SRAM Haters

[Bustedknuckle]

That Shimano kit is replacing Sram is not the part I have issue with. The author's assertion that it is because a few riders whined about their bikes is the bit I doubt. My gut says it is more about how many Euros Sram were prepared to stump up being less than Shimano were prepared to pay.

Sure personal preferences come into it but at the end of the day it is a business and Vaughters has to do the best deal for the continued success of the team. That they were on Sram has SFA to do with their lack of wins this year. Wait a minute, they won a few races on that crappy leaping stuff!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmin-Cervélo#Major_Results

Certainly better result compared to Shimano DI2 equipped LeOpard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_Trek#Major_results

Funny that they are likely going to be on Sram next year, so it makes sense that Sram would drop out of the equation with Garmin. After their smash and grab raids in the top echelons of the sport in the last couple of years I wouldn't be surprised at them reigning in their spending.

I looked up the credentials of the VN journalist though. He's been in many teams in his seven years, six to be exact. Interestingly he was brought back into the Pro Tour at the last minute by Bruyneel. One has to question his abilities, either mechanically or to fit in, if he doesn't get rehired after each season.

JVs assertion is what we heard here in the republic(of Boulder, home base of Garmin). I heard it from more than a few Velonews boys, that JV was not happy with sram, poor performance, poor reliability, riders not liking it. 2 more years on a sponsorship contract but when JV talked to sram, he got the 'thousand yard stare'..whaddayamean our stuff is junque??

So $ to shimano.

Leopard/Radioshlek from Di2 to spam..what a let down.

 

[Benotti69]

JVs assertion is what we heard here in the republic(of Boulder, home base of Garmin). I heard it from more than a few Velonews boys, that JV was not happy with sram, poor performance, poor reliability, riders not liking it. 2 more years on a sponsorship contract but when JV talked to sram, he got the 'thousand yard stare'..whaddayamean our stuff is junque??

So $ to shimano.

Leopard/Radioshlek from Di2 to spam..what a let down.

actually Lep/RadSmack are using shimano for 2012 as the ScRam is too good and it gives then an unfair advantage over their competitors...

 

[therhodeo]

Seems like an apt time to revive this thread.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Can people explain to me why they dislike SRAM. I see this a bit around here, and being new to the sport would like to know why, especially as so many LBS employees/owners talk up SRAM.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cavendish-its-so-rewarding-to-stand-on-the-podium-together

""And as always happens, my chain came off. It's a problem with SRAM, which we've talked about many times. So my chain came off, my foot came out and Tony was behind me at 50km/h. He has to come up to not go over my back wheel."

The stuff is junque..I'll bet pro mechanics can set up a front der..unless the design is so crappy, they can't, seems like the on-the-scene sram lizards can't either-get a bunch of 6700 front ders and be done with it. Or beter yet, ike grmin and BMC, buy decent groups..like Campagnolo or shimano.

 

[Giuseppe Magnetico]

Racing the new ScRAM CX1 grouppo this Autumn. Have nothing but high hopes now that my least favorite front derailleur on the market is now eliminated. Boeing should be pleased.

 

[jennifer]

the price is ok but no quality

 

[Stingray34]

I just hate SRAM like I hate Nike, Trek and Oakley.

Lance agrees with me these days.

 

[winkybiker]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cavendish-its-so-rewarding-to-stand-on-the-podium-together

""And as always happens, my chain came off. It's a problem with SRAM, which we've talked about many times. So my chain came off, my foot came out and Tony was behind me at 50km/h. He has to come up to not go over my back wheel."

The stuff is junque..I'll bet pro mechanics can set up a front der..unless the design is so crappy, they can't, seems like the on-the-scene sram lizards can't either-get a bunch of 6700 front ders and be done with it. Or beter yet, ike grmin and BMC, buy decent groups..like Campagnolo or shimano.

It's quite something when a sponsored rider publicly criticizes his gear. I'd like to hear the following phone-call from SRAM management to OPQS.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

It's quite something when a sponsored rider publicly criticizes his gear. I'd like to hear the following phone-call from SRAM management to OPQS.

