SRAM The Attraction ??
 

Brief History.......Use to race back in the late 80's early 90's on a Trek 660 w/ Ofmega, Modolo, Sachs and Mavic components. Graduated to a Basso Lotto w/ full Campy record with the God awful Delta brakes which were works of art but deadly stoppers.

Fast forward to now and have a stable of 8 bikes with 2 road bikes which get their share of a 350 mile/month workout. Both CF bikes with one full shimano DA/Ult. Neuvation M28 wheels the other full sram force w/ dura-ace wheels. I never thought I would ever like sram over shimano due to it's ergonomics and ker-clank audible shifting.

I find myself on every ride choosing the Force over the perfect as can be shimano rig. I find it precise, quik, dependable and very high quality. So much so that I am going to get new Red on a yet to be decided bike.

Has anyone made this change from shimano and/or campy without really putting a finger on why?

I switched to Red when 7900 came out, and the simple reason was 7900 sucked. Big time. I had ridden Shimano for years. Like back into the 70's years. I also have a Rival bike.

There was a lot of *****ing and moaning about front derailleurs out here, but I experienced none of that with my stuff. Shrugs shoulders...

I switched over to SRAM in 2007 with their Rival group. Then onto Force followed by Red. I just felt like it was more responsive when changing gears and the hoods felt better to me. Shimano is fine but felt very vanilla to me by comparison. I am surprised though on the comments about the 7900 sucking. I did try it out but never owned it. Seemed fine to me.

You are such a staggering idiot.

Good grief, I spoke to the local Sram rep last week who immediately acknowledged the new Red group addressed the well known FD issues. All that being said the new Red stuff does appear to be the shiznit, even if it's no Di2.

I went the opposite way. When I first got back on a road bike it was with Rival. It was ok. Rode and tuned my fair share of bikes with both SRAM and Shimano (bike mechanic here), but when the time came to buy a new bike I went with Ultegra. IMO SRAM has always had a cheaper look and feel to it. I have not ridden new Red so I cannot comment there, but I've also grown much more used to using the two levers for my shifting. The long single action of SRAM never suited me. This is just my personal preference.

I like the way SRAM levers feel in my hands and the positive, solid clunk when I shift. I also have the ability to think ahead about my shifting, so don't really care for electronic shifting.

Ergo - SRAM all the way!

Haha. Love how you have to add that lil jab. :)

I have both 2012 Red and 7900DA. Both work great. Either system, I can shift under power, simultaneous and not worry. (Chain catcher on both).

I switched to SRAM early last year after riding 105 for about a year. Love my Force setup. Ergonomics of the SRAM hoods feel much better to me and i love the doubletap. All future bikes of mine will have SRAM.

Have to say I like the routing of the shift cables on SRAM better than new Shimano. But I haven't had enough face time with SRAM to pass judgement. If a new frame fell into my hands, I'd probably build it up with Force.

I rode shimano for the last 2.5 years. Had my Sram group now for about 2 months. While the shimano was reliable, very durable as I know I put it through hell, and quite dependable, it doesn't shift anything like my sram group does. Sram shifts faster, easier, and is buttery smooth. It does make a "thunk" when it shifts, but I like that. It's reassuring.

Defend, defend, defend...Ad infinitum

I've ridden Ultegra on an aluminum Trek, a dedacciai Viner and an 853 Lemond Buenos Aires for the past 8 years. I just got a like-new 2010 Madone 4.7 built up with SRAM Force a few weeks ago and so far I'm very happy with it. Did 60 and 30 mile rides this weekend and I'm getting used to the long throw of the front derailleur with the little lever. I think this Force group could be a bit better, but I'm wondering if I'm just used to smaller cassettes than the one that came on the Madone. I like the Force brakes quite a bit. I can't speak to the relative comfort of the hoods because the Madone has a short and shallow bar where my Lemond had the dip before the hoods. I never liked those Ultegra hoods really.