I tried out some SRAM over the weekend and my mind was blown. I like the double tap but properly adjusted Shimano is still nice for me. But with the advantages I might make the leap if I get a job this summer. I really liked the calipers of both, the force stuff especially felt nice, but I also read force and rival are pretty much the same. Either one is probably lighter than what I have now so I wondering about functionality. I heard rival and force were the exact same except for different materials and weights.

Will the performance of rival be on par with force?
Is rival the same with different weights?
How does the throw compare and is it possible to shift really quickly with rival?

Thanks all!

Youngin

Force and Rival are functionally identical. The only difference is in material, and hence weight.

...and weight is negligible - even for the whole gruppo, never mind one piece.

According to SRAM, Force RD can take a 28T cassette and Rival a 27T. Not much difference.

Whichever one you get make sure you get the 2008 updated version which should be available I believe around June. When they came out with Red last year they made some mechanical improvements which filtered down to the Rival and Force groups for 2008. That said I would go for the Rival group. Lighter than Ultegra and the 2008 version has carbon brake levers.

I have been riding the Rival group for about 9 months and I like it. I might just update the brifters (I hate that word) and the whole setup I believe should work like the 2008 group mechanically. Though I am not 100% sure of this.

+1...as far as I know Rival will be the same price as last year with carbon levers, and big ring trim etc.

what's wrong with your shimano?

^^^Good point.

The Shimano is ok, but the brakes are some Cane Creek stock ones I think. It feels like they're made out of dead fish when I brake. The rival calipers were really crisp and confident. The stock Triple 105 derailleur is awful too even after it was adjusted. No one makes a 130 bcd 45T chainring either. Got one from salsa that is wrecking havoc on my shifting.

In short, its not the shimano, its the cheap stock. Unless 105 is better than the crisp rival calipers, I've still got my goal set.

For the brakes at least, try swapping out the pads to some KoolStop or SwissStop. It'll make a very big difference.

Yup and it did. Still, the calipers are much different from my experience. I like good brakes.

As you can see from my bike list below, I have Rival on the Bianchi and Ultegra on the Windsor. They are both very good, although different. If I had to pick I guess I would favor the Ultegra by the slightest margin. Again I am happy with both. With the improvement with the 2008 SRAM groups I would probably favor Rival again very close. The only thing I'm not thrilled with in the Rival is the throw to get into a larger ring is too long. Since that has been improved I am considering just getting the new Rival brifters (hate that work)

Solution here is a double or compact -- doesn't matter who makes it (much)

The Cane Creeks are frequently single action lever mech and a lot of people don't like 'em.

I hated my Sram brakes. There was either no braking or total lock up - nothing in between. I like modulation. I ride Zero G's right now - a lot of people don't like 'em because it is harder to lock the brakes up, but trust me, I can still grab a fistfull of brake and go over the handlebars.

For a budget option the higher end Tektros work great - esp. if you change out the stock pads.

At interbike Srams new rival group was shown to have all the advantages of the force group with some of Reds group modifications(trim). Think Force could be fazed out next year?

I don't know if your brakes were adjusted properly or it is something to do with the rim but I find the Rival brakes work very similarly to my Ultegra on the other bike. Also I really haven't heard much about problems with the brakes from other people other than there was a recall on the Force mounting screws early on.

I recently switched my brakes from those nameless (probably Tektero) ones, and put on Rival brakes. It definitely makes a noticeable, and considerable difference. I have much more control of my bike when I need to go down steep hills slowly, which was a big problem with the old brakes.

Definatly a worth while upgrade.

I'm an ok wrench. I tried every trick in the book to get 'em to be less grabby. Toed in the pads pretty good at one point, which helped, but I never could get 'em to be ok. Not sure what was up with them.