Shimano GRX, Sram Force or Sram Rival?

Looking to buy a Tempest Gravel bike from Planet X tonight

Now the groupset can be any of the ones mentioned in the title but which should i go for?

GRX is quite new but being Shimano it should be spot on with no issues, not the nicest looking though imo, would cost £1900 for the build

Sram Force, been around for ages, not sure if there are any issues with it, very good looking, would cost £1800 for the build

Sram Rival, again been around for ages, not sure if there are any issues with it, not as nice to look at as Sram Force, would cost £1440 as there is £160 off today

Head says Rival for price, heart says Force, head says Shimano for quality/reliability

I’ve got Rival. Next bike will be GRX.

Sram rival with just the one shifter lever is great smoother than 105 shimano not used GRX.

I have Rival too and there’s nowt wrong with it, but, I would have had the GRX if it was available a year ago when I bought my Tempest. A GRX upgrade may happen in the future.

Force for me, as I don’t like the shimano shifting mechanism, much prefer SRAM doubletap.

GRX, no question.

Seems a big jump up on price from what you can get the Rival one for. You could get another set of wheels!

I have the Tempest with Rival 1, its pretty spot on to be honest, only gripe for me is the hoods where they meet the bars on the underside, feel a bit gappy and baggy but when riding I don’t notice. It’s smooth shifting and the breaks are great, like double tap for the off road (I’d stick Shimano and a double on the road).

Anyway you’ll like it whatever, just been out on mine today and it’s a brilliant bike to ride.

I’ve had rival on my only road bike. Funnily enough a London road from planet X. It’s now been transplanted onto a pinnacle arkose and is around 4 years old. Overall I really like it, but haven’t tried any Shimano road stuff as a comparison.

Only issue is the gxp bottom bracket, but there are ways around that.

Seems a big jump up on price from what you can get the Rival one for. You could get another set of wheels!

I have the Tempest with Rival 1, its pretty spot on to be honest, only gripe for me is the hoods where they meet the bars on the underside, feel a bit gappy and baggy but when riding I don’t notice. It’s smooth shifting and the breaks are great, like double tap for the off road (I’d stick Shimano and a double on the road).

Anyway you’ll like it whatever, just been out on mine today and it’s a brilliant bike to ride.

Not sure what the prices have been like lately though as I bought mine last year, but think it was £1199 or £1299 when I got it? Might be worth waiting a bit?

I’ve got Rival on my CAADX, it works, double-tap is surprisingly intuitive, just like Shimano but with only one lever, little pres is like the paddle, big press is like pressing the lever.

I’m happy enough with Rival that I won’t bother upgrading, but if I had the £££ and was buying a new bike I think I’d rather GRX if it’s as good as the MTB stuff (i.e. not made of SRAM Cheese). Actually no I wouldn’t I’d just stick 105 on it and save the £300 gravel tax Vs GRX810!

Only gripes with Rival are:

Putting a bit of pressure on the shifter lever to get it to shift over just a bit more when it’s caked in mud and a bit reluctant takes some finesse to find the bit between the little click and the big click where it starts pulling the cable.

Like all SRAM kit the mechs are made of cheese and bend long before the mech hanger. Shimano just seem to shrug off the odd twig . I’ve got a spare Rival mech in the garage, it looks new apart from a twig got caught between the chain and jockey wheel on a descent and that was enough to put an imperceptible bend in the cage so now it won’t shift into the smallest two sprockets.

The brakes do something weird where they lock on as the pads wear. Fine if you know it, confusing if you expect them to pull to the bars. Irritating as they seem to do it with at least 1mm of pad left so you’re wasting 1/4 of the pads.

Got force on my new free ranger 1×11 had SRAM years ago 2007 and it was rubbish and have been a Shimano man ever since, went for SRAM force after reading 9 and 10 out of 10 reviews and it seems ok, shifters taking a bit of getting used to but only had it a week 👍

I’d just stick 105 on it and save the £300 gravel tax Vs GRX810!

LOL. Found out!  My justification was that 105 is available in silver.

