My bike is all Ultegra/DA minus a SRAM red cassette. If I were to move to Red, part by part; what would i need at minimum to achieve the Zero Loss.

My guess (all Red), cassette, rear derailleur, shifters for rear and add front derailleur/shifter to enable it on the rings? How about my DA chain?

Just shifters, rival and up for zero on the front. Red for zero in the rear.

Is it possible to upgrade just the right shifter to Red?

Why would you want to do that?

why not? zero loss in the front and back for $100 less...

yes, OP. You can do that too.

Actually I don't see why there would a problem with that since it's the shifter that has zero loss. I think a Rival bike with 1 Red shifter would be hilarious but in a cool way.

The ultimate in "frugal" performance.

some guys on my team roll with that setup on their crit bikes. cheaper to replace when you crash.

What years does SRAM have for Red? For example, are there 2009, 2010, and 2011 Red shifters, and what is the difference between the years?

thats like buying a nice suit and getting shoes from payless. Yes its possible, yes its cost effective, most people probably won't even notice. but you'll eventually realize you should have just spent the extra hundred dollars

No, you can't just change the shifter to Red. He has all Shimano. The brands use different cable pull lengths.
The minimum change is any SRAM front shifter, SRAM Red rear shifter, SRAM derailleurs.

Correct.

are "zero loss" and "exact actuation" more than just marketing terms?

Possibly.

The Zero Loss is supposed to be immediate engagement of the shifters, no play. The rear Zero Loss on the Red shifter has less play prior to the shift. Exact actuation refers to the 3mm of cable pull when you shift.

To add to this, it's an "exact" 3mm for every cog on the cassette. Shimano, OTOH, has more or less cable pull depending on where you are in the cassette. This is why SRAM's rear shifting is so easy to set up and doesn't give you half the grief that Shimano does.

that's what I thought, so are they automatically self adjusting?

Tell that to Pcad.

I still wonder how anything could be easier to set up than a Shimano drivetrain.
For my TT bike with Ultegra 6700 it went like this:
1) Install derailleur, cassette, shifter, cable
2) Set the tension to fit the second cog.
Done ... hasn't misshifted since.

Does SRAM put it's own cable on or something? Does it auto-tension?

I'm not a SRAM hater, but I've never owned any, either. However, in the thousands of miles of road training, racing, crits, and cyclocross, I've never experienced anything that would make me use the phrase, "half the grief that Shimano does." All my maintenance has been focused on brake and wheels for annual adjustment. Never have I had to focus on the drivetrain. I also use a variety of Shimano drivetrains: 105, Ultegra and Dura Ace, depending on the bike and activity.

All that being said, what is grief that you're experiencing with Shimano?

Thanks! The DA chain? Are the special groves in the cassette optimized for a Red chain? I first thought that had something to do with the overall Zero Loss story. (Maybe I'm over-thinking this, guessing any compatible chain will do.)

All you need are shifters and rear derailleur. If you have a 10 speed front derailleur, it will work perfectly with Sram

Nope.

Right; if I wanted to, I could keep my Ultegra FD, get Red shifters, and use a Sram X0 10sp mountain RD.

Zero loss is awesome on the rear. I came from 6700 and liked it but there was a noticeable play to the shift lever. I have all red short of a Force FD and cassette and the thing shifts fast and smooth. Far faster than the Force stuff.

That said, would I go Red again? Probably not. It is nice to have but really, Force or Rival would suffice and would have been way cheaper to replace. I have scuffs on both my shifters from a low-speed fall (curb hop fail) and can't afford to replace them.

Actually, I have seen single Red shifters on EBay -- the right one I believe.