I was SRAM on mtb but have gone back to Shimano lately and much prefer it.
Shimano everything over SRAM. [s]SRAM designed for dry dusty California trails.[/s] Shimano designed in Japan with a very similar climate to ours. Mud.The only bit I like of the SRAM house stuff is Rockshox. It used to be Fox only for me but with the delicate nature of Fox these days I prefer the more robustness of Rockshox. And the price.
+1 (apart from the dusty bit. IIRC SRAM started in Chicago and now has a base in Colorado - both get rain. Happy to be proven wrong on this.)
^ What hob nob says ^
SRAM's cable actuation always made them better in bad conditions than Shimano IMO- even a tiny amount of sticky cable knackered Shimano shifting. But luckily Shimano [s]blatantly copied[/s] innovatively changed theirs to be basically the same as SRAM's.
Shimano. It's what it came with.
Sram mechs and shifters, but to mind no one has bettered Shimano's chainsets yet for value and ease of fitting.
Are the folks out there who don't really care?
Gearing for me is a distant fifth or sixth behind stuff like suspension, brakes, wheels and the like. Think I even reach for my dropper these days before a gear. Really don't give the smoothness of shifitng much thought.
Sram all round (cross, road and mtb) as it makes my kit interchangeable so if I brake a mech, no problem, just use another one from the other bike. I prefer the agricultural feel as well, shimano always felt a bit light to me.
Campy on my campus bike because its an 80's raleigh and thats what it came with