DA 7800 V SRAM Force

curlyrobert
curlyrobert Posts: 150
edited February 2009 in Workshop
After commuting my madone through the last 6 months I have finally bought a new commuter I have stripped off a very poorly looking 2005 Ultegra groupset and need to replace.

£ for £ and budget restrictions mean I am looking at SRAM Vs DA 7800. ( I would go with Campag, but Italian Campag does not sit wel in my headl with American Trek, I just don't think it works and wont do it!)

I love the look of Force but worried that the front derailer and breaks are not going to be as good as DA?

I have never used SRAM however the carbon bits would look good on my nude carbon frame and it is v.light.

Would Dura Ace 7800 break calipers and front mech work with Force bits perhaps?

any comments appreciated.
the day I stop dreaming of upgrades is the day die!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3370/3261181810_727612440a_o.jpg My Stable

Comments

  • DTM12
    DTM12 Posts: 163
    Good grief, we could be living parallel lives ! I just stripped an 2006 10 speed Ultegra groupo off my bike, and was hit with the same dilemma as you, to replace it with 08 Dura Ace or Sram Force. Unfortunately the huge price hikes in SRAM stuff decided it for me and I bought a Dura Ace 7800 set from Merlin cycles for £617. I have to say I am not sorry, although the DA lacks some of the pimp carbon bits, it builds beautifully it really does, I am from an engineering background, and I truly appreciate quality engineering when I see it, and the DA is it in spades. plus it made my Kuota 15.9 lbs ! Happy days. Not saying the Sram wouldnt be a good choice, but if you can get DA for similar money to what I got it for then I would go for it hands down, every time.
  • spanielsson
    spanielsson Posts: 776
    Have a look at the Rival groupset, nice carbon brake levers for 2009. The groupset weighs around the two kilo mark.

    The Force brake calipers have titanium bolts and the chainset is carbon, other than that the functionality of Rival is no different to Force.

    I have both Rival & Red, the braking is superb on both, as is the shifting. The only thing I'm considering is maybe adding the Force chainset to the Rival equipped bike.

    Merlin have Rival at £449 and Force for £749, in my opinion Rival will easily perform as well as Dura Ace.
  • Mattinthezie
    Mattinthezie Posts: 52
    + 1 on braking performance. I just fitted Force brakes on my commuter and they are great.

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