Shimano Review

Shimano gear is more expensive and slightly heavier than SRAM's offerings although it performs much better. While SRAM has, without the shadow of a doubt, better ergonomics, it also shifts far worse. Shimano's shift levers simply have too much reach to use comfortably and will hopefully be revised shortly. The shifting performance and durability is impeccable, however I will have to note that when I bought 7900 the right hand shift lever broke after 3 shifts. It was warrantied and I had a new lever in less than a week though. Before I put SRAM on my cross bike I had a set of previous generation Ultegra that shifted wonderfully and had been used on two bikes before. It still worked magnificently well, the only reason I got SRAM on my bike is that my dad took off a set of Force from his bike and I wanted to get rid of the annoying cables sticking out of the sides of the shift levers as I kept hooking them on things during cross season. If you're racing your bike on a budget or simply want the lightest go with SRAM, but if you want shifting quality on your bike then I would suggest Shimano. If your not racing, no doubt about it go with Campagnolo. My Campagnolo review should be up in a few days and I will place a link to it here when I'm done.

Sram and why its aweful

So to start out my unbiased reviews I will flat out tell you that Sram sucks. Although the ergonomics are slightly (very slightly) better than Shimano the feel of shifts is clunky and not very smooth at all. Big ring shifts are like playing Russian roulette with all but one slot full of bullets. Sure it'll shift eventually, maybe, if we're lucky, nope still not, oh there it is finally. While it will rarely drop the chain even under full power while well adjusted, it also will likely not shift at all for a very long time. The shifting on Shimano for the big ring is far better and snappier. Also one thing to worry about for cyclocross racing is durability. For the 2010 racing season I went through 2 sets of shift levers, sure its cheap and light, but it is also highly fragile and susceptible to mud damage. While wearing gloves it it also possible to wedge your fingers between the shift lever and the brake lever, it happened in a race, trust me it's possible. All in all go with Shimano or Campagnolo, or go with Sram I guess. It's your choice, but you'll probably regret it when it it brakes and goes in the garbage can.

Hello

Hello.

I'm a 17 year old bike racer that goes through a lot of parts so I decided that I should make a helpful review site to let you know what is and isn't good from an objective standpoint.