# First ride on SRAM today : a praise of Rival's brakes



## Svooterz (Jul 29, 2006)

I have bought a used Cannondale frame + look forks off ebay recently and decided to go on a full SRAM build. I went with Rival and I've been looking at my new bike for the last 2 months... And also at the huge piles of snow around here and that made it impossible to ride.

Anyway. There's still loads of snow around, but the road was pretty dry today so I strapped in and went for a first ride.

SRAM is impressive. Going from Tiagra/105 to Rival is a huge improvement. The shifting has a better, more mechanical feel to it and there's no real difference in noise. It shifts better under load and I seem to have less trouble keeping track of the cogs I'm in, 'though that's just my brain and not the system itself.

So far so good. Everything spins, shifts and does what it should. The frame is noticeably better (i.e. stiffer yet more comfortable) than my Giant OCR too - love the ride.

However, the one thing that has most surprised me is the braking power. WOW! The Tektro OEM brakes I had do not come close to this. I got used to them and thought they had got better with a bit of wear... But this is just not the same game. The first time I "pulled the trigger", I happened to pull just too hard on the levers and it whipped me to a very brutal stop. Sounds like a bad experience, but I was glad to find out that REAL road brakes CAN brake! A weaker grip on the lever makes me able to modulate and slow down better and faster than I ever did.

This new gear simply makes me want to ride more, and I already wanted to ride every day. I don't know yet about really being faster than before - I guess that will come with training, not with components - but I sure do know all this braking will make my rides safer, and that is honestly the biggest plus to my purchase.


----------



## MatLad (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks for the info. I am thinking about betting a bike from gvhbikes.com with the SRAM rival group. Good to know that they are working for you. Good luck on that snow melting.


----------



## MarvinK (Feb 12, 2002)

I really like GVH, but you should check out the Competitive Cyclist deal on a Ridley carbon frame w/Rival for $1899, too:

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=PRODUCT&PRODUCT.ID=4957


----------



## MatLad (Mar 29, 2008)

MarvinK said:


> I really like GVH, but you should check out the Competitive Cyclist deal on a Ridley carbon frame w/Rival for $1899, too:
> 
> http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=PRODUCT&PRODUCT.ID=4957


Yeah, that is a smoking deal. I would love to have that ride, but I originally was only going to spend a $1000 on a bike. Even going up to $1200 is pushing it for my recreational use.


----------

