Weight Weenies

So I have this chance to purchase either the 2013 Cannondale Team bike (SRAM Red) or the Di2 bike spec'd the same as the c-dale website. The question is, what do I go with? Having ridden Campy for the past 14 years with one brief racing season in 2010 on Di2 I'm a pretty loyal Campy guy. That said Di2 11speed doesn't make my heart stop, especially watching a former mate go down in a local ride costing him several hundreds of dollars in repair bills (rear mech, cables). So am I crazy to be contemplating SRAM?

(obviously cost between the two bikes is different about $2K)

Have you ridden a Di2 bike yet? I would say give one a test ride to see if you would be happy with it (I'm sure you would). Same with a SRAM Red bike, see if you can test one out first. I have a SRAM Red bike and love it. Great ergo, lightweight, love the shifting. Others hate SRAM/Red due to being too noisy, not as refined as Campy...etc. I would hate to steer you wrong, that is why I think a test ride of both would be helpful.

Also if you are racing and woried about crashing, any reason why you don't race on a CAAD with a cheaper mechanical group?

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I switched from Record to Red a several years ago , No regrets at all
I get to try all the New groupos , still no regrets.Great Performnce price & weight

I'd personally go with RED. I currently use it on my Parlee and it works wonderful. I have friends with Di2 and when it works correctly, its very quick and responsive... but more often than not, it's causing them problems and headache. In the long run, I think RED mechanical will give you less headaches and cost you less out of pocket now, but also cost less in the long run.

Thanks for the quick replies guys'. To the first poster, yes I spent a short season on Di2 in 2010 (got the bike in July) and it was great but I sold the bike to recoup my cost in September. The Di2 worked well enough, no complaints but I didn't have it for very long so I can't offer that solid of a review (put about 3000km on it max). While I didn't experience issues, I've heard of guys having serious problems with shifting or battery failures. It seems from what I've heard through others is somewhat echoed here where when it works it's kick ass but when it doesn't it really is a pain. I test rode the 2012 EVO Team bike with Red and a 2013 Caad 10 with Force recently logging about an hour on each. I was surprised at how intuitive the switch over in shifting was from campy. It certainly wasn't campy but really what is? I'm leaning towards the red bike and with the cost saved between the two I was also thinking of adding the Caad 10 Force in there for crits and ugly training days.

I wish however that the campy bb cups for BB30 were more compatible with C'dales - I have four buddies with no end of problems trying to run campy cranks; creaking, noise, fit, alignment, etc.

I guess the question now is - what is the longevity of sram components? Do they last as long as campy?

Is your team sponsored by Cannondale? If so, you should be able to get a CAAD10 for a great price and build it up for rainy days and crit as you mentioned. That might be your best bet. Get a Evo Red and a CAAD10 for close to the same price as Evo Di2.

casper wrote:

I guess the question now is - what is the longevity of sram components? Do they last as long as campy?

Lots of warranty for SRAM amongst the riders I race with. Campy? Not so much. Forget using a Campy crank with BB30. Just get a SISL crank or a Rotor and proper Stronglight or Praxis 11-Speed. Get a frame, and build it Campy to suit. That's what I did.

I switched form Campag to red....loving the RED
Run a DA cassette and the red is nice and quiet

Buy the Di2 bike strip it sell the parts and use the money to buy Super Record. Problem solved

I vote for Sram.

Here are my reasons:
1. Wheel availability. While your Campy wheels won't work with either, there are many more wheels out there that will work with Sram, so you can find a second set used more easily or borrow from a teammate more easily. New 11-Speed Shimano stuff is going to take some time to get out to the market.
2. I have been told by several people that they find Sram to function sort of like a hybrid of Campy and Shimano. I can't really comment as the one Campy bike we have in my house is old 8-speed Mirage.
3. Sram works pretty well. It is cheaper than Di2. I've used it for four years now with zero issues, and those who have had issues say Sram has been quick to respond with warranty replacements.

casper wrote:I wish however that the campy bb cups for BB30 were more compatible with C'dales - I have four buddies with no end of problems trying to run campy cranks; creaking, noise, fit, alignment, etc.

I use The SISL crank on all my personal Bikes, Great crank, no creaking, noise. Fit, alignment, problem solved YMMV

casper wrote:I guess the question now is - what is the longevity of sram components? Do they last as long as campy?

I compare my experiences on record and Red, I had no issues with either,except 1st generation red front derailleur was to flex y, 1st generation cassette was noisy ( shifted great)

I'm having a similar debate between building an evo nano w/ Red or going with the Di2 full bike. I've been running red and force for a few years with only minor issues but the allure of di2 and the internal battery is quite appealing. I've scheduled a ui2 test ride to make the call.

I took the Caad 10 Ui2 out for a rip during a demo day a month back and I wasn't overly impressed compared to my previous experience on di2. The Ui2 was heavier and while the shifting response was quick (couldn't tell the diff btw ui2 and di2) I did notice a difference between my ability to shift record mechanical and ui2 (ui2 being slower). I also noticed that the ui2 didn't trim as nicely as the di2 front derailleur. So I guess what I'm saying is if you are going to compare Red to Di2 try to find a di2 bike. Also note that Ui2 electronic parts (fr / rear derailleurs) are bigger and more bulky than di2.

Thanks for the heads up on ui2. The test ride was definitely interesting. The front shifting was a revelation, but the rear didn't seem like anything different than my existing Sram Red. However, I really liked the braking and the hood shape. The evo test ride was great as well, so I ended up ordering the di2 Evo.

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KH1 wrote:Buy the Di2 bike strip it sell the parts and use the money to buy Super Record. Problem solved

Bingo. Let someone else have the problem of electronic shifting that is still in infancy stage.