SRAM Red AXS Cassette vs. Force

Shimano vs. SRAM to me came down to price. I got such a deal on eTap 1st gen back in 2016 and never looked back. Now that it’s on 3 bikes I’m sort of stuck with 'em. Nothing against Shimano. They make quality stuff as we all know. Also, I fell in love with the F1 shifting. Super intuitive for me and one thing I’ve always liked with SRAM shifting is you know you’re there! Many say it’s clunky but, for me it’s easier to shift in the cold, with gloves etc…the blimps are not as nice as Shimano remote shifting but, it’s good enough for me.

For those reading I thought of another improvement with eTap 2nd gen (AXS) stuff which is the battery life seems to be way longer. Like I said before about 6k miles since August and IIRC I’ve charged them 2 maybe 3x. In my minds eye that is a huge improvement over the 1st gen batts.

So, improved battery life, improved chain life and improved pulley bearings.

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In a few ways: SRAM’s eTap drive trains have Bluetooth connectivity out of the box (with Shimano you have to pay extra), they are wireless (think of the number of devices that are still wired in your life), much wider range in the rear (my new bike will have 10-36 in the back), SRAM’s drivetrain work 1x and 2x, and yes, they have an extra cog. Plus, it seems that SRAM will release Rival eTap. So yeah, I think Shimano has been leapfrogged. Shimano is super conservative, and they are behind in several important respects. If SRAM indeeds brings Rival eTap to market, I reckon a lot of people will prefer it over Shimano Ultegra mechanical 11-speed.

I tried Ultegra Di2, and apart from their stupid default shifting button layout (which I couldn’t fix on the demo bike, because it didn’t have the Bluetooth doodad), I also had problems with chain suck on the rear cassette. Of course, this was a demo bike, so perhaps it needed a tune-up. Some people will say that Di2 shifts more quickly. Honestly, I couldn’t tell much of a difference, it was fine.

I don’t think Koenigsegg has leapfrogged the car industry: the Regera is a niche product with a complicated drivetrain that likely only works if you have a very powerful engine. Don’t get me wrong, it is a marvel of engineering, but it doesn’t have a large impact because of the small volume.

IMHO Rival eTap will have a much more important impact on the market than anything: it’ll bring down the price point of electronic shifting, and Shimano has nothing to offer that can compete with it. If they stick to their usual playbook (which is not a given, they had to deviate in the MTB world because SRAM was eating their lunch), then we’ll see Ultegra Di2 12-speed next year. We can argue whether being 3 years ahead of Shimano constitutes leapfrogging or not (probably just semantics), but I think it is true that SRAM is 3 years ahead of Shimano.

Certainly not where I live.