Having planned to swap bits off the old bike onto the new bike it now seems a shame to adorn a lovely frame with a tatty old groupset. Merlin seems to be doing some good deals on groupsets and Ultegra 6700 or Force (2012/2013 apparently) seem to be reasonably comparable bets. So which in the opinion of the STW hive mind is better? 🙂 Or would I be better off with a pick and mix approach?

I’ve mostly ridden shimano on road and SRAM on MTB so haven’t got any real brand preference.

darkside –> force

road riding –> I like shimano

“darkside” and “hive mind” –> 🙄

Neither is better. Force is a bit lighter, the shifting sound/feel is slightly different, the shifting action is different and the lever hoods feel different. Out of the above decide which ones you care about most and buy based on that.

For my money it’d be Ultegra. Personal though.

I *much* prefer the lever shape and shifting feel of Ultegra, but I concede that’s a matter of personal taste so best try out and see which you prefer if possible.

IT’s more of a case of which you find easier to operate and like the shape of more. Personally I find Shimano more intuitive to use than SRAM for road bikes but the other way around for MTBs.

Use to the feel of 105 so will probably stick to Shimano… I’ll try and have a go on some SRAM kit though.