sram force vs. red
 

is it worth the extra money to upgrade to the red over the force?

how much $ do you have burning a hole in your pocket?

How much cooler/faster/popular/better looking than everyone else do you want your bike (and yourself, if you identify closely with your bike) to be?

Take into consideration that Force is upgrade this year to reflect some of the improvements launched with Red, so Force is "improved" over prior years. Another thought is to mix and match Force and Red components. Enjoy!

Get Red shifters.
Go Force for everything else.

I don't think that's correct.

my bro just got red and after giving it a little spin i was pretty impressed. i wouldn't buy force right now, the changes in red are too much.
the only thing i'm not so sure about is red's ti front derailleur cage. it's rather flexy and i gotta wonder if shifting would be even better with an alu cage. minor quibble though, as a campy devotee my first impressions of the red are it's pretty fricken sweet.

FYI, Rival is functionally identical to Force. Only the materials are different. So unless you have a hard-on for carbon (and I can't see why, considering the chart that's been floating around BikeForums showing the Rival cranks as second only to Record in stiffness/weight), go with Red shifters & Rival everything else. Or, if you can live without trim, all Rival and pocket the cash.

+1

Red has the adjustable reach on both the shifter and brake levers though, which i think i'd really like since i have a hard time reaching my ultegra's when inthe drops without spraining my wrist

Shimano levers have a longer reach than the SRAM.

All of them can be slightly adjusted by just sticking a little rubber thing in behind the lever. Pick em up at Home Depot.

I'm holding a Red front d. and I can't see any more flex than a Dura Ace. Looks like a good design and bullet proof.

Red shifters are worth it. I like the throw action on them a lot more than Force (which I have now). I use a Dura Ace front derailer btw.

I just built up a LOOK 595 with all Force, but I ordered RED shifters to replace the Force shifters. This seems like an economical compromise between the groups.

I just ordered the concensus as well. Force with Red shifters for the increased front der trim. The Red shifters are a no-brainer at $50 MSRP extra. The FD wasn't a whole lot more so I tossed that in. The $ leap to Red brakes, crankset & rear der were not worth it to me. Sounds like there may be issues with the Red crankset too. Rings too flexy, though probably not for me. I wonder if that's why the cranksets are being sold at about the same price as Force. Not worth the aggravation for 10g either way.

I can't bring myself to pull the trigger on the 1090 Powerdome cassette either. It's just too expensive for an unproven product. Looks cool in the box though;)

Zero Loss in the Red shifters is where it's at. Good stuff!

Where did u order from to get a mix and match groupo???

red cranks...
 

i concur. red shifters, force everything else. unless you really really really want ceramic bearings in your crankset...

I would have gotten the red cassette in addition to the shifters. The cassette is a super light steel unit, so it's lighter than most other offerings and will wear well and long. The shifters are a good idea not only for the sake of trim and reach adjustment, but you also get the awesome Gore ride-on cables. Super slick and smooth action, makes shifts even more precise.
Regardless, it's all Sram, so its all good! ;)

I would have gone Red brifters, cassette and FD then Rival everything else.