Anti404

I've heard varying things about Rival, and have never personally used it. My bike is full 105(minus the brakes), and the SRAM bike I test rode was Red and I've also tested(albeit for a short time) Chorus and Record.

What I mean by "comparable to" is, in terms of Campy and Shimano, what does it most resemble in functionality? Is it closer to the upper-end Dura-Ace and Chorus/Record, or more similar to Ultegra SL and Centaur.
NOTE: this is 2008 Rival. If I do end up buying it, I may eventually replace the brifters with Red, but for now I simply want to get a feel for the quality of SRAM Rival.

BananaTugger

Centaur and Ultegra.

Anti404

Just wondering, but is this based off of merely price or a combination of price and performance? What I'm thinking of purchasing is the Ridley deal, which looks really sweet. If it would have the '09 Rival that would be amazingly rad, as they seem much nicer.

BananaTugger

Price. They all works awesome. It's a matter of preference based on how your hands fit the levers and how you think the groups look.

I'd choose Campagnolo.

Psimet2001 

From what I have seen/felt I would say it's pretty close to Ultegra or Centaur....wait...what BT said.

Some parts are a little nicer than Ultegra, while some are "clunkier".

In general I do not care for SRAM's front end shifting. Not a huge fan of double-tap either, but do not have enough miles on it to say that for certain.

Anti404

The deal of which I speak only includes an SRAM Rival kit, though I'm not sure as to the reason why.
I wear a size small glove, so I'm assuming that means I have small hands. I've heard SRAM is one of the better groupsets for smaller hands.

When trying out Campy, I wasn't sure what to think. It seemed to shift smoothly, but I was not a big fan of the hoods.

Psimet2001 

Fixed.

Psimet2001 

SRAM levers do tend to be very adaptable to smaller hands, and yes...size "S" glove wearing hands are very small hands indeed.

BananaTugger

Shimramgnolo isn't due to start production until 2020.

I'm waiting for the Shimpagnolo Super E-ErgoAce group with the extra battery pack and optional sunroof that is supposed to hit the market within the next decade.

Anti404

I don't want a sunroof.

Just saw your post, Psimet. I've heard some negative things about the front shifting, though it seems that it just takes some on the road adjustments to fix.

BananaTugger

I'll say this about SRAM: They freaking nailed the rear shifting. It's awesome. If it weren't my infatuation with Campy, I'd be running Red/Rival on my rigs.

The front shifting chews compared to Shimano. The small levers take a fair bit more effort to move than the biggins that Shimano has.

Psimet2001 

Yeah...that's just to set it up initially, but even past that I just don't care for how the front shifts. Very sloppy. Again that's my opinion.

FlashBazbo

I'm fairly objective in that I own one bike with Shimano Dura Ace and one with SRAM Rival. In the past, I've owned 105 and Ultegra, too. For various reasons, this time of year, I ride the SRAM-equipped bike a lot more than I do the Dura Ace.

REAR shifting, I would put Rival on par with any of the Shimano products, including Dura Ace. Excellent shifting and very intuitive. I prefer it. But . . .

FRONT shifting, I would put Rival well below 105. Shifting effort is very high on Rival from small ring to large and, to me, it is a major disappointment. With Shimano products, that shift is an effortless short-travel snick. With Rival, you've got to push a long way (and with a relatively big effort) to make the shift stick. I've had everything adjusted and readjusted by my LBS. Based on reports here and elsewhere, that's just the way Rival shifts. Not good at all.

Anti404

Oh, well, as I said I've only got to test it for a little bit. I'm trying to see if CC will allow me to use their "demo" program or maybe I'll go ride a Rival rig in a LBS and just not tell them my plans.
*evil cackle*

I'll probably upgrade to pieces of Red(Shifters, RD) at some point in time, but since this deal seems really good I wanted to see some opinions on the performance of Rival.

huytheskigod

Front Shifting should be much improved on the 09 rival compared to the 08 as it's is made to work like Red. I ride Red and my fiance is on the 08 rival kit. There is a noticeable difference in the front shifting. The hoods do fit small hand well. I wear a M glove and had a hard time on the Shimano 10-speed hoods. Sram feels much better. Campagnolo is ok fit wise but I didn't like the thumb lever shifting. I really like Sram but owning all three types of groups, I couldn't say one group is definitively better than another. They all have their pros and cons. Sram fits my needs a little better than the other two so that's what I ride primarily.

Anti404

What do you think is the reasoning for Rival's mediocre front shifting? The shifters or some other problem?

FlashBazbo

My unacceptable front derailleur action IS an '09 Rival setup. I'm told it's the derailleur (and that Red has the same problem but Force should be better).

IMLTHO, it's what happens when you've got to circumvent everybody else's patents and there just aren't that many great ideas on how to move a front derailleur.

Anti404

Interesting. I've heard that the incorporation of Red's tech. into the Rival shifters was supposed to make it shift more easily/smoothly.

Have you ridden any SRAM aside from Rival?

FlashBazbo

I tried a Red front derailleur and had a similar experience. The LBS didn't have a Force derailleur to try. (Incidentally, if you do a search, the Bike Forum conventional wisdom says to replace both Red and Rival front derailleurs with Force. I haven't tried it, but would like to.)

Psimet2001 

My assessment of poor shifting is based on Red. The major change between 08 rival and red was the lack of trim on front shifting for Rival (and Force for that matter) IIRC.

09 is where the trim feature would be carried down to Rival and Force...again IIRC.

Overall...poor shifting on the front. I would have to agree with the complaints about throw and force required to make that shift....and I have big hands...you have to push that mother real far and even then you have to tweak it to get it to shift.

I had one rig dropped off in my shop more than once looking to have me adjust it because the rider just couldn't get the front to shift while he was riding....there was nothing wrong with the adjustment. Just come to find out he has a hard time hitting the throw required in certain hand positions.

huytheskigod

The incorporation of Red tech does improve the front shifting by making the throw to shift shorter. Flaw in the front derailleur probably still exist. Some have circumvented this by using a Shimano front derailleur. The shift is slightly heavier than a shimano front shift but it doesn't bother me. I may try using a shimano FD one day to see if there's much of a difference.

Edit: Wow...with all all these bad experience...I guess I'll have to pay more attention on my next ride. For what it's worth, I'm running a compact setup.

tekhna

I like Rival much more than Shimano mostly due to my hand size. I am running Campy right now but might switch if I get around to it. The FD shifting though can be problematic, and I'm not sure how or why they haven't fixed it yet.

FlashBazbo

How big is the difference? Saturday I got on my Shimano-equipped bike and, when I shifted to the big ring, the ease and quickness of the shift actually startled me. For an instant, the difference in feel made me instinctively think something radical had gone wrong. But no. Just an easy shift.

FlashBazbo

The key, I've found, to making the Rival front shift to the big ring is to keep pushing until you hear an audible "CLICK." Once you get the big click, it will stay on the big ring. It's a long way over there, but anything less and the chain will shift back to the little ring.

patentcad

>>To what is Rival comparable to?<<