Bet Cav doesn't GAS...he isn't one to moderate his tone, quiet his feelings. I'll bet the scam techs will take special care of his bike tho..and I'll bet next year the team he is on won't have spam groups.

The stuff is pitiful even when new and massaged everyday in the pro peloton..give it to a everyday cyclist, and the problems expand. Bike shops(like mine) made good money seeing the slam equipped bikes often...

I wonder if the 'new' red Rder comes apart like the old one..or the 'ceramic' bearings go south after the first rain or the levers still break..we all know the Fder doesn't work.

 

[King Boonen]

http://inrng.com/2015/01/2015-pro-team-bikes/#more-23352


Makes for interesting reading...

 

[King Boonen]

Bet Cav doesn't GAS... ..and I'll bet next year the team he is on won't have spam groups.

Can you pick my lottery numbers?

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Can you pick my lottery numbers?

http://www.etixx-quickstep.com/en/gallery/show/press-day-etixx-quick-step/1013

sram isn't down to one pro team because they dominate their retail environment. They are hurting financially, due to recalls, crappy gear that is warrantied all the time, to pro teams saying, 'no mas', even when their crap is free.

"To win first you must first win"..comes to mind.

shimano is HUGE and makes good gear. Campagnolo is small, and makes good gear. spam is neither.

 

[richwagmn]

http://www.etixx-quickstep.com/en/gallery/show/press-day-etixx-quick-step/1013

sram isn't down to one pro team because they dominate their retail environment. They are hurting financially, due to recalls, crappy gear that is warrantied all the time, to pro teams saying, 'no mas', even when their crap is free.

"To win first you must first win"..comes to mind.

shimano is HUGE and makes good gear. Campagnolo is small, and makes good gear. spam is neither.

When I was mountain bike shopping last year, I had an interesting conversation with a mechanic.

We were down to a couple of bikes, one SRAM, one Shimano. I asked him if it mattered much.

He said, he warranties SRAM stuff all the time and that it breaks in strange ways (I was out riding, shifted and something broke). His shop was also a warranty center (or so he said) for Shimano. He said he couldn't remember the last time he had warrantied any Shimano gear.

 

[winkybiker]

My objection to SRAM is well documented elsewhere on these pages. I don't like that they bought their way into market share with huge $$ going to pro teams and subsidizing OEM bike supply, rather than earning that share by way of good engineering. And their hydraulic road levers are an abomination that should be killed with fire. Oh, my eyes! I can't un-see the ugly! I just threw my breakfast up. I'm going to have nightmares....

They have come up with some seemingly clever stuff that doesn't quite seem to work. The FD with "yaw" seems to make sense but experience with it seems to be poor in terms of dropped chains. The once-piece CNC-machined cassette looked a decent idea but was too noisy for many. When you make a cassette that way, you also perhaps give up come metallurgical options in terms of forging the sprockets, or varying material like the the steel-Ti combos in Campag Record and SR cassettes, but the durability is purportedly OK, actually.

 

[ray j willings]

I use Sram red rear mech. No issues what so ever. I get the dremel on it and get the weight down to 85grms. I use plastic and alloy bolts. Carbon cage and 1 carbon jockey wheel and one afc plastic jockey wheel . super light and works great. I also have cut off the metal cage on the Front mech and replaced with a self made carbon cage and drilled out the rear part of the cage and use all alloy screws and it works fine and super light. I also have drilled holes in the shifters, in-fact taken away most of the material and they work super as well.
It all works fine and is about as light as you can get.

 

[42x16ss]

http://www.etixx-quickstep.com/en/gallery/show/press-day-etixx-quick-step/1013

sram isn't down to one pro team because they dominate their retail environment. They are hurting financially, due to recalls, crappy gear that is warrantied all the time, to pro teams saying, 'no mas', even when their crap is free.

"To win first you must first win"..comes to mind.

shimano is HUGE and makes good gear. Campagnolo is small, and makes good gear. spam is neither.

