Force 22 vs. old "new red/ red 2012"

[ajz07]

I have a new project bike that I am building up. I tried Red back in 2010 and wasn't in love with the shifting. But I hear there have been many marked improvements since then. I also had it paired to rotor q rings.

Now considering trying it again, and also making the jump from 7900 to 11 speed. Seems force 22 is way cheaper than Red 22, and even cheaper than Red 2012/2013. I know Force 22 is a bit more weight than Red 2012/2013 (yes I know that Red 2012/2013 is only 10 speeds), but aside from that and the lack of some carbon bits, is there really any other difference (save for the 11th cog). Shape seems the same. I believe it has zero-loss shifting... tried searching for any real difference and couldn't find it.

[gavingould]

Force 22/Red 22 are basically "new Red" with 11th gear imo. unless you absolutely need to save however many grams the difference is, i'd just go with Force 22.

if you like 7900, you might just want to check out 9000 or 6800 Ultegra for 11sp.

imo the shifting hasn't changed much between all the SRAM groups except for the introduction of Yaw front derailleurs (present in new Red, and the 22 groups) - i still have original-series Force shifters on my road bike, they work fine. latest series Rival on my cross bike are not much different, i think the trim positions are changed... i don't worry about it enough for it to matter. with the new Yaw there's no trim anyway.

i don't think either company is "better" but they are different enough that ergonomics of one will definitely work better for some people as opposed to the other