setup just under perfect, I think, make sure the shifting is spot on. You can hear it when you pedal the bike in the stand, test by either adding slack by turning the barrel adjuster, or taking i the slack, which you can test by pulling on the cable a bit.

We're too busy riding and having fun to write on the boards :p

Here's some Force porn.

It makes a difference what chain and cassette you use- but a properly tuned SRAM group is no louder than a DA or Record group. Perhaps a dérailleur hangar or wheel is out of alignment if there is noise.

Drivetrain Noise? Who gives a load of wad? If "Drivetrain Noise" is an issue get a fixie, 'n gitchur "fakenger" on. Cassettes + Chains + Freehubs = noisy.

Relative to Cmpy/DA, Force/Rival shifts with a Konfident KER-SLAM! into each gear. Red is "gooder" i.e. more refined.

DA light, tight, and never misses a beat. Record TEN is super sweet. THEY ALL MAKE SOME KIND OF NOISE.

If "Drivetrain Noise" is an issue get a fixie.

Try a KMC or Shimano chain.

ok im going to get reamed for asking this but...

how can you run a campy chain on a SRAM drivetrain? SRAM and shimano have the same cassette spacing and campy has a wider cassette spaceing. so a shimano and SRAM chain will be narrower than a thicker campy chain, right??

Actually, I believe that there are 2 different widths of Campy 10-sp. chains. If you go with the new Record Ultra-Narrow 10 sp. chain it works great.

On a related note, don't fly down to Las Vegas with your older Campy-10 equipped, S and S coupled travel bike expecting to re-assemble the chain using a link for an Ultra-narrow chain...Doh!:idea:
Happened to me on Monday. Easy fix though.

Does any one know if this is true. I bought a few tings on Ebay, and the auctions were terminated. I had already paif for them, so i was a bit worried.

I have heard of a seller's account being closed for non payments of fees.

But this was different, and shocking. Very shocking.... makes me wonder where all the so called "democratic freedom" we are fed is, or at least our Capitalism freedom.

Well the Ebay seller contacted me and told me that SRAM IS CLOSING their auctions, until they raise their prices.

Isn't that crazy?!... Don't sellers have the right to sell at what ever price they want.

Isn't this price fixing?... If this isn't a crime, it should be.

Don't be so quick to blame "The Man." SRAM likely doesn't care about him as long as they get their wholesale profit. If you buy a new Ford and give it to me, will Ford call you and say you didn't get enough?
I bought a 2007 SRAM Force groupo from "americanbicycle". If it's americanbicycle/variant in Michigan or Minn or somewhere up there beware (BTW he had nothing listed on Ebay when I needed a warranty a few months later). I finally found his email through Paypal, and he gave me a line about how he couldn't warranty my shifter because he "currently" had no others to send out and SRAM hates him for selling so low. He added, "Well you can send it to me and you might get it back from SRAM in 6 months ."(like your guy - putting all the blame on SRAM) He also said any LBS could warranty it with SRAM (not really true). Kinda like saying Sears CAN take an item back without a receipt or exchange the same brand with a Target item to take it up with the mfg. This guy also sent a braze-on front DR and Shimano clamp combo rather than an actual clamp-on DR but that's another story.
SRAM does all it's warranty through dealers so... He was doing everything to discourage me from dealing more with him (but he took the money very quickly.) SRAM had nothing to do with this and would likely be unhappy with that "dealer" support.
Sorry to rant but my point is that Ebay is full of these characters. It's much like dealing with the grey market - fine if you give up other rights to save a few $$ but you need to know that going in. Unless you know you are dealing with a true SRAM dealer, none of what he says about them matters. Ebay has become a portal for short selling artists and thieves. Anonymity makes people brave and brings out the "buyer beware" attitude. This occasionally happens at local businesses too - you see that on hidden camera shows. There are legit individuals and legit stores on Ebay but yours is not likely one of them.
Usually the first tipoff is the dead lowest price on a NIB item. Step up a few $$ were most others tend to be selling and you find legit dealers. The older I get the more I'm willing to pay more for a) Less drama, and b) peace of mind. Another tip is to use a CC through Paypal. That is good backup if you are scammed. They are tied to Ebay so they have quick access to Ebay records. SRAM has nothing to do with this either.
Your guy is just a scammer and not a real dealer or he would step up and not blame SRAM. No one, not even a large corporation, can alter another's Ebay auctions without legal action - he took his own auctions down (probably saw he couldn't get what he wanted). The fact that he contacted you with a lie is a big tipoff. Do you want to deal with him, no matter how nice/inexpensive he is otherwise? I would start watching another seller. What are his comments/feedback? Is he a gunuine dealer? Does he/has he done warranty? These are questions to e-mail him with. Might be interesting to see his responses. If he's a real dealer, they would just threaten to pull his "dealership" and if he's not, then why would they know to stop his auctions - it would be discussions between him and SRAM and not with you the potential customer. He is not being honest. He "doth protest too much, methinks." There is a reason things sometimes cost more.
BTW, my Force stuff was NIB and is nice stuff.

Sorry. We were already derailed.