yup.

My experience has been that the shimano is way more fussy than the sram.

Having run 3 sets of X0 on my bikes for longer than I exactly remember now, the worst thing about the system is the jockey wheels. Once dialled in, I’ve always found shifting stays sweet and the whole thing quite un-fussy. I think the actuation ratio is part of it, but also cable routing – where I’ve run it with full length outer, I’ve never had a problem at all. I haven’t used the current generation of Shimano stuff, so have no idea, but the performance of my SRAM stuff doesn’t give me a reason to look elsewhere.

With one system you push a lever it moves a wire which changes the gears.

The other system is completely different you push a lever it moves a wire which changes the gears but it has a different name on it

I have Shimano on one bike and SRAM on another and they both work just fine

buy the cheaper one its that simple

can’t say i’ve noticed a huge difference, I’d probably go for SRAM on looks if they made a rapid rise mech, but they dont and my old LX mech is still refusing to die.

my setup:
Sram rocket shifters, shimano mech’s

Shimano stuff is faaaaaar more durable than Sram.

Sram’s 1:1 set-up is great.
It’s cable routing is great.
Ergonomics of shifters is great.
Build quality is woeful.

sillyoldman has it, SRAM stuff works OK, but you’ll buy three of everything in the time it takes for Shimano to wear out. Replace the cables every year for a sweet running system

As usual, horses for courses then. I smashed the rear mech off my Pace 303 a few years back. Sheared off the mech hanger, the X0 mech is still going strong on a different bike – the same one has been on 3 different bikes, so seems plenty durable enough to me. Same couldn’t be said about that frame.

not an answer to the question, though. Just the kind of self-righteous, self-congratulatory not-even-a-tangent post that makes STW what it is.

I think the thumbies are 1:1 if that makes any difference?

Whatever system you use, regular cable maintenance work pays dividends. And to that end I’d recommend middleburn cable oilers every time so you can flush the dirt back out of the housings after every ride, replace it with a new load of teflon impregnated GT85 or Weldtite, and say goodbye to misclick misery.

Got SRAM on 2 bikes and Shimano on one. SRAM changes excellently and is fit and forget through any cr*p. Oldest mech is probably 4 years old (?), essentially I’ve never had to change one yet. The Shimano is forever jumping around and is generally very attention-seeking. I know what I’d buy again!

mudplugga – Member
Rapid rise mechanically is far less stressfull on the cassette.

Sorry, but i dont know of anyone having over stressed cassettes due to having a normal rise mech.
All this moaning about shimano being fussy, makes me think people are blaming shimano for their own poor maintenance. Either that or im just lucky with my setup!

I’m a confirmed Shimano user (off road at least – for roadieing I’m a Campag man) and I can’t say that I’ve ever really had any major shifting issues (despite riding in some awful conditions) but I do run full length outers.

That said, SRAM’s 1:1 is a mechanically superior system – it’s quite simple really. With a 1:1 system, you pull the cable more, meaning that cable stretch has less effect and also any drag in the cable makes less difference. It’ll never happen (IMO) but if Shimano went to 1:1, that would be inherently better.

I’ve been using SRAM X9 stuff on my bike for the last 6 months, before that it was XT. Riding most days for the last 4 months on pretty rocky terrain and it was wet and gritty here for most of January and early Feb. I’ve found that the SRAM stuff stays tuned better which I put down to the 1:1 actuation. The shifting is always easy and quick. I’ve had a few issues with the shifters not clicking back after the change which I’ve solved by opening them up and cleaning / greasing them. I’ve put the rear mech right into the spokes once and it sprung back into shape nicely which I was impressed about, I honestly thought it’d be knackered. The jockey wheels though… rubbish! They’re completely knackered and the chain is rubbing on the side of the mech cage because they move about so much on the ‘bearings’. I’ve got a new set arriving today I hope.

So all in all, I think they’re better than the XT stuff I was using before. I run them fairly far in on my bars which works perfectly for me. The jockey wheels are the real weak point I think.

I don’t do this with my Shimano, it works fine.

So with this 1:1 thing, do you have to move the shift lever twice as far? If not, then it’s fairly academic isn’t it since movement at lever translates to movement at mech in the same proportions regardless of the levers in between. More cable movement might make it work with crappier cables but keeping them tidy is so minor a chore that it’s not worth taking it into consideration when shopping for groupsets imo.

I like SRAM and don’t give a f*** what people here think. 😀

I don’t like SS’s, niche steel rigid’s, or Pitch Pro’s. Suck my fat one.

Agree with those who say SRAM works better, have switched to it on all my bikes.

Also agree about the dodgy jockey wheels though, had two out of three bottom jockey wheels seize in X9 mechs.

Otherwise seem durable enough though, and one survived an excursion into my rear wheel.

Interested to hear other people’s SRAM durability issues?

MBUK liked gripshifters in the issue i bought for thier shifter review,but they said they can be a little bit slippy when wet and splattered with mud. But i think they said they’re also pretty light and easy to hand,and you can trim the front mech to avoid chain rub.