Im just curious of the opinions out there about the two and who thinks which one is better and why.
Oh this is going to be fun.
Both great. Go with the system you prefer.
Dura-Ace 9000 is better. Shimano’s XTR mountain bike group is also better than anything SRAM produces.
For road, I think the Shimano STI shifters are better. For tri, because of bar end shifters, everything pretty much shifts the same.
If you have ever seen pictures of the Shimano factory, they really do treat Dura-Ace and XTR items in a special manner. They have a separate production line in a clean-room type environment and the quality is really high. So if durability and a high standard of quality is the most important thing to you, then go with Dura-Ace. If you just want lightweight with slightly less expensive, go with SRAM Red.
As stated, on a tri-bike, the mechanical versions will pretty much function similar;y. So it can sometimes come down to what group you think looks better, or which one you can get a good deal on. For road, the shifters really do function and feel different, so you might want to try both and pick the one you are most comfortable with.
Sorry, my apologies. Should of mentioned that I was talking about road.
Nothing wrong with either, if it’s my money and my bike, I’d go with Dura Ace 11 times out of 10.
For me Dura Ace; no question. All high end stuff is nice so in reality you win either way.
To answer the why, I’ll just keep it high level and say I have personally had better luck with longevity with my shimano gear than sram and also prefer the front shifting performance. I do however very much like the sram shifter shape and double tap is easy to use. So, it’s a win either way.
j
I have both, SRAM Red on a Cannondale SuperX cross bike and Dura-Ace 9070 on my road and TT bike.
It’s been said before but it really is true. Do not ride di2 unless you are prepared to purchase it or suffer sleepless nights without it.
I was curious about the double tap. Glad you brought that up. I ended up getting s works roubaix sl4 Red not because it was my first choice but because I was told that the s works dura ace 56 was entirely out of stock until 2015 model and that is coming in Sept. I said f it and just got it without ever having any experience with red. So I was just curious about what a serious bike crowd thought.
You will get used to the shift action very quickly and I like it. The only quirky thing I have found is when you are on the big cog in the back, you can inadvertently shift to a harder gear since you aren’t able to shift up if you don’t realize you are in your largest cog in the cassette. So when in that situation, you’ll need to push in harder to effectively “doubletap” to keep it from shifting to a smaller cog in the back when climbing.
In all other cases, it works well and the shape of the shifters is nice.
Use it in good health!
j
My TT bike has Dura Ace 7800 and my road bike has the first generation Sram Red. Although the Red double tap function is nice, I’ve been disappointed the quality and reliability of the Red group. For example, I wore out the red chain in record time and now I run Shimano utegra chains as they last a lot longer. Broke B knucke spring on the red rear derailure, Experienced crappy shifting with the red front derailure and replaced it with a Dura Ace 7800. (million times better shifting)
Overall, I would say that the quality of the Dura Ace is better than RED.
what is the first year that red came out
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First generation Red was introduced in 2007.
what is the first year that red came out
I love the double tap … never had Dura ace… Ultegra 6700 yes but the SRAM Double tap really rocks
Jeff
I’ve used both and personally prefer red for my drivetrain and DA for my brakes. If you run DA with a DA crank, the front shifting will be better. I think the rear shifting on red is a little crisper. They are really pretty close groups so to me it really comes down to the personal preference to the shifter feel and action.
Similar boat. I like the SRAM hood shape and doubletap shifting. I also like that the brake levers are fixed and only rotate on one axis.
My road bike has Red shifters, DA 7800 FD, Ultegra crank, Rival RD. It’s a bit of a Franken-bike, but I get the SRAM feel and Shimano front shifting.
I would love to try the hydraulic rim brakes.
Shimano is like your first wife, SRAM is the 20 yrd old you have affair with. She is new, sexy and looks really good but given enough time she will have the same issues as your first wife.
The problems you have will be corrected by neither one of them.
I also like that the brake levers are fixed and only rotate on one axis.
Intersting comment, I would be keen to switch to Red, but I actually like being able to shift up while braking.