In Australia at least, even smaller budget National and Conti teams are starting to move away from the stuff, they used to use it because the sponsorship terms were so good but it's just not worth the man hours.

Budget Forklifts > Campag
African Wildlife Safaris > Shimano
Satalyst > Shimano

Are just a couple of recent changes I've noticed this year.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

I use Sram red rear mech. No issues what so ever. I get the dremel on it and get the weight down to 85grms. I use plastic and alloy bolts. Carbon cage and 1 carbon jockey wheel and one afc plastic jockey wheel . super light and works great. I also have cut off the metal cage on the Front mech and replaced with a self made carbon cage and drilled out the rear part of the cage and use all alloy screws and it works fine and super light. I also have drilled holes in the shifters, in-fact taken away most of the material and they work super as well.
It all works fine and is about as light as you can get.

Pre or post recall?

 

[Bustedknuckle]

In Australia at least, even smaller budget National and Conti teams are starting to move away from the stuff, they used to use it because the sponsorship terms were so good but it's just not worth the man hours.

Budget Forklifts > Campag
African Wildlife Safaris > Shimano
Satalyst > Shimano

Are just a couple of recent changes I've noticed this year.

I know the guys who import Pinarello and they just said 'no' to any more entry level bikes, as complete bikes, with sp(r)am...to many warranties.

http://www.gitabike.com/cgi-bin/shop/pinarello_loadhome.cgi?file=pinarello.html

 

[ray j willings]

Pre or post recall?

The rear mech on my most used bike is a Red Black. [ its painted red]
The one I am tuning now I have no idea how old it is. It only cost £20

I have no idea of age of my shifters or my Front mechs.

Sorry I could not be of more help on that question.

 

[42x16ss]

I'm still amazed that Campag don't provide OEM groups to more brands, just to try and kill off SRAM's share. Even Athena is more pleasant to own long term than Red...

 

[Bustedknuckle]

The rear mech on my most used bike is a Red Black. [ its painted red]
The one I am tuning now I have no idea how old it is. It only cost £20

I have no idea of age of my shifters or my Front mechs.

Sorry I could not be of more help on that question.

If the lower cage pivot gets loose, moves in and out, beware..it may move to the point of being in your spokes when in your lowest gear..and 'may' kill your frame when it's ripped off the bike.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

I'm still amazed that Campag don't provide OEM groups to more brands, just to try and kill off SRAM's share. Even Athena is more pleasant to own long term than Red...

Campagnolo wishes to make premium stuff in Europe. As such, they are small.

They would have great difficulty building enough, and then getting it to where the frames are made(Asia, even the 'Euro' brands like Focus and Ridley).

I have thought they would make a "Fulcrum' group in Taiwan by now. A lot of their wheels and some cranks are made there now.

 

[simo1733]

I thought that companies like Pinarello have their frames shiped back to Europe for paint and build up, which is how they earn their made in Italy stickers.

 

[ray j willings]

If the lower cage pivot gets loose, moves in and out, beware..it may move to the point of being in your spokes when in your lowest gear..and 'may' kill your frame when it's ripped off the bike.

Thanks for that. The red black I'm using is from new [ 7 months old]
The last red I tuned lasted 3 years just wore out.
I do check over my bike " i'm a bit obsessed"
My friend who rides Campy record had that exact thing happen.
It was a brand new mech, just had a few rides and it snapped ,virtually in half and went into his wheel and scratched up his handmade custom Viner.
It took ages for campy to sort out a replacement so he had to buy a new rear mech so he could ride while waiting for campy to sort the issue out.
He got the group-set from a well known shop and IMO he should have been given a replacement straight away. The thing was in half. Very poor service.

 

[Benotti69]

I thought that companies like Pinarello have their frames shiped back to Europe for paint and build up, which is how they earn their made in Italy stickers.

Yep. A if certain % of the 'manufacturing process' is done in the 'home' country they are entitled to label it 'Made in....'. Spraying a frame and applying a few stickers is apparently enough

Only the highend Colnagos are made in Italy. Rest are Taiwan/China.