registered usar

their opions about it? A lot of the early reviews seemed to give it priase from what I've seen. It's been out for a good amount of time now...maybe we can get some good feedback now.

I'm asking because I found a used Rival groupset locally for $480...seller is offering it for sale because he is upgrading to Force. I'm building up a bike and this about the same price as a Ultegra so I'm thinking about it.

Dubbayoo

Although i use Rival with an FSA crank and Shimano chain I would say pass on the FD with no trim adjust. I find it hard to dial in with a compact. I would say the brakes are possibly mushier than 8-speed D-A but good. I carry a lot of weight and live in a hilly area so I need strong stoppers.

If I were you I'd wait for the new SRAM Red to come out then buy a likely cheaper Force group with the Red FD. Otherwise you might be better off with Ultegra. I like the new Ultegra SL thats on the way. I'm going to get that triple crank.

lvleph

My FD has trim adjustment. In fact, I thought all SRAM had trim adjustment. It is hard to find, but it is most certainly there. So far I like my SRAM Rival a lot, but I have not had it that long and can only compare to Shimano Sora and some 20 year old Shimano.

chipkbw

I've put about 2,000 miles on my rival groupset. The rear shifting is awesome same crisp clean shifting as on the mountain bike. The front is adequate I haven't found the lack of trim to be a problem at all. I have zero problems with chain rub. The one complaint that I do have about the front shifting is that the lever throw is a bit on the long side and as a result can make the front shift a hair on the slow side. That said I'll probably upgrade to Red brifters and with the sounds of the specs on them that will eliminate my only complaints.

lvleph

I will definitely agree with the lever throw being too long. But that is the Lever and not the FD.

Can someone link me to the Red specs?

UT_Dude

I've got a crap ton of miles on my Force. If you can't dial in the front shifiting, you're not doing it right. It's never been a problem for me -- I can cross chain anything and not get chain rub.

Rear (and Front) shifting is great. Super smooth and fast. Double tap is (in my opinion) the best control system out there. I find the brakes to be much better than the Shimano stuff.

GuitarWizard

I run the Rival group, with the Force crank...and aside from the crank loosening up (not sure if it was installer error), I love it. Took me a few rides to get used to it at first....but since then, I haven't looked back. The brakes are awesome, BTW.

Kyle in Maine

Somewhat offf subject, but can you run Rival brifters with a SRAM mountain rear derailleur?

- Kyle

UT_Dude

They're both 1:1, so in theory, yes. I don't know about in practice, though. I don't really see why not, though..

lvleph

I found a nice spec sheet on Red and others.

It looks as if the FDs are identical for Rival and Force.

StanSeven

That pretty much sums up my experience as well. I've also got 10 speed D/A and 9 speed with Koolstop pads. Both Shimano brakes work better (stop faster wothout a mushy feel). Also if you have the money and can wait, I would go with the Red.

nitropowered

No you cant. Its slightly different even though its 1:1

Proximo

My guess is dial_tone's problem has more to do with the FSA crank than him not doing it right. I'm pretty good at setting up Shimano front derailleurs but had no end of problems getting a friend's Roubaix Ultegra front derailleur and FSA SLK triple crankset shifting cleanly. In the end, I got it working decently but it is no where near as precise as my RS with Ultegra triple crank and Ultegra derailleur. When you mix component brands you take your chances.

Dubbayoo

I've had my FD adjusted by no less than 5 different mechanics with the same result so it's not just me. Either it's too hard to get onto the big ring or the chain throws shifting to the small.

lvleph, there most definitely is not trim adjustment. The whole reason SRAM is coming out with a new FD is to add trim adjustment.

Proximo

That's exactly my experience. Combine that with the SLK's propensity to having the left crank arms come loose and the Megaexo bottom bracket's *very* short (as in < 1500 miles) life span and my advice is to avoid FSA cranks like the plague.

UT_Dude

There is trim adjustment -- only in the little ring, though.

Maybe it's your chainrings or crankset... I've dialed it in on two bikes, and not had a problem with the lack of trim on either of them. And trust me, i'm picky...

bsyptak

I thought trim was done by the shifter, not the FD. No?

UT_Dude

Yeah, but that's the same with everything. You can run a Shimano FD with the SRAM and still only have little ring trim.

cuda2k

Correct. Front shifters just move the amount of cable pull. It's up to the shifter to determine the amount of pull and where the stops are.

Volfy

I just started riding Force brifters/FD/RD with Campy Record crank, DA chain, and Ultegra cassette - how's that for a mongrel set?

You'd think if anybody is gonna have Force FD problems, it'd be me. Not so. The FD took a while longer to set up than the rear, but once I got the following dialed in, it shifts as good as any setup I've recently ridden.

1. FD height or gap to big chainring teeth - spec per Sram Instructions (min gap 1mm, IIRC).
2. FD alignment - parallel to chainring teeth.
3. Min and max limits.

The Record crank does have a slightly different gap between the chainrings, but since it's a double, the FD min-max travel adjustment took care of that easily. I wouldn't mix brands if I am doing a tripple.

My Force brifter does have a trim function (it's not in the FD itself). It doesn't work as well as, say, the Shimano version. The first click off the small ring is the trim, which moves the FD a bit too much before settling back to the appropriate location. The "overshoot" rubs on the chain a bit, but it's not a big deal. Works fine to me.

The double tap action does take a bit of getting used to, but I far prefer it to both Shimano and Campy. The feel of the brifter grips is closest to the old school brake only levers I was used to.

Next, I am going to put Sram Force on my vintage Pinarello. Italian bloodline be damned. Well, at least it too will have a Record crank.

Volfy

just to clarify. The big chainring does not need a trim function. Set up properly, the FD will rest at a position that doesn't rub on the chain regardless of which rear gear it's on. This is because when the FD is on the big ring, the chain is closer to the upper end of the FD cage where there is much more clearance.

OTOH, when the FD is on the small ring, the chain is at the lower end of the FD cage, where there is less clearance for the chain to move around. Also, the small ring is not aligned with the rear cassette as well as the big ring, so the chain naturally has to "curve" more on the small ring.

This is why the trim function is ONLY OFF THE SMALL RING.

The SRAM Force Instruction does say it has a trim function, though it doesn't decribe much of what it does or how to set it up.

sjumper

Once again, I have had zero problem with my Force FD/ front brifter. I haven't missed a single shift since April with it. After initial setup, I haven't made any adjustment to it. That being said, I ride in the big ring about 99% of the time. On the steeper "hills" around here, I use 53x23 or 53x26. No chain rub in those combinations. In the rare occasion when I do use the 39 ring up front, the shifting has been spot on to/from the big ring.

One thing I have noticed about the RD is when installing the rear wheel, it can be a little difficult.

I have Rival brakes and they work well. I think they might be a little stronger than the Ultegra brakes they replaced.

Volfy

Yes, but worth mentioning is that obviously the derailleur min-max adjustment screws do limit travel at either end of the movement range. For double cranks, the limit screws largely determine FD travel ring-to-ring.

richphoto

Well stated, I feel the same. except for the long throw, does not need to be that long.

kiteboarder

I'm getting a new bike in a week or two with SRAM rival all the way. I wanted to subscribe to this thread, but I don't know how to do it without posting. So here's the post. Sorry. I'll be sure to leave my feedback once I've put a bunch of mile on it though.