My SRAM drive train is actually fairly quiet. Not as quiet as my Ultegra SL, but still. I use a 1090R chain.

Crank arms not aligned with frame, and garage door handle is not vertical. Also, valve stems are visible.

Yeah, and the white highlights are blown out/over exposed....sweet bike!

I got it at Totalcycling in December 08. I guess the exchange rate and popularity (less popular then) of Rival factored into price because they currently sell it for $700. I did have to wait a few weeks for the shifters which were backordered.

Thanks,
I wanted something understated like the Isaac or Parlee. That De Rosa King in matte black posted here a few days ago is hot too.

I bought a Rival group for even less than that back when Microsoft had the 30% back rebate. Picked up a Rival group for $700, got 30% back for a grand total of $490 and it was even free shipping. Could be the buy of the century. Im in the market for a Red group now and I cant find any kind of deal. $1300 appears to be about as cheap as you can get it.

Wow,
That is a crazy deal. Sram nailed it with 09 Rival from a cost/performance standpoint. Don't you think?

Orbea has a Rival option.

Why are you replacing? If you're buying piece by piece, I get this question, but if you already have a brand new 2009 group on your bike, I would not replace anything.

FWIW - I just went from Ultegra to Rival and I love it. I posted a review here: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ighlight=rival

Yep that's when I got mine too. Hands down the best deal I've ever got on bike parts.

My Gary Fisher Presidio came with Rival. First road/cyclocross bike for me. Tried a bike with 105, and it was alright. Then I got my Presidio and man oh man is it sweet. I just put road slicks on today and took it out for a ride and it was beautiful. The only thing my bike didn't come with was the Rival cranks. Came with some type of Bontrager. I'm a clyde so I'm no weight weenie when it comes to bikes, but I might opt for the Rival Cranks next year just to complete the group. I have considered Campy, and will try it eventually, but shimano is as good as dead for me now.

Im planning a build and the shop is willing to go piece by piece for everything so i thought i might as well try to get the parts that were worth getting right of the bat instead of more spending later on.

I'm using a KMC chain. On a scale of 0-10, I'd rate my Ultegra a 1 and my Rival maybe a 2. I agree that it is pretty quiet. I don't notice the difference unless I'm going really slow like when I'm climbing a hill. It's certainly not noisy enough to stop me from preferring it over Ultegra.

I had my doubts but I really like SRAM's shifting system. Others have said it's counter intuitive but I find it pretty easy to use. What I've enjoyed is not accidentaly braking when not downshifting correctly as sometimes happens with my Ultegra brifters.

I paid less than that on Rival but it was a 1 time team buy and SRAM sponsorship deal. I am selling 09 Rival for a lot less than that 700 mentioned.

For red the cost is still pretty high on the wholesale end. The prices I quoted barely leave enough in the end to even make it worth the time to process the order. It wouln't buy dinner. Truly only doing this stuff because I enjoy it.

Specialized had rival options on all their carbon-framed bikes last year, but this year just force/red on "pro" level frames and above.

I don't want to hijack the OP's thread, but just a question on Rival, does the paint on the crank wear off? The black paint on my fsa crank wore off and now it looks like absolute sh*t. I am looking to upgrade to Rival possibly this summer and don't want to same thing to happen. If it does, I may just get the carbon force crank with the Rival group...