pdxtex

hmm, lets see, what do the japanese do really well?? oh yeah, small precision made mechanisms, motors, and gizmos!! yeah, ill choose shimano any day.

JustinHorne

One of the big factors for me wasn't in shifting; I love the solid feel of Sram brakes.

I'd ridden 5600 105 before trying Sram, and nearly every ride disliked accidentally starting to swing the brake lever over while grabbing the brakes in a hurry. Sram's 100% fixed brake lever is amazing to me.

Also, I have small hands in general, so not needing to swing the longer distance of the brake arm makes shifting super easy to me. Shifting down in the drops was always a reach with 105, even with the shims. Super easy with SRAM.

rat fink

I like them all, but Campy disappoints me the most often and I don't want to change to Campy freehubs. I like Shimano and Sram about the same if were talking the two top tier groups of each. I think I would much more readily run Rival than 105, though, and I have found that Sram brifters are more forgiving of bar type when it comes to hood position than Shimano STIs are.

P.S. I like Di2 the absolute best.

roadwarrior

But you don't get the laughs. Which are worth it. Trust me.

Like the guy that brought in a stationary trainer telling us it didn't fit his bike and was rather indignant about it. I looked at the trainer and the locking cylinder was closed. So I opened it and put the bike in the trainer. "Would you still like to return this?"

You can't pay for laughs like that. Moments like that are priceless.

...and I do bikes for fun. I keep my real money in my pocket. Besides, didn't you tell me the owner of the shop that you use drives a Porsche or Beemer or something?

roadwarrior

Apparently you missed the 7900 joke and the huge delay in getting their next shifters to market which provided the impetus for SRAM to enter the road bike component arena. When bike manufacturers, trying to build Shimano spec'd bikes were sitting around with frames and no parts.

ScoJo

That's because he has pcad as a customer.

bonz50

I've had shimano all my life on early 80's road bikes, 90's and 2000's mt bikes... ran across a nice bike for a good price, happened to has sram apex, said what the hell, and I love it... Ultegra Di2 at a reasonable price might move me back though... I'm still a few years before I get my next bike, so who knows what will be out by then...

con

When I raced, years ago, it had to be Campy. It was dependable and you could buy the smallest replacement part if necessary. That was, and is still not the case with Shimano.

For the last few years I was completely sold on Shimano 105, Ultegra and Dura Ace stuff. Then, my two good bikes were stolen a couple of weeks ago and in the process of selecting another road bike I rode a Cervelo equipped with Sram. After a couple hour test ride I was not only sold on the RS frame, but I fell in love with the Sram shifters.

I went with an RS, with Sram derailleurs and shifters and swapped out the crank set to an Ultegra.

I love the single lever shifting, no messing with the brake lever to shift, adjustable reach, and ease of which the shifting can be done, up or down, while riding on the hoods or in the drops.

I don’t think I will ever go back to Shimano shifters.

bianchi10

I didn't think a shimano crank was compatable with sram components?

patentcad

When I put Di2 on my TT bike that RW will have a Tea Party Aneurism.

RT

Bummer about your bikes :-( I do not doubt that SRAM is as you describe, but if you replaced every instance of SRAM in here with Microshift, you would have my experience. While MS does rely on a very small, very discreet lever to downshift, I do not have to move my hand from the hoods to do it and as stated before, I can upshift with any finger without moving my hand. If only MS concealed their cables in the next go around.

P.S. I spent many years growing up in Santa Cruz down by the Yacht Harbor. Great rides.

Rocket-Sauce 

Speaking of SRAM, Nashbar has Red cranksets on sale right now for $276.99 ($10 cheaper than Force!?!) and today only get 20% off with code 46928 bringing it down to $221.59!

patentcad

Campy parts are easy to get and Shimano parts aren't?

What friggin planet do you live on?

tuxbailey

I used both Shimano and Campy. Tiagra came with my Jamis and it still works perfectly. Chorus came with the Merlin and it works great as well. But I find that I prefer the Campy hoods.

con

You talk'n to me?.......If yes, I agree, that was what I meant in my post.

con

Shimano cranks, not a problem

Snapperhead

First bike was Shimano. Didn't really pick it, it just came with it. Second bike is SRAM. I wanted the double-tap shifting of SRAM. I like both. I wouldn't reject a bike equipped with either. The only thing I like better about SRAM is the single lever shifting.

idc

Always used Shimano since I was a kid. Tried a SRAM on a test ride bike but couldn't get used to it, so I stuck with Ultegra 6700.

patentcad

So not planet Earth. Maybe you live in the Campymissimo Ciao Bella Nebula. Because here on Earth, Shimano parts are readily available, and getting stuff like Campy shifter bits is more like acquiring a piece of the Shroud of Turin.

RT

Not sure if this is sarcasm, but if your Campy levers break, you get parts within the lever to repair them. With Shimano you need to go buy new levers, hence the rabid market on eBay.

Nachoman

I was a 7800 fan boy for a very long time. 7800 is a high performance group, at a pretty reasonable price.
Then I got an opportunity to buy a used Di2 group from a good friend. I didn't actually think it could be better than 7800. but it is.

mantis

I don't have SRAM as opposed to Shimano, I have it in addition to Shimano, but I prefer SRAM over Shimano. Here are some of the things I have noticed. This is my opinion, of course, and based on SRAM Rival:

- Love the pivoting shift levers, use this feature constantly
- Doesn't object to cross chaining large ring to large cogs
- Loves shifting (RD) under higher pedal loads
- FD shifts to large ring really fast, if dialed in right
- Although louder shifting, you really know when you are in your newly selected gear
- Hoods are very comfortable and I can do all shifts from them
- Brakes are very smooth with outstanding stopping power
- Chain has some side-to-side flex, but retains crisp shifting ability

wannaride

[QUOTE=bianchi10;12958162]I choose shimano hands down....

Campy Record in my view is still the best for a road bike. I use Dura Ace on my tri bike and it's good but not as smooth as Campy. I road a Sram Red bike once and I had a hard time adjusting although I'm sure I could learn. Sram Red Black looks pretty cool.

twobadfish

I have SRAM Rival on the rear and Shimano 105 on the front. I don't like the SRAM shifter for the FD... too much tension to shift on SRAM FDs

roadwarrior

No, I'll be chuckling. You'll still be slow. And your bike will weigh more.