Weight Weenies

Plenty of reviews out there, so I'll keep this brief...
I gotta say, the new Red looks pretty damn nice out of the box.
I got two sets in last week, and they are simply much classier in person than I had expected.
Really beefy crankset, and the FD, brakes and shifters are all very sophisticated looking.
In particular, new ergonomic brifters look to be a nice improvement.

Better stopping power in a nice package:


Shifters in particular look much better up close and very svelte:


Crankset is super beefy. Whether shifting is as solid as Campy and Shimano remains to be seen:


All in, I am pretty pleased...much nicer than the boy-racer impression I got from online pics.
PM me if you have any specific questions!!

question about the brake,

Is this a single pivot brake? Can you show the back side of these?

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I thought you took it for a ride. Not just slapped them on a desk and took pictures of it. When will you ride them for us?

Similar to the brake review. Not how they function but how they look.

Meh.

So...

Frankie - B wrote:I thought you took it for a ride. Not just slapped them on a desk and took pictures of it. When will you ride them for us?

x 2

CippoForLife wrote:I gotta say, the new Red looks pretty damn nice out of the box.

Sram has no class, no style and I do ask myself : Do some people rate as above because Sram is an American manufacturer? So patriotic thinking in front?

Is it just me who thinks that this crank would be best looking on a MTB and that the graphics (labeling) of the whole group are absolute trashy?

I calm down looking at the pictures of new DA 9000. No wonder Shimano sells ten times what Sram does.

That's a pretty classless comment.
Some people like some things, other people like other things. Let them like what they like. Why bring nationalism/politics/patriotism into this on an international forum for such a universal, non-political, non-anything sport?

I like the SRAM look. Campy to me looks nicer though. Shimano aluminum looks boring

The semi - checkered pattern though looks a bit NASCAR at times, and I could see how some would see that as trashy.

Tons of mails on this forum where we can read about Chinese,Taiwanese "cheap" and somehow trashy components.
No nationalism/politics/patriotism there?
So it is only classless if I do question this forums silence about a trashy product from the US?
I do realize that this discussion will not move people to question the new Sram Red's design and style.
T/fore this will remain my last comment on the new Sram Red.

bura wrote:Tons of mails on this forum where we can read about Chinese,Taiwanese "cheap" and somehow trashy components.

The same people that call those items "cheap" and "trashy" are also displaying nationalism issues. They are not the majority of sentiments however.

bura wrote:No nationalism/politics/patriotism there?

There is some from some people, but why perpetuate it?

bura wrote:So it is only classless if I do question this forums silence about a trashy product from the US?

You are welcome to your opinion on the group's aesthetics and quality. Everyone has their own opinion. Many people like it, both in function and even sometimes aesthetic. It is also not rare to see someone take sandpaper to it and customize it a bit more than you would see on Shimano or Campagnolo. You can see that aspect in multiple ways, both negative and positive. Looking at it from a positive perspective, you can say that a fully functional group at a good weight and comparatively accessible price range isn't too expensive to make people aversive to customizing it. Perhaps there is less of the "idolatry" that we see with other groups, less desire to appeal to social status symbols of possession? A bit opposite of the divisive natures that you are alluding to with nationalism/patriotism and "trashy" products, no?

I have been riding SRAM Red 2012 for about a week now so I will offer my initial impressions to this thread (sorry...no comments about national pride).

First, I will comment on the brakes. Compared to the SRAM Force brakes that I used for a year and a half, these things are WAY better. I think people spent so much time talking about the front shifting that they overlook that the improvements in the braking. Both modulation and power seem to be much better than my previous brakes.

As we all know, front shifting is much better. I am still using old SRAM red chainrings on a Quarq power meter and my old front derailleur was a Force model (we all know why I wasn't using the old Red derailleur). Shifting from big chainring to small chainring is fast and effortless. Going from small to big has been a little more work. At first, I was throwing my chain over the chainrings and onto the crankarms. I think this is because of two reasons. The first (and most obvious) is that I needed to adjust the front derailleur. The second is that I was so used to having to *force* my shift lever in order to make this shift. With the new SRAM Red 2012 shifters and front derailleur, it does not take near as much effort to shift into the big chainring.

The shifters are really nice. SRAM shifters were already smaller than Shimano shifters but the Red 2012 shifters seem even more narrow. I have smaller hands, so I like this a lot. The shape of the brake and shift lever also allow for more room for fingers between the levers and the bottom of the hoods. The levers also seem wider and flatter than the old Red (more like DA 7900) and I really like the feel of it. In other words, I really like the ergonomics of the shifters. (in case it wasn't clear, my previous shifters were old Red).

I can't really tell any difference on the performance of the new rear derailleur but it did strike me as quieter. I am running the same Ultegra cassette that I used pre upgrade.

I do not have the SRAM Red 2012 crank so I cannot comment on that.

Not to start a huge debate, but I am not in love with the graphics on the SRAM Red stuff and I think the NASCAR comparison is justifiable. But I didn't buy these components because of how they look. I bought them because I am very happy with the performance, feel, and weight of these components.

bura wrote:
Sram has no class, no style and I do ask myself : Do some people rate as above because Sram is an American manufacturer? So patriotic thinking in front?

Is it just me who thinks that this crank would be best looking on a MTB and that the graphics (labeling) of the whole group are absolute trashy?

I calm down looking at the pictures of new DA 9000. No wonder Shimano sells ten times what Sram does.

I have no idea how class and style, or a lack thereof, has anything to do with functionality and weight. SRAM works well. Ok, the Red FD wasn't perfect and the pro teams were mostly running Force FDs, but the stuff works. It's also the lightest groupset you can buy. Who gives a crap where the company is located if their gear wins WRT the most important metric on this forum?

I got a full 2012 group on a new bike 2 weeks ago.

I had been riding older SRAM force (and some Ultegra parts).

The new group as been working flawlessly so far. Brakes are improved quite a bit (but I have different wheels so hard to say the reason).

Front shifting is great, and I can run all the gears in the back without rubbing or bad noises when in the big ring.

Levers feel great and changing gears also feel very good. Less slack in the moving parts (maybe my Force equipment was getting old).

It is much quieter than my original Force.

Very happy with the whole sertup so far.

I think the 12 stuff looks better, but I agree that it is still too flashy. It doesn't matter where it is made. Personally, I just prefer the group to be a more understated and without a lot of color and decoration. As for its function, I've never been a fan of the Red group because I thought it was inferior. The fd didn't work, the cassette makes a ton of noise, the brakes didn't work as well as Shimano and Campy and the double tap shifting isn't anywhere as good and precise as the others. I don't know how good the new stuff is, but if they improved it great. But, even if everything esle is on par with the others, I don't like the double tap enough to switch over.

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