Hi Guys,

I just demoed a bike with Rival this weekend, I got to ride it around 40 miles on Saturday and another 20 yesterday. (The saddle kind of limited how much I could ride it) It didn't take me too long to get used to the shifting but I wanted to ask a question for people who have been riding SRAM for a while.

Shifting from a larger cog to a smaller cog on the rear deraiuller seems plenty fast, same thing with shifting from the large chainring to the small chainring.

However the opposite, downshifting in the back or upshifting in the front, just seems "slower" then Shimano, mostly due to the lever travel, or my seeming hesitation with the lever.

I have 7 years of STI muscle memory but it just seemed like with Shimano I can just "bang" the brake lever and make the small->large shifts almost instantaneously.

Do you eventually get perfectly used to the doubletap spacing where you can make these shits almost instantaneously without really missing a single pedal revolution? How long does it take?

Also I demoed Rival.. does Force shift exactly the same or is it any crisper, kind of like the difference between Ultegra and Dura Ace?

Thanks,
Ben

I think that you are right on about the front deraileur. It is a very long action to get the chain to move. I am not extremely happy with front shifting. The back, however, is very crisp and fast in both directions. I think you will get used to it. I put up with the slow front shifting because I don't shift up front very often, and when I do, I usually see it coming and don't need it to happen fast. As far as Force vs. Rival, they are both the exact same mechanism made of different materials. I would expect them to act the same.

I am sold after getting my SRAM setup a few months ago. I wouldn't use anything else. I love the clean look, and it is very nicely made.


Brian
TheRoadBike (http://www.theroadbike.com)

I'm still very likely to try it, I'm with you, I don't care a whole lot about the front deraiuller.

On my test ride it was somewhat aggravated by the fact that the bike had a compact crank which caused me to end up switching rings far more often then I would have with a normal crank.

The thing that really makes me want to try it is exact actuation.. I have X.0 on my mountain bike and it's been so much better then Shimano in terms of long term durability & tuning that it's not even funny. Like I set it, set it again after the cable stretched, and that's it, it's never been touched again.

The demo bike was not setup properly and I was able to dial it in very quickly on the side of the road which gives me good hope that Rival/Force are as easy to tune as X.0/X.9 on the MTB side.

If the road stuff is like that then I'm sure I could get used to a slower shift here or there.

I just hit 1200 miles on Force... Prior to this I was on Ultegra 9 speed. Here are some general observations.

I think the shifter throw issue is due to the fact that with SRAM you use only the small paddle shifter. Since it it tucked behind the brake lever you end up shifting with just a finger push to upshift/downshift. The throw is a little long on upshifts (easier gears) especially if you are going up two gears. With Shimano you tend to use your whole hand to upshift thus you've got a little more leverage and reach. With that said.... You adapt and will find that it is not a big deal... I can feel the muscles in my right index finger bulging as I type this. :p

Shifting in the cold weather seems a little sluggish with SRAM. Currently the ride to work is 35F to 40F. The ride home is 65F to 70F. Shifting requires more force in the cold weather (especially noticible on the upshifts on temps below 30F). I am unsure if this is some type of tolerance issue inside the shifter or due to the cable contracting with the cold weather or whatever BUT I can feel it... I don't MISS shifts but I just have to push slightly harder to make them happen...

I don't see the hang-up that everyone has on the FD. Once you get it adjusted then it shifts fine.

The reach on the levers and hood design work VERY NICELY with classic (non-anatomic) bars. If you spend a lot of time in the drops and find you have trouble reaching for the brakes then this is a really nice setup for small hands. I'm running Ritchey WCS Classics and have since sold off all my anatomic bars on eBay....

The brakes are powerful but the pad compound is comparable to stock Shimano pads. It seems to pick up road grime that imbeds into the pad a little too easy. Several times I've had scratchy brakes only to dig out small aluminum shavings from the pad once I got home. KoolStops are going on once these pads are done! KoolStops are the ultimate cheap upgrade.

As a final note, I found that playing around with the B-Tension screw (Shimano teminology) made a big difference in shifting accuracy and performance. This is more pronounced then any Shimano derailleur (road or MTB) that I've adjusted. SRAM recommends 6mm from the cassette cog to the top derailleur pulley. If that is off then the performance degrades. The first 100 miles I was periodically missing shifts and fooling around with cable tension all the time. After I adjusted the B-Tension screw all was right with the world...