SRAM Red Shifter/ Brake Lever

Price Paid:  $490.00 at Emerys

Favorite Ride:
Any above 40 degrees

Bike Setup:
Cervelo, with SRAM RED used on: cassette, rear derailuir, shifters, chain. Ultegra front derailuier, Dura Ace brakes.

Summary:
Goodness, it was soooo easy to adjust to the double tap system. I have to say the machine is wayyy better than me. It allows you to accelerate by shifting so quickly I wish I could muster up the legs to go with it. lol

Strengths:
It is beautiful, light weight, very easy to use. It encourages me to push myself, I love it.

Weaknesses:
Pricey but kewl stuff often is.

Similar Products Used:
Ultegra

Price Paid:  $383.00 at Stealth Cycling

Favorite Ride:
Bow Valley Highway - Banff, Alberta

Bike Setup:
Scott CR1
SRAM RED shifters
SRAM Force deraileurs
Shimano Ultegra brakes
Shimano 105 cassette
KMC X10SL Chain

Summary:
Oh, why didn't I do this sooner?!? There is NO hesitation in the shifting, the shifting is very positive and smooth, and the brake levers are more powerful than the Ultegra units (still with the Ultegra brakes for now).

Hoods are mostly comfortable. I believe that I will get used to them soon enough. Even though I put the shifters in the same spot as the Ultegra Units, they feel like they sit lower. Keep this in mind BEFORE you put the handlebar tape on.

Strengths:
Smooth, very fast shifting
Very light effort
Don't have the 'clothes hanger' wires off the handle bars anymore.
Comes with Jagwire shift cables!!! :-)

Can brake and Down-shift at the same time!! Try that with your Ultegra Setup!!

Weaknesses:
Front shifter - when going from the little ring to the big ring, if I move the lever too far, it seems to get hung up on the rubber boot of the shifter and does not automatically return behind the brake lever. BUT the shift is perfect, even when I push the lever too far.

Rear Shifter - if you're in the smallest gear in the back, and you push on the shifter lever, you go down 1 gear. Small frustration when going downhill, and you've wound out the gears.

Similar Products Used:
Shimano Ultegra, 105

Price Paid:  $400.00 at Ebay

Favorite Ride:
Blue Ridge, Virginia

Bike Setup:
Opus Vivace, Al/Carbon, Easton EA90SLX wheels, Fusion 2 tubeless tires (Stan's), me riding it!

Summary:
RED shifters, used in combination with Dura-Ace cassette and chain. SRAM Rival rear derailleur. This is the combo my mechanic recommended. Fast, precise, efficient. Zero-loss is fantastic. The shifters themselves are "noisy" while shifting, a la Campy, but everything else is noiseless. This is really a great combo. I have been using Ultegra up til now, which are great also. But this is different. I have small hands/fingers and the adjustability of the SRAM REDS is perfect for me.

Strengths:
Fast
Precise
Efficient
Easy to get used to
Weight (even if I'm not a weight-weenie)
Looks (not a priority for me)

Weaknesses:
Price?

Similar Products Used:
Shimano Ultegra

Price Paid:  $450.00 at online

Favorite Ride:
alpine dam, mt. tam

Bike Setup:
2006 cannondale six 13 w/sram red shifters
sram force derraileurs and brakeset, cannondale si carbon crank, reynolds solitude wheelset, fizik aliante carbon railed saddle

Summary:
got the new sram red shifters after using sram rival and durace 9spd. before that. the red shifters are really impressive. i loved the feel of the rival shifters but the red has completely honed the feel of these babies. the slightly elongated brake lever helps with smoothing out the braking and the shifting is very quick and solid. perhaps my favorite improvement over previous model is how fast and solid the front chainring shifting is. I would really have to twist my wrist to get from the small ring to the big sometimes. now it's all done in just a quick flick of the wrist. i really don't use the adjustability factor on these because i have pretty large hands. nonetheless, between the zero loss technology, the elongated brake levers and larger shifter paddles, and the ridiculously light weight these shifters are the best things out there right now. if only they weren't so damn expensive. are they that much better than force? maybe, maybe not. but if you're not shy about throwing down a little cash and want to treat yourself to the best shifters in the world, these are the way to go.

Strengths:
lightweight
longer brake levers and larger surface area for shifter paddles
very quick and solid shifting
look very cook

Weaknesses:
price!!!!

Similar Products Used:
sram rival
shimano 10 spd. ultegra
shimano 9spd. dura ace

Price Paid:  $475.00 at Countrysidecycling.c

Favorite Ride:
Countrysidecycling.com Wednesday night ride

Bike Setup:
Fuji SL-1, Sram Red, Ksyrium Elites and Zipp 404s, FSA carbon bar, Ritchey 4 axis stem. Dura ace pedals.

Summary:
Well I only got about 100 miles on the entire groupo alone. The shifters are just great, I'm coming off of using force, DA 10 before that, and these shift so much quicker.

The shifting on both sides is almost instantaneous, as in there is almost no travel before you feel the click. The front shifter has trim in the big instead of the small ring, I personally like the other way better with force, but I'll be fine. The sprint shifting on the right is so much better when you're in the drops. With force I really had to twist my wrist, which was awkward when doing out of the saddle sprints so I ususaly just used as I would with a Dura ace shifter when sprinting. Now with red you just have to move you're finger a little and it'll work easily when in the drops.

The brake lever is a tad longer too which helps with braking, and the ability to adjust it too is very nice.

Strengths:
Light, Great ergonomic fit, quick and precise shifting. Looks nice. Adjustability.

Weaknesses:
Expensive, not sure why the MSRP is so high, especially compared to Record.

Similar Products Used:
Ultegra 9, Dura Ace 9, Dura ace 10, Force.