I have Rival 22 on my Tempest (£1300 I think, 12 months ago). I’ve upgraded the cranks to Red and saved a few hundred g, and swapped the wheels and most of the finishing kit too. It’s a brilliant bike.

The groupset is good but the front shifter takes quite a bit of effort to change up – not sure if it’s just my bike or a general feature of the group. Bit of a problem on some sufferfests through the winter with cold hands.

I’ve had all three in the past three years and wouldn’t have SRAM over Shimano. The shifter feel of SRAM is just rubbish next to the Shimano offerings, it feels cheap and flimsy in comparison.

the front shifter takes quite a bit of effort to change up – not sure if it’s just my bike or a general feature of the group.

Heavier than my shimano road bike, but I suspect thats down to the shorter paddle? I’ve got big hands though so not something Id noticed as a negative, just a feature.

I have Sram Apex1 on my Tripster AT which had over 2yrs & never really got on with double tap, bought from Bike Diacount. Have slowly swapped to DI2 hydraulic eBay & new but miles better. I would go Rival & put rest towards going DI2, better than GRX I would say

I’d take the Sram 1x personally – I much prefer doubletap over Shimano sti’s.

Is Force better enough for the money over Rival? I wouldn’t have thought so – I’d take the Rival and spend the other money elsewhere.

If you get a chance, try shimano and sram shifters (if you haven’t already) – personally, i don’t like doubletap at all (though it’s what’s on my gravel bike) – i find myself mis-shifting far more frequently than i do with shimano.

building a bike from scratch, i’d put GRX on, personally, if i could.

Ohh, one thing worth noting. The SRAM cassette has much nicer ratios in the middle. IIRC it goes 11-17 in 1t steps then upto 28. Shimano goes 1-16 then 18 and onwards to 28.

Small difference that may or may not irritate you.

Is Force better enough for the money over Rival? I wouldn’t have thought so – I’d take the Rival and spend the other money elsewhere.

I’ve wondered that, Even rival gets aluminium shift paddles. which makes this comment a bit odd:

The shifter feel of SRAM is just rubbish next to the Shimano offerings, it feels cheap and flimsy in comparison.

I’ve got (older) DA on my road bike, The DA is nice and there’s less of a sharp edge between the brake and shift lever. You can adjust the freestroke on SRAM but there’s still a lip there. But the DA does have plastic levers which feel cheap compared to the metal ones on the SRAM shifters.

In terms of clicklyness, 6 of one, 1/2 doz the other. Both are great when new, after a few thousand miles on the road and a muddy winter off it both need a new chain and cassette and aren’t quite so sharp.

SRAM if you want to head out on a big ride, Shimano if you want to make it back.

I’ve had about 300 miles on my GRX, It looks and feels like a robust and quality groupset.

I had about 4000 miles on SRAM rival, it looked an felt like a cheap and over priced groupset.

I do prefer double tap though.

I’ve got Rival 1x on my Tempest. I don’t mind it, it works well enough. Can be annoying when you try and get one more easy gear and don’t realise you are already at the top of the block.
Wife has GRX on her Orbea. I’ve or ridden it (bike is far too small!) but the hoods feel nice in the hands and I like the lever pivot point, if that makes sense?
I think if the GRX option had been available last year I’d have chosen it, but more because I prefer the shift method than anything else.

I bought pro carbon evo with force 22 and had never used any Sram gearing before. My other road/gravel bike has shimano tiagra which I use daily to commute.

The force feels really nice and the double tap is good as I’m getting more used to it. Flitting between shimano and Sram messes with my head a bit, but I’d buy Sram road stuff again and am thinking of getting some for my son as I think it would be better for smaller hands…

But the DA does have plastic levers which feel cheap compared to the metal ones on the SRAM shifters.

Assuming you mean the brake lever, I would hazard a guess they are carbon rather than plastic.

I’d just stick 105 on it and save the £300 gravel tax Vs GRX810

Isn’t 810 supposed to be ultegra level (with 600) being 105? Or is that just marketing?

