I have the new red on my gravel bike, which should be the same as new force/rival. I like the feel so much, that i am going to swap my totally working ultegra on my road bike to force. Ive only had the red since december, but its been 100% flawless in that time. Im fine with how the Shimano ultegra (and grx) shifters feel, but there something about the new sram that just feels better, not sure if it the little longer hoods, or slightly narrower diameter, or both…just feels a tiny better. Braking on sram is pretty good. Might be a hair less powerful than shimano, but less on/off feeling. I like both, but its weird having both as they are different. I do like the lever adjustment in sram, easy to do and definitely a benefit. I never thought id be a sram person as ive been all shimano since the 90s, but they got it right.
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