If you knew me, you would constantly hear me comparing Sram to Shimano and giving my personal opinion on the benefits of Sram in the road biking world, specifically for women. So why do I love Sram so much? It’s fairly simple, they lead the industry in: ergonomics or comfort, simplicity, performance, weight and price.So first let us examine the ergonomics or the shape and comfort of the Sram shifters. The most recognizable comfort fact that the Sram shifters have to offer is their smaller and more form fitting hoods. The hoods feel particularly comfortable in comparison to Shimano for those with smaller hands, which would include, we the women of the biking world. In fact, the original design of the Sram shifter was designed specifically for smaller handed people. Also if you have ever ridden with Ultegra or Dura-Ace, you will notice the bulky nature of the shifters. A particular nuisance for me comes with the placement of my middle finger under the levers. It tends to kill me after a long ride or a race. The Shimano shifters are extremely rigid and have hard edges that cause chaffing and sometimes even small scratches to my oh-so sensitive hands.
Next, and still in the shifter category includes Sram’s reach adjust feature. This allows any rider to customize their and brake and shift levers. This is especially important to we female riders because, as we know, the bike industry is male dominated, especially in the performance category. This means most of the industry cater their products toward the male clientele, but not my friends at Sram. They thought of us, they know our hand reach is shorter and our fingers, not quite as long, and so they have given us the ability to make an adjustment to accommodate our needs. Thank you Sram, for your kindness.
Moving onto simplicity. Most of what makes Sram simple and even more comfortable is their patented DoubleTap system. Sram has separated itself by leaving the two lever system behind, eliminating the problems of engagement that come from having a brake and shifting lever combined. If you are riding with Shimano and on a tough climb, you will notice a natural tendency to rock your brake lever inward in which case you are unable to upshift. With the DoubleTap shifting system, the upshift is a quick rapid tap motion while the downshift on the same lever is a longer but elegant sweeping motion in the same direction. It is also easily accessible from your hoods or your drops and on those climbs I referred to earlier or in a sprint, it allows you to pull against the levers without sacrificing the upshift. Some days, I think Sram has thought of everything.
As you can see, performance, comfort and simplicity at times overlap, but there are a couple performance specifications that stand out, for example, the zero-loss function. This refers to the zero-loss of movement when you push on the lever for an upshift or a down shift. At this moment, the cable is immediately engaged and no movement is lost. In between a shift on many other systems, there is an annoying middle ground when your chain is trying to switch places on your rear cassette or on your front chain rings. However, with Sram gear changes are instant and precise. I will say that this may sacrifice a bit of smoothness but the benefit of a clear shift outweighs that minor downfall, and you will be a believer like me after you put a few miles on the Sram system. The other performance option that has to be addressed is what Sram calls the “Exact Actuation” technology. This refers to the 1:1 actuation ratio (shifter cable travel : derailleur movement). Exact Actuation simplifies and stabilizes the balancing act of the rear derailleur hang design, the tight cog spacing, and the exact cable tension, causing for a simple index shifting system that stays precise.
The weight and price are two that we can group together for 1. the reason that there is not a lot to say and 2. this article is probably getting overwhelmingly long for the reader. Essentially Sram components have carbon levers vs. alloy and every piece of the group set is lighter than the equivalent Shimano system. Sram is cheaper, simple as that. It costs hundreds of dollars less than Shimano and gives you excellent performance. The only problem is that Shimano group sets are currently coming on most complete bikes. I am a political person in my private life, and if there were an issue that I wanted you to fight for, I would tell you to call your Senators and other public officials. In this case, I say, call your favorite bike manufacturers and tell them that you want the option of Sram on their complete bikes. Let’s all help each other out on this one.
Moving onto simplicity. Most of what makes Sram simple and even more comfortable is their patented DoubleTap system. Sram has separated itself by leaving the two lever system behind, eliminating the problems of engagement that come from having a brake and shifting lever combined. If you are riding with Shimano and on a tough climb, you will notice a natural tendency to rock your brake lever inward in which case you are unable to upshift. With the DoubleTap shifting system, the upshift is a quick rapid tap motion while the downshift on the same lever is a longer but elegant sweeping motion in the same direction. It is also easily accessible from your hoods or your drops and on those climbs I referred to earlier or in a sprint, it allows you to pull against the levers without sacrificing the upshift. Some days, I think Sram has thought of everything.
As you can see, performance, comfort and simplicity at times overlap, but there are a couple performance specifications that stand out, for example, the zero-loss function. This refers to the zero-loss of movement when you push on the lever for an upshift or a down shift. At this moment, the cable is immediately engaged and no movement is lost. In between a shift on many other systems, there is an annoying middle ground when your chain is trying to switch places on your rear cassette or on your front chain rings. However, with Sram gear changes are instant and precise. I will say that this may sacrifice a bit of smoothness but the benefit of a clear shift outweighs that minor downfall, and you will be a believer like me after you put a few miles on the Sram system. The other performance option that has to be addressed is what Sram calls the “Exact Actuation” technology. This refers to the 1:1 actuation ratio (shifter cable travel : derailleur movement). Exact Actuation simplifies and stabilizes the balancing act of the rear derailleur hang design, the tight cog spacing, and the exact cable tension, causing for a simple index shifting system that stays precise.
The weight and price are two that we can group together for 1. the reason that there is not a lot to say and 2. this article is probably getting overwhelmingly long for the reader. Essentially Sram components have carbon levers vs. alloy and every piece of the group set is lighter than the equivalent Shimano system. Sram is cheaper, simple as that. It costs hundreds of dollars less than Shimano and gives you excellent performance. The only problem is that Shimano group sets are currently coming on most complete bikes. I am a political person in my private life, and if there were an issue that I wanted you to fight for, I would tell you to call your Senators and other public officials. In this case, I say, call your favorite bike manufacturers and tell them that you want the option of Sram on their complete bikes. Let’s all help each other out on this one.
