Description Built for serious and competitive riders who hammer on their gear day in and day out, the SRAM Rival gruppo delivers the same features and functionality of Force but with different materials and finis...
Summary: Shifts occur very quickly and are quiet if you reduce pedal pressure before shifting.
Shifting under full pedal pressure results in clunky shifts.
Downshifting of FD to small chainring has a lot of resistance and a noticeable click sound. You can feel the pressure release from the lever. At first I thought I broke it.
The rear shifter has the neat feature to downshift up the 3 gears.
Double click downshifts 1 gear.
Triple click downshifts 2 gears.
Push lever all the way downshifts 3 gears.
The chain gets noisy when cross-chained on large chainring (50) and 4 largest cogs (26, 23, 21, 19). Similarly on small chainring (34) and 3 smallest cogs (13, 12, 11). Of these combinations, I only use 50x19 from standing starts.
Brakes are very good, not too sharp and easy to modulate.
The levers felt better to me when mounted with at a slight up angle. Initially I tried using them with the tops level. This made them feel as if they were too far away and they hurt my hands in the soft spot between thumb and index finger.
Strengths: Quick shifts.
Available multiple downshifts in one motion.
Brakes.
Weaknesses: The lever resistance when shifting to the small chainring.
Similar Products Used: none
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Bike Setup: tst ti frame w/mavic cosmos wheels ritchey carbon fork, and alum stem and seatpost
Summary: I used this grouppo to build a ti rd bike I have had in my garage for few years. The shifter is trick, but figured it out within a few miles of the first ride. Once it was tweaked, had no problems.
Strengths: I have switched most of my mtn bike to Sram, and like it better than Shimano. This new rd group is winning me over as well. Works as advertised, and have had no problems.
Weaknesses: As with most 10 spd set-ups, took a litle work (threading derailleur cables into shifter, and adjusting brakes).
Similar Products Used: shimano 105 and ultegra
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Bike Setup: Race Face crank, seatpost bottom bracket, handlebars, and stem.
Summary: This grouppo requires some getting used to as all commands are done through one lever. A soft tap and the rig will upshift, a deeper tap and the downshift will occur. The lever floats and the brake lever is left for just braking.
Strengths: The floating lever allows you to shift from the drops (in a sprint position) Very useful for quick shifting in race conditions. Hidden cables under the bar tape are a nice touch. Brakes are handsome and light but are very powerful. Easily recognizable, many stares and questions. Cassette is missing teeth, as part of the design to make shifting even quicker. Shop wrench thought the cassette was broken. Looks trick.
Weaknesses: none as of yet.
Similar Products Used: Shimano, Campagnolo
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Summary: I have ridden the Rival Group (sans cranks) for a full season now...~8k miles. Overall the shifting has been very reliable and required very little adjustment once set up. The brakes are strong and modulate well. Shifting is intuitive after one or two rides (coming from Shimano) and becomes natural after a week or two.
Strengths: Crisp, reliable shifting. Strong braking. Light weight. Good looks (I prefer hidden shift cables).
Weaknesses: The rival logo's on the brake levers rubbed off over time. Otherwise, not very many
Similar Products Used: Shimano 105/Ultegra.
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Bike Setup: Specialized Roubaix Expert/ Full D/A Mavic ksyrium ES
Summary: SRAM Rival came standard on Specialized Roubaix Expert. I have been unhappy with this product. It does shift crisply and I like the idea, but it may require some redesign. I find that the chain hits the large chain ring and causes a rattle in the four/five highest gears. This can be partially solved by switching to a Dura Ace chain which decreases the noise quit a bit.
Strengths: Nice Hoods, Nice idea.
Weaknesses: Lack of real trim adjustment, hard to fine tune. SRAM chain rubs large chain ring and rattles in first five gears. Although this is common for first two gears in a 10 speed product, in my opinion it should not happen any higher on the cassette.
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