Dancing Skeleton

I'm having a Force group put on m bike, and I was thinking of using Red lever, because they're Zero Loss on both sides. At ~$100 difference, is the cost worth it?

AEO

if you have the cash to spare, yeah, why not?

kimconyc

No.

But if you can, why not?

Dancing Skeleton

Good point.
Are $3000 bikes worth it? No, but they're nice. None of this stuff is worth it.
I rode my old Dawes 531 frame with an assortment of components into the ground 25 years ago, and now I'm obsessed with new stuff.

I guess it never ends

hodie21

I like the red shifters. That is the setup on my bike.

Everything force except shifters which are red.

coachboyd

Exact same setup here. The Red shifters are probably the only thing that is worth getting the upgrade. The reason why the price difference is smaller between shifters is because it's the most visible part of the group and Sram wants people seen on the Red stuff.

You could just ride the Force and hope the lever brakes off and they replace it with Red like they did with me. . .score!!

chadteck

I just had to make the same decision and went with Force everything else and Red shifters. The reason I did it is exactly what you said: Zero loss on both sides. The consensus seems to be that shifters determine shift quality more so than the other components. I haven't built the bike yet and it probably doesn't make a noticeable difference, but for ~$80 it sounded good.

ilovecycling

For an extra $100 it's a no-brainer. Do it. When it comes to SRAM, I'm fine with even Rival everything except I'd need Red shifters and I'm also partial to the Red cassette. The shifters are the only place where Red really makes a difference. Red shifters + good cables (Gore, Yokozuna) = perfect shifting.

Shuke

I am extremely happy with my decision to go Red for my shifters, RD and crankset. I have force on one bike which is good but Red is just...so much better. Ceramic bearings in the rear derailleur, stupid light and stiff crankset, lossless shifting on the rear and front plus they come with Ride-On cables. IMO the shifters, crankset and RD are worth it. Mix in a KMC chain, Shimano FD and cassette and force/rival brakes? You're good to go.

reif

I used to have full Sram Rival groupset but I later upgraded my shifters to Red. They were expensive but with Red already good shifting got even better so I think it was worth it.

SushiJoe

Red is Go!

rkelley23

I am waiting the arrival of my new bike, a caad 10 with rival. Since I'm new to SRAM what do you mean by "zero loss"?

ilovecycling

Zero loss is the technology that lets the right Red lever shift almost immediately without the lever having to travel very far. It basically scales down the timing of the internal mechanism and makes it shift that much quicker and sooner. Sram Force and Rival have it for the left lever (front shifting) only. Red has it for both front and rear shifting.

P.s You're going to love that bike! I have Rival on my R3 and it's pretty damn impressive overall.

M_S

I like how the Red come in colors

recon455

Eventually they will release red SRAM Red, and the world asplode.