Speaking of new groups, I ordered a new Red left brake/shift lever yesterday. I just wasn't happy with the prospect of taking the damn thing to a watch maker (joke alert) to have the broken lever replaced, even though the part is readily available on eBay. I found a good closeout on the single left lever in the right graphics edition for $209 with free shipping and no local tax. Good thing this happened when it did as that graphics edition is obsolete now, and it seems to be rapidly disappearing from the internet. It seems they change the look every couple of years.

I doubt that is much more than I would have had to pay for the part and replacement labor especially if I let the LBS search for the right part. I mean, was the LBS really going to just go on eBay to get the part? Maybe I am just a klutz, but the replacement job looked to be a bear.

What about the warranty you ask. Well the store (both online and brick and mortar) where I originally bought the lever offered to ATTEMPT to process the warranty if I sent the broken part to them. Know what? I just don't have the patience for that.

So do I still come out ahead compared to just having bought the levers from my LBS at whatever awful price they would have charged? Good question. Maybe a little. I wonder how the replacement would have been handled assuming the breakage would have been determined to be under warranty. And that is by no means a given. How would they have gotten me a matching lever from SRAM? Would they have replaced both to make a match? I have no idea. Channeling Scarlet O'Hara I am just not going to think about all that anymore. Previsualizing reinstalling the internal cable run is much more important.