Giving up on SRAM...

[benb]

I just bought some Ultegra 6600 shifters for $180 on Ebay... to replace my SRAM Rival ones.

Final straw was the front shifter acting wonky lately. (on top of the rear that has been intermittently jamming all year.)

For some reason now my front shifter only has 2 detents, as opposed to 3. No big deal if I ride in the Big ring, but highly annoying in the little ring as I now have no trim, whereas I used to have 2 positions in the little ring and one in the big ring.

I will have to swap out the deraiullers but I'll have a bunch of stuff to sell so it's not going to be that painful. Hopefully the brakes are compatible with Shimano levers.. if they setup the throw to be specific to SRAM levers that'll be pretty annoying.

I had already swapped the cassette & chain for Shimano parts earlier in the year. (And I had posted up that I had to replace my front deraiuller last month)

That's great SRAM shifters can be rebuilt. Problem being I have not found anyone who is willing to rebuild them.

I wish I'd tracked mileage.. no way I've put 10,000 miles on these shifters. Closer to 5.

No way I could justify spending the money to buy another set of SRAM shifters personally, I can't see why I would reward them with a Force/Red purchase when my Rival was so disappointing.

[vqdriver]

sucks to hear that. sram groups' longevity/durability was pretty much the only unanswered question i think being available for only a couple years. have you tried their warranty service? if so, i'm guessing no luck.

but fwiw, as long as you're into it, i'd change the brakes too. i thought the procedure for changing pads on sram brakes were a pain? besides, it'd be easier to sell the sram stuff as a set and you can't ever go wrong with shimano brakes.
i would have switch back to my DA brakes which are lying around unused, but i can't bring myself to disrupt my chorus group.

[benb]

Yah you're right the SRAM brake caliper does make changing pads more difficult, at least on my F3 fork I have to remove the caliper to change pads.

I am a few months out of warranty but it doesn't matter anyway, even though I haven't actually crashed I have raced.. and the SRAM warranty is voided by racing.

The finish on both brakes has deteriorated though.. and the front one's quick release for removing the wheel has started to get crunchy too. We will see whether or not I keep them. I'm trying not to spend money right now. (getting married next summer)

It was not a good day, I got 2 flats today too. :(

I have been real amused at most of the reviews.. most of the glowing reviews on say roadbikereview.com are from people who have just barely bought the components.

[PaulE]

about your experience with SRAM. I only have about 500 miles on RED, and it will be a long time before I get anywhere near 5,000 miles on it. The front brake is a little grabby and noisy. I adjusted the pad toe-in once and it went away but now it's back. I'm going to stick with the RED so I hope it holds up.

The RED is nice, and I was looking for a little variety, which I got. But for me, Dura Ace 7800 is much smoother and quieter and the ability to trim both big and small ring is more important to me than RED's lighter weight and hidden shift cables.