Been pondering this question myself. I actually run both Sram and Shimano on my current bikes, but my experience is with Apex and 105.

In terms of function I definitely prefer the light shift of Shimano on the road, but the secure feel of the double-tap system and static brake levers is a benefit off-road, and on that alone I would happily continue with Sram on a Cross bike.

However, Sram reliability stories are off-putting to say the least. If costs were equal I’d absolutely go with Shimano on that basis.

I am interested in how Rival, Force and GRX differ to what I’m used to. Aside from the clutch mech and grooved brake hoods, what does GRX actually offer over 105? There’s so much hype over it, yet I’m struggling to see what it’s all about. And I’d love to give Rival or Force a go, because the shifting mechanism is allegedly the same as Apex and mine is very heavy (though it has seen better days to be fair).

I hate Doubletap as the lever throw required to actuate the tap is enormous. I always feel like i’m reaching around the bars, rather than just moving my fingertips.

As for GRX: 800 = Ultegra, 600 = 105, 400 = Tiagra.

Aside from the clutch mech and grooved brake hoods, what does GRX actually offer over 105? There’s so much hype over it, yet I’m struggling to see what it’s all about

The hoods and levers are a completely different shape to 105 and are designed to be easier to reach and control on both the hoods and the drops. The Levers are also servo-wave which is both a good and bad thing. more pad clearance, but slightly more bitey. The system is designed to work well with 1* drivetrains and large cassettes and does seem to work well.

I’m using 815 Di2 Levers and and XTR M9050 rear mech on an XTR M9000 11-40 cassette.

The lever pivot position differs between 105 and GRX to give you more control off road.

Only the grx800 stuff has servowave and only the grx800 di2 has the different pivot point. Essentially it’s ultegra/105/tiagra to 800/600/400.

I hate Doubletap as the lever throw required to actuate the tap is enormous.

I think the throw is actually less on the double-tap (I was comparing my bikes side-by-side the other day). But I completely agree with the feel (it’s my biggest gripe) and I think it’s down to the position of the lever, that you only have one contact point from a longer leverage, combined with the fact it’s quite heavy and takes a lot of force.

Shimano is effortless in comparison, requiring nothing more than a light flick from the hoods.

Both manufacturers have experienced reliability issues so wouldn’t pick based on that. SRAM stuff does feel a bit flimsier though, but then again, it’s lighter. The Rival 11 groupset was also downgraded from the 10 speed stuff; cheaper chainset and no more carbon lever blades. It still works fine though. Would personally go for the SRAM and then put the money saved towards some decent finishing kit/wheels/tyres.

Assuming you mean the brake lever, I would hazard a guess they are carbon rather than plastic.

No the shift paddle. SRAM has an aluminium paddle, my (admitedly older) DA has injection molded shift paddles.

I hate Doubletap as the lever throw required to actuate the tap is enormous.

I think this illustrates why you really need a test ride, or even months on either to decide what you prefer.

The thing I really like about SRAM is I end up climbing with my finger floating on the shift paddle as you can pull it to the bar seperate to the brake lever. Then as you climb its easy to click up/down. Whereas shimano you have to reach out to the brake lever each time.

I’ve just swapped some 105 STIs for GRX810 levers that I bought cheap(ish). Before I fitted them I was somewhat sceptical about the differences in lever shape, but first ride out they are noticeably different – to the point that I’m not sure why (apart from marketing…) they don’t just change the levers on the pure road STIs to match the GRX shape. Braking seemed sharper, but given that the system was freshly-bled it’s unfair to do a back-to-back comparison.

For Shimano -v- SRAM the lever operation and feel is personal preference. We have 2 bikes in our house with SRAM 1×11 (one is Apex, the other Rival). I find both noticeably more tricky to set up the shifting accurately after a cable change when compared to any of the Shimano (105/GRX810 1×11, ‘pure’ 105 2×11, Ultegra 2×11) road setups that we have here. And that’s with both SRAMs running relatively small road-focused cassettes and even after a recent swap of one to a new frame.