Rebuildable levers? That’s a plus.
[quote=Rusty Piton]Say, wanna use my Faggin frame for that build?
It’s a sick frame.[/quote]
I love how rusty has turned into this sly used car(bike) salesman type, popping in at just the right time to inform you how perfectly his inventory would suit your needs.
You’re telling me. I’ve got a dead Sora sitting about 8 inches away from me right now. I’m thinking about taking it apart to see what/why it won’t do anything anymore.
so
when i upgrade from 7spd shimano 600 with downtube stuffs, i should go for sram rather than sticking with shimano, eh?
[quote=toast]so
when i upgrade from 7spd shimano 600 with downtube stuffs, i should go for sram rather than sticking with shimano, eh?[/quote]
do you have the 600 brakeset? i’ll give you 40 bucks for it. i love those sexy aero brakes.
yea, but it’s going on the frame that i’m getting in the mail in the next day or two
Yes, SRAM is technically rebuildable, but so are Shimano levers. The problem is that neither SRAM nor Shimano sell replacement parts, so if a piece of the lever is broken, you’re still fucked. Maybe SRAM will start offering parts and rebuilding diagrams in the future, but they’re not now.
I’d heard from a local shop rat that you could get SRAM bits through BTI. You’d probably know firsthand though, whereas I’m just doing the whole hearsay thing.
Actually, now that I look into it, it would seem as though Red is rebuildable, while Rival and Force require non-replaceable parts in order to fix the shifter mechanism, should that be broken. It would seem as though I am wrong, and parts are available however.
From my perspective, the primary differentiating factor is the shape of the hoods. I’m guessing you should ride what feels best, but it’s going to be hard to figure that out without putting a couple hundred miles on something. From there it’s all weight and appearance. Sram is great, but it’s not like Shimano indexed bits don’t shift well.
Edit: Pricing a set of red shifters RIGHT NOW!
First off… Sram has a service program that is better than rebuilds in most cases. If something is crashed or otherwise broken your lbs can get a replacement lever for well below normal wholesale. Sram is encouraging shops to keep a set of each of the three levels in stock to facilitate a fast turnaround.
- Break lever.
- Go to shop get new one for cheap.
- Sram sends replacement to shop.
- Everyone wins.
Their almost no questions asked warranty has been a blessing too.
Anyway… yeah love my Red but with some minor quibbles…
- I really don’t think GXP is a great bottom bracket system and even with the ceramic bb the red cranks don’t even come close to Ultratorque, Shimano, or my BB30 cannondale cranks for bearing seal drag. I just don’t trust a system that relies on you torquing down the cranks until the arm bottoms out on the spindle splines. There will always be some slight variance in bb shells that will produce variable results. The preload based system of Shimano and the wave washer based ones of bb30 and UT simply work better.
- The crank does not feel as solid as the three other cranks that I have used this year on road bikes (Chorus UT, 7800 DA, Cannondale SISL). No matter how I adjust things I can force a bit of rubbing from the chainrings on the front derailleur in a few too many gears for my liking. I’m no beast of a rider so when I encountered this the red cranks went on Ebay and Duraace went on the bike (until I got the new BB30 frame a couple months back). However a RED crank IS cheaper than those so I guess you get what you pay for.
- Brakes. I really like the way the modulate but I wish they could have a bit more of a solid feel. Functionality is acceptable but they just feel mushy compared to 7800 or the Chorus lever / Mavic caliper setup on my other road bike. I may end up putting some 7800 brakes on there to see if it feels better.
- Chain/cassette noise. Yeah… the Red Cassette is noisy. Rival/Force is not much better. The red chain works much quieter on an Ultegra cassette and I have had even better luck on customers bikes using Shimano chains as well.
- Not that this is an issue on most road bikes but the Red powerdome cassette is a BAD idea on muddy cyclocross courses. The lack of openings between cogs prevents mud to be cleared through the cassette and leads to CRAPPY shifts and in really bad conditions lots of chain slipping. Then again why would you want to fuckup an expensive cassette on a muddy course anyway?
- Ceramic pulleys… pure gimmick. Why would I want to have to rebuild pulleys when I can just shoot tri flow in them? I’m lazy!
What I do like… everything else…egronomics, shifting (loud and precise), cable routing, break pads lasted a decent amount of time (and can be replaced with shimano).
If I was going to outfit a bike based mostly on function but with a bit of cost saving in mind I would go with Red for shifters, Force for derailleurs, 7800 for brakes, 6600 for chain and cassette, Cannondale SISL for crank (or 7800 or 6600 if you still have a threaded BB shell).
Rival is a killer deal for the money but I would pick the FSA Gossamer crank as a good substitute. The preload design they ripped off of Shimano is way better than the Rival GXP. I think the chainrings are better now too.
Excellent info. Sadly, I will never have the funds to put any of it to use in the near future.
i think i will refer back to that post someday. summer, maybe.