Originally Posted by
patentcad
So at my LBS today they tell me that yes, Sram Red is redesigned over the last year, and I tried the new Red shifters in the shop, and the Doubletap throw is much shorter, hopefully less annoying, I'd have to ride it. Three days on Sram Force in January was such utter fail for me that I couldn't wait to get back to Shimano. About half the people I talk to don't like doubletap, but I can see how if they make the throw snappier it could work. So far so good. But wait, Sram is about to release 11 speed. 'But I thought it already was 11 speed' I say to my LBS. 'Oh no, but they are going to release 11 speed in the next couple of months, it's currently 10 speed.'
This whole 11 speed arms race is kind of silly, it's actually keeping consumers from buying new bike stuff in some ways; I just went for a frame vs. a full bike because I don't want to render all my wheels non-interchangable between my bikes. I have a friend who is about to go Sram Red because Di2 is only available now in 11 speed, he doesn't want to buy last year's stuff. Telling His Holiness that his long time bike pal Don is going over to Sram is like hearing one of your trusted Cardinals is becoming a voodoo priest.
Now if they could come up with 11 speed that worked with the same spacing as 10 speed, they'd have something, but they don't, and they won't, and it's really rather confusing. Nor could they tell me if the new Red would be backwardsly compatible in such a manner, but they seemed to doubt it.
Between the Utter Fail of D.A. 7900 mechanical shifting and this whole 11 speed fiasco, it's even shaking my faith. But then I'm the same idiot who declared the Scott Foil, the Fail, and now I think it's the best bike I ever rode. In my defense they did improve the ride on the bike from all reports from the early frames, my new Foil felt great on the road today.
I do want to like Red components, they look very nice, they're light. I just have to see if I can live with the shifting. That being said, I do love Di2, I don't think saving 300 grams (or whatever it would be) could get me to make the leap. But the more component choices we have, the better.