Sram Rival.....not impressed
 

I rode a specialized Specialized Roubaix at a shop yesterday. I was not impressed with the Sram drivetrain.

I went out and read some reviews, and it seems some are very pleased with the system, so perhaps the bike was not setup properly. And I was only on the bike about 10 minutes. But the whole 'double tap' system? I'll pass. Its easy to learn, but that does not make the down shifting any better. Simply seems like a poor idea.

Anyone running this setup and happy with it? Does it grow on you with time?

Side note: The Roubaix was fantastic. A bit heavy for the price (18.4), but awesome handling and acceleration.

Can you explain the double tap to me? I think the reviewers liked the kit because it is cheaper and only slightly heavier than Shimano's Ultegra kit and way cheaper than anything Campy.

Also, I've heard there are more gear ratios available with SRAM than Shimano. Is this true?

I ride Shimano, so I'm comparing it to a 105/ultegra setup.

You have a lever under your left brake lever that controls your front derailleur.

Under the right brake, you have a single lever that controls the back end.

The brake levers themselves don't move. All of the control is in the smaller lever behind the brake.

Lets focus on the rear, which is controlled by the right lever. If you tap it once, it up shifts. But if you push (not tap mind you.....) the lever, it down shifts. And not just one gear mind you, you can move down like 3+ gears. The single click 'tap' up worked. But the down shifts were like shooting dice. Some times you just want to notch it down a single gear, not three!!!

Again, I spent a short period of time on the bike. Maybe after a longer period of time you would learn the feel. Perhaps its superior in the long run. But I was pretty turned off by it at first glance.

Eh - sounds over complicated to me. I've spoken to many riders who say the move from 8 and 9 speed to 10 speed cassettes has truly made the bike componentry unreliable, whether its SRAM, Shimano or Campy. The derailluers are too thin as are the chains. Now the word is Shimano might be going to some sort of electronic shifting - for a bicycle no less.

Before indexing, we were fine with friction shifting. At least I was.

I still use my friction shifters. DOWNTUBE shifters no less. But I'm weird like that.

I'll probably eventually get brifters but for now what I have works okay for training.

Electronics=bad. Always. I'll have none-o-that on my bikes thank you very much.

I have a Cannondale mountain bike with electronic lock out (ELO) on the fork. The ELO stopped working and if you send it back to Cannondale they will convert it back to manual lock out.

I used to ride an Ultegra 9 but "upgraded" to Ultegra 10 kit. The chain was worn after only 600 miles. Plus I needed help climbing and Ultegra only came in 12-27 cassette (I had a 12-23) at the most and I was using a compact crank. So, I switched out the cassette for a SRAM 11-28.

The SRAM cassette has a huge bridge so sometimes my chain would dump, expecially when rapid shifting from the big cog to smaller cogs in the rear. I miss my old bike with triple crank and Ultegra 9 kit.

How many gears does one truly need ? I had ten for many years, and when I got 21 I thought I had won the lottery. In truth, I hardly ever needed them all.

I just got back from Interbike and The SRAM Red groupo is the ****!!! Waiting for it, saving for it, and will steal for it!!!!!!!

Nikita

If anything, I think SRAM at last provides more choice to the would-be buyer, but I personaly wouldn't look at their products before they hadn't had a couple of years of "trial by consumer".

DanielDudley

I too never understood why many gears was better, but have come to understand the importance of steady cadence in more recent years. Now I firmly believe that there is a gear for every situation, and it makes a huge difference!