I have a 2010 Sram Red Groupset (brakes, shifters, derailleurs) on my road bike. My rear derailleur busted last night and I need a replacement. The replacement is $280 vs $100 for the Force. Aside from aesthetics. how does the Force rear derailleur perform compared to the Red? What are the Red’s advantages? This is for 10 speed. The shifters are 2010 Red.
Michael
I have used red and force for years on several bikes. You will not notice any difference and I believe the only “advantage” for the red derailleur is saving a few grams on your bike.
I have a 2010 Sram Red Groupset (brakes, shifters, derailleurs) on my road bike. My rear derailleur busted last night and I need a replacement. The replacement is $280 vs $100 for the Force. Aside from aesthetics. how does the Force rear derailleur perform compared to the Red? What are the Red’s advantages? This is for 10 speed. The shifters are 2010 Red.
I have both (2010 too), no difference… I would get the Force, of course.
The shifters are what make the biggest difference between Force and Red. Blindfolded, I highly doubt anyone could tell a Red rear derailleur apart from a Force. That said, you have all other Red components, so putting a Force back there is kind of ghetto, but it’ll work fine. 
I have always opted for force rd, rival fd.
I wish I would have saved the money and skipped Red 22 and just gotten Force 22. I can’t tell a performance/shifting difference between the two.
I have a 2010 Sram Red Groupset (brakes, shifters, derailleurs) on my road bike. My rear derailleur busted last night and I need a replacement. The replacement is $280 vs $100 for the Force. Aside from aesthetics. how does the Force rear derailleur perform compared to the Red? What are the Red’s advantages? This is for 10 speed. The shifters are 2010 Red.
Michael
get Sram Force (or Rival like i did)
the zero loss is really nice, but that’s a function of the shifters, not the RD, so a red shifter paired to a Rival or Apex RD will still have zero loss.
nicest thing about Sram Red RD is that you can adjust the screws using allen keys (i think on all models, certainly was the case on the 2012 edition)
There is virtually no performance difference other than weight. If you still want to match your other components get a used Red derailleur. NO reason to spend $280. You can find ones for $100-$125. Heck I have a newer gen aeroglide 10spd Red derailleur for $160:
I picked up a used Red rear for 100 bucks and it has been flawless…don’t ask me about the stupid POS red yaw front though!
Thank you so much for advice and feedback. While a Force rear derailleur would have been just fine, I bought a used Red derailleur. For vanity sake, it matches the rest of my components.
Michael
I picked up a used Red rear for 100 bucks and it has been flawless…don’t ask me about the stupid POS red yaw front though!
You were talking to wacomme right, so what’s the deal with the yaw fronts? I’m planning to install one in a couple weeks…
so what’s the deal with the yaw fronts? I’m planning to install one in a couple weeks…I’d like to know as well, all of mine work quite well.
Sorry, nothing against sram really. Just bit of a rant there because I have had shifting problems with the yaw fd lately…It’s a set up issue that I just can’t seem to perfect since I had to adjust it for new cranks (in other words, I’m 99.9% sure it’s user error because it was fine before I started messing with it). The yaw seems to be so finicky in the initial set up compared to my Shimano gear. I have a Force fd on the cross bike that never gets shifted cause I suck so I might just swap them and be done with it haha
Thank you so much for advice and feedback. While a Force rear derailleur would have been just fine, I bought a used Red derailleur. For vanity sake, it matches the rest of my components.
Michael
Yes! Vanity should be the #1 priority in any bike component selection.
I picked up a used Red rear for 100 bucks and it has been flawless…don’t ask me about the stupid POS red yaw front though!
You were talking to wacomme right, so what’s the deal with the yaw fronts? I’m planning to install one in a couple weeks…
Do not touch the limits before setting it up!!!
Notice the exclamation marks above ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The yaw FD is easy to get right assuming you do not touch the factory settings, it is still picky but assuming you do it exactly right it will be very fast. On the other hand you can do what i did and adjust the limits before installing and spend 3-4 hours trying to get it right. Only to have to go into a shop which took 45 minutes to get right. Once it is set it is exceptional, but just do it right the first time. I set it in Jan this year and have around 7k miles on it, really great setup and no chain rub at all. The front shifts are good under power but the biggest attribute is the lack of chain rub. Dura ace still shifts better under power but i cannot eliminate chain rub like i can with the new Yaw setup.
just an FYI, the Red RD has ceramic bearing in the pulleys. that and the carbon cage make up the majority of the price difference between force.