# Why does Thor perfer 7800?



## skygodmatt (May 24, 2005)

I noticed Thor placed second in today's stage. Congratulations.
I also wondered why he is riding 7800? The hood shape perhaps? 
Interesting.


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## Getoutandride (Sep 1, 2008)

Being honest the 7900 has really dropped in quality, while the 'shift' still feels the same, the actual lever has a much greater plastic feel to it, the old solid feel of the shifter is gone. 

The cable routing runs much smoother with the 7800 too, the cable angles with the external routing are much more relaxed than with the under bar mounted cable 7900


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## garbec (Mar 3, 2006)

The 7900 and the S2 / S3 models don't always want to work well together with regards to how many times the cable and housing have to bend. Between the bends at the bar and then the way the cables have to route into the frames top tube, there is a lot going on compared to 7800. Fewer bends = less friction while shifting = quicker shifts...

I recently switched from Red to 7900 and i love it....


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## natedg200202 (Sep 2, 2008)

One reason I heard was that the older 7800 shifters work better with the rotor eliptical chainrings that are used by the Test Team.


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## Getoutandride (Sep 1, 2008)

natedg200202 said:


> One reason I heard was that the older 7800 shifters work better with the rotor eliptical chainrings that are used by the Test Team.


I dont think its so much a matter of the shifters working better, on a 'normal' frame the 7900 works fine with elliptical rings. 

The undertape routing of the cabling and then the sharp angle from below the bar to around inside the top tube creates a large amount of drag in the line leading to ghost shifting, its sometimes hard enough to adjust the FD to accommodate for the rings but with the drag its almost impossible, and like I said before, the quality just isnt there this year


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## ewitz (Sep 11, 2002)

The bend required inside the downtube of the S2/S3 to hit the internal cable stop for is also an issue.


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## Comer (Jan 13, 2009)

I just sold my S3 with SRAM Red, it shifted like ****, especially the front. The red was excellent on my RS as well as my old SLC (S2) which I originally had 7800 DA. Both great groupos.

I have DA 7900 on my new bike Giant Defy Advanced 0 and I must say the DA 7900 front shifting is amazing, but the rest of the groupo isn't that impressive. The shift/brake levers have a really cheap feel to them, as stated above they feel like a lot of plastic is involved.

Overall Red and 7800 are better groupos.

Getting a groupo to shift properly on the S3 was a challenge.


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## mtbbmet (Apr 2, 2005)

The FD does not work with the rotor cranks. That is the major issue. It is compounded by poor cable routing on the Cervelo's. Also, the team does not have a component sponsor, so he could run Record if he wanted to. But 7800 is cheap like borscht, so that's what the team buys.
I find it funny that it's Shimano's quality that is questioned here. No other frames on the market have this issue, so shouldn't it be a Cervelo issue?


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## skygodmatt (May 24, 2005)

I run 7900 on my R3. 
It shifts and feels perfect just like 7800. I did run the shift cables around the back of the handlebar and not the front to reduce the cable angles. Also, I am running Gore cables and housings. 

On my S2, I am running Sram Rival shifters with gore cables. I ran the housings over the top of the stem and then down into the holes. This way, the bends were good. I checked cable friction when done and it was low. 
My S2 shifts just wonderfully too. 

The only thing I have not tried is running 7900 with my S2. 
Too bad I hardly ride the S2. It is true that it is a faster bike anytime your speeds are above 20-25 mph. After 25 miles, I am ready to get off. My body always wants to grab my R3. I really ADORE that frame and love the stay flex and can ride it for 5 hours.


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## Comer (Jan 13, 2009)

You must not have read my post, I blamed the poor shifting on my S3.



mtbbmet said:


> The FD does not work with the rotor cranks. That is the major issue. It is compounded by poor cable routing on the Cervelo's. Also, the team does not have a component sponsor, so he could run Record if he wanted to. But 7800 is cheap like borscht, so that's what the team buys.
> I find it funny that it's Shimano's quality that is questioned here. No other frames on the market have this issue, so shouldn't it be a Cervelo issue?


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## Getoutandride (Sep 1, 2008)

mtbbmet said:


> I find it funny that it's Shimano's quality that is questioned here. No other frames on the market have this issue, so shouldn't it be a Cervelo issue?


I might have came across giving off the wrong message, Im not saying that it is shimano's fault that the 7900 isnt great with the Cervelo frames, infact I would go as far to say that I think the new cable routing on the S2 and S3 is unnecessarily hard and it should have been left as entering the downtube. 

My comment about the 7900 was simply that as a groupset, it does not have the mechanical feel of the 7800, it still shifts well (Granted Im not a fan of shimano at all!) But the lever body is made up of alot of plastic for example.... and that can be felt too- the Di2 is slightly better but not much either.


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## Specialized6000 (Aug 22, 2009)

maybe you guys should post some pictures of where your cables are?


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