Originally Posted by CRUM

IMO, if you are a ride, ride, ride and never maintain your bike type rider, I would say go SRAM. I have never seen a component group put up with as much neglect and keep working like the higher end SRAM stuff. X.7, X.9 and the over priced XO. I am sure it is their insistence on using a 1 to 1 pull ratio in their rear derailleurs and real springs in the rear derailleurs. But mate the Shimano compatible Rocket or Attack shifters to a wimpy Shimano Derailleur and all you have is twist shifting Shimano. Might as well go Revo shift.

That is not to say SRAM has not had some serious bumps along the way. Back in the early 90's, SRAM supplied my shop team with their new high end 8 speed shifters. Half a season and they were toast. Back then, Shimano still ruled the high end. But now, I wonder. The new trigger shifters on the lower end Jamis XC series have been absolutely better than the comparable Acera offering from Shimano. If either of them is to win this war (and don't kid yourself, they hate each other), it will be won with the components on the $300 to $400 bkes. This year I would say SRAM won that round.

All that said, I still run Shimano on most of my bikes. But I pay attention to them regularly. So the fussiness that comes with Shimano's wimpy springs and sensitivity to cable grunge is not generally a problem. I did just build up a Rocky Slayer frame with a SRAM X9 Drivetrain. But I put a Shimano XTR front derailleur on the front. IMO, the XTR front derailleur is still the best one out there.

Once you get past a certain point in the component hiearchy, none of it is junk. Both of them are making good stuff. You just need to learn their peculiarities and take care of them. I am even becoming a fan of the newer Rapid Rise systems enough to actually put them on my Rocky Blizzard for next Spring. Yes, it's fussy. But I think I have them figured out. But I had to do it outside the box and throw the directions away.