x7 front shifter has started playing up now not returning on top of x9 rear mech problems. Don’t want to start a debate over which is best but I’m off back to shimano. Merlin are doing an slx gear set comprising of mechs and shifters for £95. Got xt on an old orange hardtail and its never gone wrong.

i always use shimano mechs

2010 orange crush came with sram 🙁 2011 has shimano

Same here on my 3rd rear mech in 3 months and right hand shifter is starting to play up, any more issues and I’ll be moving back to shimano…. I see one if the German bike sites ate selling whole slx 3×10 groupset (cranks, shifters and mechs) for 200 very tempted

Love my SRAM. Bit like Burger King and McD’s eh? Both do the same job but people have a preference.

Don’t want to start a debate over which is best

So what is the purpose of this thread?

Only ever used Shimano. But I ride with a group of six or mote riders on a wed and nobody is happy with SRAM. Mainly X7 & X9. Set up easy but don’t last long enough.

Every sram shifter i’ve had has started sticking after a short while, i’ve just taken the cover off and put a bit of grease in and never had any further problems. Even with this still think sram is far better than shimano, less hassle and greater longevity but shimano is smoother shifting(for a week or two until it needs adjusting).

ive had the same problem with shifters sticking a wodge of grease cleared it up for a while have to keep striping and cleaning regularly which is a pain in the nads. if next shifters no better ill be going back to shimano.

Sram is cheap junk.

Fair point Nick

my fs is x9 and my hardtail is xt, love the feel of sram shifting, just like the clunk telling me its in. but then again i hate changing the cables, and the fact i have seen about 20 faulty x9 and x0 mechs in the past 2 years and never an xt.
always recomend shimano, but part of me prefers sram

never flirted with sram, and my pals run sram.
Constantly i’m told that my sex life would improve if i had sram.

Shimano is already on the bike… it would cost more than is worth spending to change the way it “feels” to change gear.
Sod that.

yup.. found the bikes in winter with X9 sram had more problems than those fitted with SLX. my guide bike had a sticking shifter lever, too.

adjusting the tension on a rear mech isn’t time consuming or much of a problem.

i like sram and i like burger king.

I like Sram and real food 😉

I’m more of a big kahuna burger man

New to Sram, love the positive shifting, hate the rip-off spare parts.

Have given up on any mountainbike components ever lasting a decent amount of time, so my MTB is now fair weather only, which will hopefully extend the life of the 2×10 X7 drivetrain.

shimano is like the aston to the tractor…on is smooth and works,the other is agricultural,clunky and doesnt work as well.Having xx and xtr on both my mtbs i feel i can comment

Well it was gonna be slx but for 50 quid more I can have xt. Is it worth it ?

I’m more of a big kahuna burger man

Bloody singlespeeders! 😉

Well it was gonna be slx but for 50 quid more I can have xt. Is it worth it ?

The extra money buys you better looks (subjective) and about 150g weight saving over the whole groupset.

Put it this way, SLX is remarkable kit, even a few years ago I wouldn’t entertain running anything less than XT (and nothing but XTR for shifters and rear mech!), these days SLX works as well as the top stuff it’s just a bit heavier.

I went XT on the grounds of already having XT brakes on the bike I put the groupset on, and my vanity wanting it all to match. To be honest though, SLX would have done perfectly well.

And yes, SRAM mechs and shifters are poo! They feel like a Fisher Price “My First Groupset” compared to the slick shifting of Shimano (especially now it’s 10spd).

Had X9/X0 on my bike when I got it. Pretty quickly replaced with (old) XTR/XT. Still running perfectly 2 years later…

I must be going wrong somewhere as the 6 year old X0 rear mech on my bike is still working perfectly well as are the 4 year old X0 shifters.

I like Sram and real food

Wimpy?

One more vote for SRAM – solid feeling shifting.

Home made bean burgers over food chain burgers cooked by spotty teenagers.

I keep trying to go back to shimano, but I just can’t get on with the mushy vagueness of the shifters.

My SRAM stuff has been very reliable. I’ve got 4-5 year old x9 shifters still going fine. The best thing though is that loads of people sell it on cheap or even give it away. I just Hoover up all these parts and keep my bikes running for peanuts! For instance, why spend £12 on new jockey wheels when someone is selling a virtually brand new x7 mech for £15! 🙂

I’ve used X7/X9 on various bikes for at least 10 years and can genuinely say that I’ve never had a problem with reliability or longevity.

In fact at the moment I’m changing my hardtail over from Shimano to SRAM…..

I’ve had XT and XTR on previous bikes, and while it’s very good I prefer the more positive shifting of SRAM. I always found it too easy to overshift on rough terrain with Shimano.

I’m more of a big kahuna burger man

“That is one tasty burger!”

Yes I hate how my X9 mech and X7 shifter have cause me no problems in almost 4 years.

I went through 5 or 6 Sram mechs before switching back to Shimano. Shimano is the winners choice.

Both are working for me at the mo.
& Burgers Got Soul – Mustard & pickle burger.

I like sram on the road bike but have seen (including my own) too many broken sram rear mechs on a mountain bike

all shimano products are made to VIA standers sram is not..hence its shit

sram road
shimano mtb.
KFC 3 piece variety meal over here

I’ve got SRAM on all my bikes other than the road bike. Completely happy.

being an ex shop worker i wouldn’t touch sram with a bargepole! it’s made out of cheesy alloy and bends/snaps, and is over machined which encourages bending/snapping, the brakes are a pig to set up/service by comparison with others. it only got on so many bikes OE because it was sold cheap as a package meaning:-

“yes you can have a good price on rockshox if you take our crappy isis/powerspline rubbishy chainsets/bottom brackets and poor avid 3 brakes and we’ll chuck in the x3/5 stuff for your low end bikes”

my 2p

frankly shimano’s ad campaign is correct “Shimano works”

What a stupid thread.
Surprisingly, different people like different brands.
Shock horror.
Some of the comments are just plain stupid I’m afraid.

Going to sleep now before riding my bike tomorrow.

I think those who like SRAM are just trying to be different. Okay, their kit can look nice with customisable bits, but shimano are best at the gear shifting thing.

I work as a bike mechanic. I sometimes taste a wee lump of sick in my mouth when mounting an SRAM equipped bike in the workstand. 😈