weaver

Switching over from Shimano, this is the last part I'm buying for the swap. Have red cranks, tuned rival rear der, ultegra front der, ultegra cassette, kmc chain. I'm relatively weight conscientious with all parts I put on the bike, to an extent. Durability is also important, as is cost hence the rival der. and ultegra goodies. I put on a good amount of miles, do a lot of charity and group rides with an occasional competitive race thrown in.

I did research on Rival shifters and read all about them breaking at the shifter paddles. Contacted Sram and they assured me that the internals were beefed up on 2010 and newer versions and this problem is almost non-existent at this point. Real world weight difference between red and rival shifters is about 38 grams, and cost through my resources is $100 more for red.

Worth it? I'm not made of money, and I take winters off so if I can save a 100 bucks, well that's awesome and I can put that towards something else for my bike/diapers for new baby in February. I understand only red has the zero loss in the rear, is that really a big deal or does rival shift really well as it is?

Like said I like to keep the weight down but in this scenario, it's not enough to really sway me. More concerned with if the function is worth the added cost.

PinkBabyMonster

I was able to find a pair of Force shifters that had been used for ~45 miles for $300 on craigslist. See what you can find. If price is a real concern, you won't be disappointed with Rival. If you can afford Red or are concerned with weight, get Red. You can probably find something lightly used for a pretty good price though.

wkg

Zero loss in the rear is nice.

Also I wouldn't worry about the shifter paddle breaking simply because if it does happen SRAM is really awesome when it comes to warranty and customer service.

weaver

Yeah I have a buddy hookup with a shop owner, 200 new for rival 300 new for red, will definitely be going through him for it. Didn't ask about force.

I <3 Robots

I had both Rival and Red bikes. The feel in the rear Zero Loss is negligible (at least to me). The ZL is just reduced play before shifter engagement. The physical shifting is still the same.

If you can spare the cash...just go with the Red. Its nicer and it'll have better resale...even with the new Red coming out soon.

Now if you ride crits, cross, or in rain...Rival will probably be the better choice.

Psimet2001 

Zero loss is nice. No real issues with Red or Rival breaking paddles. They all seem to be Force (or at least the majority). Also, just through experimenting I have found that if you adjust the cable and stop to allow the shifter to hit the release after going all the way up - with little tension that the paddle is far much less prone to break. Again....mostly Force.

Rival is a great lever. Red is very nice. Value is in the eye of the beholder.

let me put it this way....i have a kid on the team that went from a 5 to a 2 in one season. Basically a genetic freak and should have turned pro but got married instead. I have watched this guy lap the elite fields during Superweek. I presented both options to him - a mixed set up with red levers or just a rival build. He chose Rival.

"I know it works and let's face it....it doesn't make a difference in me winning or not. Besides if I start riding on the nice stuff then I'll get spoiled and it will just start costing more when I wreck and break stuff. Who needs that...."

weaver

Well put. As long as Rival positively represents the whole "sram experience" that I'm new to then it sounds like a bit of a no-brainer to me. Rival it is. Thanks guys.

ColinL

I would've bought the Red levers considering that the difference is way more than $100 even on Ebay. MSRP, fuhgeddaboutit.

hayai_240

I have a pair of 2010 Rival shifters that have worked fairly great. I say fairly because just 2 weeks ago something in the rear shifter broke causing it to not shift anymore. I brought the broken shifter into a local SRAM dealer and they took care of the warranty for me. It took about 1 1/2 weeks for a new replacement 2011/2012 shifter to arrive. They even included new shifter cables with the replacement. Only thing that sucks is that the graphics are different with the new shifters, so my left shifter says RIVAL, while the right shifter says SRAM in the front. I had about 2000 miles on the shifters before it broke.

dnuzzomueller

While I have used Rival and force extensively and they are great, at the difference of 100 bucks if you can afford it I say go for it.

weaver

Yeah from my convo with Sram earlier today, as long as your rival shifter has the new graphics, i.e. sram printed down the lever, then you've got the one with the slightly beefed up internals that supposedly will not break. Time will tell.

ColinL

Yeah, that's the 2011-2012 graphic. Rival got a fairly significant refresh in 2011, mechanical changes.

intence

FWIW I bought Rival not long after they released the black colored version (vs. the original silver shifters). I've crashed twice, shifters are scuffed and look pretty beaten up. Still function perfectly. I wouldn't worry too much about the reliability.

sd790

My Rival shifters broke three times in the past three years - the internal gears blew up. After the third time, SRAM replaced them with Red shifters at no cost. Red is so much better! Shifting is cleaner, faster, and just feels more polished. Given the choice, I would buy Red over Rival now.

wkg

I know somebody who had a Rival shifter fail and SRAM also just went ahead and sent him a new set of Red shifters. This is not uncommon. And goes along with what I said about SRAM customer service being great.

sqharaway

That's awesome! I'm hoping to be able to switch to SRAM before too much longer now, and it's encouraging that their customer service is so great. A mechanic broke my 105 levers and all I got were a set of 6600 ultegras

dwatson

Watch were you buy them, Sram got bad parts for the Rival shifters in 09. Most of the problems and bad rep came from these shifter. I just picked up a set of Reds for $200, the deals are out there. You can use Rival derailleurs with the Red shifters, it was done in the Giro and TDF.

ilovecycling

I've owned both. Rival is exactly the same as Red except like 1/8th of an inch of play in the lever before it shifts. Once you get to the shift point, you can double tap exactly the same as Red and down shifting (up the cassette) is exactly the same. There is really no practical difference between the two. I actually prefer the feel of the aluminum Rival lever when it "clicks" over the carbon fiber lever on Red. Save your money and go Rival.

ColinL

The 2011+ Rival brake lever is carbon fiber. I think the shift lever is plastic. Same shift lever as Apex for sure. Apex still has the aluminum brake lever.

Dancing Skeleton

I love my Red shifters. I tried Rival, and although they function well, the Red's feel more solid to me. The Rival's have a somewhat cheap feel compared to Red.
I use a Force RD & brakes, and an Ultegra 6600 FD. I need to use more effort for FD shifts than with a Force FD, but I get much better shifting with the 6600.

weaver

I went ahead and got the reds. I knew that if I got the rivals now, I'd just be upgrading the levers at a later date so might as well just get it over with. I must say I love them, except for the front shifting. The trim seems a little useless to me, you would think they'd either do the trim in both rings, or not at all. I worked around it and spread my outer derailleur gate a bit so I don't get any rubbing in any of my cogs (11-28) in the small chainring. I know I shouldn't be crossing to much but, it happens and I'd rather just not deal with chain rub at all. It's a little dumb I have to tap the lever twice to get back in to the small ring from the big but not the end of the world. If I feel like getting fancy I may break the shifter open and file off the middle pawl notch thus removing all trim function, I've never been to concerned with warranties. I'll see how annoyed I get with it when the weather gets better and I get some good rides in.

roadiejorge 

I have Rival on both of my bikes and have had no issues with either shifters over the past 3 years of continuous use. I've tried Red and really like the zero loss up front but not for the price differential, though if the Rival shifters break on my Orbea I might get Red shifters as a treat to myself. In terms of performance they've been reliable and trouble free.

dwatson

The new 2012 FD should fix the trim problems

weaver

that won't do anything. A derailleur just does whatever the shifters tell it to do. My shifters tell my derailleur to trim once on the big ring before it goes all the way down. Which isn't the end of the world, went for a little ride today and was happy to find I didn't have to press, release, and press again to go from big ring to small, could press in once and make it click twice to skip past the trim and go back down to the small ring.

I'll get used to it. In love with the rear shifting however