Due to Shimano's move to 11spd (Ultegra, I wouldn't spend the money on D/A), I picked up a set of Rival shifters with an X-9 clutch derailleur for my cross bike this year-  I have 3 sets of 10 speed wheels and probably 5 cassettes.  

Double Tap was not that hard to get used to.  I wouldn't opt for the no trim click, but I use the big ring fairly infrequently on the cross bike.  One nice advantage is that the shift lever will pull without the brake lever....so if you're descending or sprinting you can shift with your fingers wrapped around the drops (photo).

The only thing I'd suggest is research the advantages of Force over Rival....from what I can tell, there's not much.  There's supposed to be the "zero loss" but I don't notice any play in my shift levers.  
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Ridefour15 wrote on 01/08/14 at 12:57am:



Sounds like the Shimano stuff has been pretty good to you.   

ive run RED on my road bikes for about 3 years now and love it. Ive also ran full Rival and some Rival/Apex mix on one bike, and all have very little slop in the mechanisms and are very mechanical feeling. I just bought a cross bike with new 105 stuff on it, and i can say that the front shifting is much smoother than my RED, but thats partly because of the Ti derailleur cage. 

Depends on what you like, the shifting on SRAM isnt hard to get used to at all. I wouldnt go back to Shimano on a road bike just for the better front shifting if that tells you anything. Borrow a buddy's bike with SRAM and take it for a spin. I personally like the firmer, more mechanical feeling shifting so that i know for sure where im going. In some instances Shimano shifts so smoothly/lightly that i have missed shifts in the past.

I can really only concur with others.  I spent several miles on a friend's ride with the Rival components (Ultegra on my bike).  I personally liked the double tap once I got used to it.  Liked not having to move the brake levers.  Also liked how there was a very pronounced "click" when shifting gears in either direction with the SRAM product.  My Ultegra stuff feels very polished and smooth though.  I honestly would go with which ever set I could get the best deal on if replacing existing product.

Ridefour15 wrote on 01/09/14 at 2:02am:

As long as your cables/housing and chain/cassette aren't the problem, I'd flush the shifters with some spray degreaser.  That's an easy fix for a lot of the older STI that gets gunked up and misses shifts.

I've got a 7800 D/A grouppo that's 8 years old with +10k miles that's still ridiculously crisp.  If I could run the shifter housing under the tape, I'd run them on my race bike.

The "mechanical feel" description was spot on.  Took it for a 3 mile spin tonight to tweak shifting and will be commuting to work with it tomorrow.

Overall, simply riding is far smoother than it had been previously.  Shifts sometimes have a bit of a lag (particularly upshifts), but I'm hoping cable stretch and some adjustments over the next few days will sort that out.

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That's actually Forte tape from performance.  I had the lizard skins tape previously and loved it, but I needed something quick yesterday and it was only $12. After this morning's commute I think I'm going to be switching back to lizard skins soon enough, it's much comfier.

First ride impressions this morning were good.  Bike felt so much smoother and shaved five minutes off my commute but I'm sure that's placebo.  Nice not having to worry about dropping a chain anymore, something that started happening on my 105 setup all too much the last two months.

I have two days of commuting on it, so about 40 miles total, so far, and I don't think it took me more than a few miles worth of shifts to get used to it.

Requires a bit more effort than my old 105 setup did, but I'm not sure if that's because the shift cables are routed under the bars, the 1:1 Sram ratio, or if I just set something up wrong.  Shifts are very accurate though and pretty snappy once the cables settled and I made some tweaks.


Which model number is the 2nd generation DA?  7800 was the one that was out the same era as my 5600 I believe, although I've barely been able to follow the DA numbering since DI2 was introduced.

How are you liking the 11spd stuff?  I considered it, but it was a few hundred dollars more expensive than 10spd and I would likely have needed a new rear hub as well.

EDIT: Figures, 11spd groupsets without cranks just popped up on eBay about $20-30 more than I paid for my 10spd group.  Ahwell, I'll just keep telling myself that my wheel wouldn't handle it and I'll feel better about it