Originally Posted by
jgwilliams
I'm curious why you'd do that after having such a bad experience?
Having said that, I've recently bought a bike with Force 22 groupset and I'm very happy with it. Changes are smooth and precise, it all looks very pretty and after almost 2,000 miles it still feels like new.
(Edit- I did all this before I bought the new mountain bike)
There were a few reasons behind my decision. Namely I decided I wanted to see what the Sram double tap was like on the road shifters. A good friend loves his Sram road components but also hates the mountain stuff.
I also really wanted to build up an old bike I have that I wasn't too satisfied with in its current build. I have an '88 Schwinn Voyageur. I rescued it from a co-op. It was in sad shape. No one was going to do anything with it. It had sat where it was for almost a whole year. I didn't want to watch it spend another winter in the outdoor storage area and rot. So I snagged it up and over a few weekends built it to what it was. Everything was garbage. I only used the headset, canti brakes, frame and fork. Had all the other parts from different previous builds. I put some Suntour XCD and GPX I had collecting dust. Mix of road and mountain for a larger cassette. It looked nice but it wasn't as practical for anything other than around town. I was all about the down tube shifters until I used brake and shift combo. I lost interest for long rides with down tube shifters. I also like the brake hood shape of newer gear. Older brake hoods aren't as comfortable.
Knowing I wanted the old bike with new components I decided over the gray winter I would get excited about bikes by buying what I needed. With the build in mind I ended up buying a pair of Apex 2x10 shifters from the local bike shop. They were running a sale over the winter and I really like their knowledge and decided to give them business. At the local co-op I picked up an Apex crankset. I got a new bottom bracket and chainring. I got lucky and found a rear mech and cassette both new in box rummaging in my parts box. So I used all that.
I also learned that the Sram 10 speed mountain and road components are compatible. 10 speed being the last generation of the compatibility. I wanted a larger rear cassette than available with a road mech. So I went with
Last reason was a bit of a gamble. Since I've heard good things about the road gear, if I hated the proposed set up I could always just build up a road bike. If that wasn't the case, well then I helped fuel some consumerism.
Hows the bike? I have no idea. I'm looking into a different canti brake set up since the spacing of the canti posts are different in those days. I switched to 700c wheels from the original 27". The brakes don't line up correctly. I also got the crank set installed and it apparently needs a spacer that it doesn't have. I may know a way around that. Also, I'm one of those with more ideas than time to actually get them all accomplished. With multiple bikes certain bikes take the back burner. I'm getting my older mountain bike together so I can invite a coworker out to ride with. I took it apart over the winter to strip the paint on the aluminum frame since I had never done that before. Its just bare aluminum now until I decide to paint it.