SRAM vs Shimano

I rode Sram yesterday for the first time. I really couldn’t believe the difference, never had such good shifting it was amazing. I used to balk at the prices, but they are getting quite close what with the yen going bonkers, so ‘m switching asap…

Are there any drawbacks to SRAM i don’t know about?

p.s. not a troll, but a genuine question – not meaning to offend any Shimano lovers either!

you’ll have to switch all your bikes?

As a devout shimano man, i am now a worshipper of all things sram – what great shifting!

My only complaint with sram is they are made of cheese. Went back to shimano.

I rode a SRAM equiped bike last year and I found the switch from Shimaon to Sram much easier than the shift back. however, I didn’t swap my bikes over as there are 4 shimano equipped bikes in the house so it would have been a pain. I’ve heard that the X0 stuff was a bit fragile, but I’ve no first hand experience long term

Have got SRAM on all my bikes (bar one). It’s great! I’m waiting for the kit on the Shimano one to die so I can replace with SRAM. I admit I’ve never used X0 – always X9 or X7.

I’ve still got a bike with Sachs Plasma from 98 (admittedly the first rear mech broke just before Jenny Copnall ran me over).
I’ve never found that the front shifters are very good but the rest seems to work pretty well.

Have X0 on all mine (3 when they are built up…). I’ve used it for years and the only complaint I’ve got is the familiar one of jockey wheels being rubbish. The price is a bit much if you pay top whack, but I’ve seen some very good deals around, so less of an issue. Haven’t used Shimano shifting for years so can’t comment on them.

Agree with comments above. The SRAM stuff is not quite as adept at taking the knocks but shifts better, especially when you introduce a bit of mud into the equation, so its X9 on the xc bike and new Saint on the DH bike for me for the best compromise.

Have had the same experience as Kuco; tired of bending X9 rear mechs so went back to Shimano when SLX came out.

Reckon Shimano better than SRAM at the budget end. I’ve never tried the other end.

Suntour, Compag etc are there any more out there?

Mate of mine accidentally put an 8 speed casette on a nine speed bike using sram. It actually worked! Shimano does work in the same situation, I guess it’s that 1:1 actuation ration in action.

I use x9 shifters and rear mechs on two bikes, the 1:1 ratio is far superior and cant fault them. I have whacked the mech a good few times without problems of bending, I personally dont think there any weaker than shimano. If your worried about such things use a mech protector from spesh or m.parts and you should be trouble free.

What are you comparing with? an old shimano drivetrain with sticky cables, worn cassette and that’s not set-up well vs a brand new Sram drivetrain :P

I’ve got an carbon bling X0 shifter and rear mech sat in my parts drawer.. I just have no desire to put it on anything ;)

If i’m pedalling – Shimano, DH – SRAM, although now Saint doesn’t require the through axle mount.. I can finally ditch SRAM for good..

brand new cable on my shimano set up, compared with few months old demo bike with Sram on it.

no contest from what I experienced yesterday

Still have SRAM on the tandem, only on there because of the length of the cable run and 1:1 pull.

Tried on on my normal bikes – for me, X9/X0 is not a patch on XT/XTR for shifting performance – although I accept that it’s worth changing cable inners and outers every few months on Shimano to keep it really sweet. Kicks SRAMs arse though, in every performance respect.

Thought about Red of the road bike to replace D-A (weight reasons only, and I do like the shape of the hoods). Tin foil outer ring (annecdotal only) but a quick spin around the block on a shop’s demo bike showed a few noisy combinations on the chain cassette. Felt like Campag from 5 years ago in terms of shifting noise.

I run a mix of both SRAM and Shimano on my bikes.

I use SRAM shifters on all my bikes, Shimano compatible ones where required (my Trance has SRAM Attack shifters and n XTR rear mech) as I prefer their action.

SRAM mechs can be a little fragile though, I’ve knackerd two (one on my DH bike and one on my 4X bike).

It’s the 1:1 actuation ratio of SRAM that makes it shift better than Shimano that still uses 2:1. In lamens terms what that means is that for each mm of cable movement on a SRAM equipped bike the rear mech will move an equal amount of mm’s, where as a Shimano equipped bikes rear mech will move 2mm for every mm of cable movement.

The 2:1 cable actuation ratio was developed in the dark midst of time for road bikes with down tube shifters. It was done so the rider could shift through all the gears on the down tube shifter without the shifter having to move more than 90 degrees from the lowest to the highest gear.

All though I use SRAM on my bikes the technology (apart from 1:1) and build quality is superior within Shimano groupsets when compared to SRAM. It’s just that 1:1 makes such a difference in shifting quality, especially in the muck, that SRAM gets the nod from me.

i had sram for the last 3 years then test rode a bike with the new shimano on

then got home and bought all new shimano drivetrain

miles better in my humble

personally i’d lean slightly towards SRAM (running x9/x0 kit currently) but i’ve found xt/xtr to be equally as good when i’ve used it. /shrug. doesn’t really matter all that much to me

I don’t think there’s much to choose between them at equivalent price points. If you’re getting a massive improvement switching from either SRAM or Shimano to the other then I think you haven’t had your gears set up properly in the first place.

x9 jockey wheels (top ones) wear out quickly, and are expensive to replace. i use x7 mechs for that reason.

have used x5.x7.x9 X0 rearmechs… no real difference when you are ridiing IMHO
Use x9 shifters on all bikes work a treat once set up correctly
Jockey wheels are a tad pricy
Dont get a carbon x0 rear mech unless you want to break it
Alloy x0 is fully rebuildable … i bent mine to over 90 degree shatering both jockey wheels and riping the jockey wheel cage out of the top mech and still rebuild it easily…you cant do that with Shimano or lower SRAM stuff.

I think the people on hear that are saying that Shimano has superior shifting to Sram equivalents have never used Sram. I used Shimano mechs for nearly 10 years (mainly XT) before using Sram and I have never went back. I am not anti Shimano, as I still use there cranks and front mechs and they perform excellent, are good value for money, especially HONE/SLX/XT! Everything else, cassette, chain, rear mech and shifters is Sram and for good reason, they work better, especially in Scotland (mud & wet). I wouldn’t use it on a proper DH bike though, I would go for saint or something a little more robust.

Shimano XT M770 rapidfire shifters, M771 front mech and M772 rear mech. The best shifters for the money period! Alloy paddles, quick, positive, quiet. Look damn good too.

Shimano have been at this game a long time now. I find their stuff works.

I’ve got X0 on one bike and XTR on three others, I find the clunky shifting of the Sram gets quite wearing after a while and start to long for the silky smooth silent XTR shifting.

I’ve got X0 on one bike and XTR on three others, I find the clunky shifting of the Sram gets quite wearing after a while and start to long for the silky smooth silent XTR shifting.

Don’t change gear so much then?

I have X.7 on a bike, XTR on another, the 9.0SL on the 3rd and… only X.7 is soft and dodgy at times. The best and lowest maintenance bike is the 4th one – a singlespeed.