sram rival vs shimano 105

gaanrowl

hi guys im new to the road section, so please forgive my boring question. im in the market for a £1000 road bike and form what i can see shim 105 or sram rival (boardman carbon) seem to be the kit that im going to get at this price range, i was wonder ng which is better im tempted by the boardman but i have shim on my mtb so not sure if i would like the sram. any advice welcome thanks.

gregster10217

I'm riding Shimano at the moment but will be getting the team carbon. Rode a friends Team for a while and had no problems with the SRAM shifting. Took a while to get used to, but works very well. There are other posts on here, and other cycling forums about the comparisons between Shim and SRAM and the general consensus is that SRAM Rival is on a par with Ultegra stuff but I cannot give a view on that as never had the luxury of Ultegra!!!
Have you seen the limited edition Carbon which is being released in December? Looks lovely but cannot decide weather I can wait another couple of months for it to arrive!

gaanrowl

i have and i be very tempted but im going to use the cycle to work and its not going to be available until jan :x

gregster10217

I'm also on the C2W scheme, just waiting for the voucher to arrive-hopefully any day now! Not had a bike since an accident a few weeks ago and really missing it so really got to decide whether to get the one Halfords are holding for me or wait for the ltd edition and just do some other fitness in the meantime.

AllTheGear

I have been on Rival for almost 1000 miles and very pleased with it. I know someone with 105 and he's happy too, never used it myself though so I can't give you a fair comparison.

I went from Shimano MTB to Rival myself, as this was my first proper road bike I had no issues getting used to the SRAM shifting - it would have been a change whatever I got.

As I'm biased I'll just big up SRAM a bit:

- nearly 400g lighter than 105
- Shift cables route under the bar tape
- Last years 105 used a triple shifter on double chainset, and came with a warning about it being easy to break! (fixed now, but check what you are getting)

ian-500

gaanrowl

I had an '06 Specialized Allez Elite with Shimano 105 which I bought through a cycle to work scheme. Before I brought the Spesh I tested it against 2 other bikes that had the other manufactures groupsets. This is what I remember at the time of testing; Shimano 105 was very smooth. So smooth in fact that I couldn't tell if it had changed gear or not. Quite comfy on the hoods too. Campagnolo Veloce was just too 'clonky', and I didn't get on with the thumb lever (gruppo fitted to a Wilier Mortirolo). I also didn't fit my hands on the hoods. Sram Rival (fitted to a cinelli) was a great compromise between the other 2. Nearly as smooth as the 105 but I knew when I was in gear, but I didn't get a feeling of 'crunching gears' like I did with Campy. Very comfy on the hoods. Each to their own of course. I just chose the Spesh because it fitted my riding style better, and I would then upgrade to Sram at a latter date.
Since then I've now sold the Specialized (having upgraded just 1 item to Sram!) and got hold of another cycle to work voucher. 2 days before Boardman anounced their limited editions I was saying to my brother that I'd love it if Boardman came out with a white colour scheme for their road bikes because I really didn't like the black ones (vain I know). Low and behold I now have my name down for a limited edition team carbon with the groupset I really want. I also have plenty of time to save up for some lighter wheels!

hopper1

I have both Shimano and SRAM.
I'd go for the SRAM Rival.
I would say that the Rival is closer to Shimano Ultegra by comparison, so better than 105.
Oh, and at £1000, you get a good bike free with it

Gazzaputt

I've gone from Tiagra to Rival as I run Red on my other bike. I also had 105 on another bike.

For me I like SRAM over Shimano as it offers far better shifting, neater cable running and I like the brakes better.

lochindaal

I went from Tiagra to Rival.

Can't compare with 105 but love the double tap system for changing gears.

I made up my own bike and did some research before buying a groupset. Rival same price as 105 but the weight of Ultegra. Performance wise 105 and Ultegra appeared to be much the same but again the weight was the difference.

If you can get a test of Rival and like it then "bang for buck" appears to be the way to go

gaanrowl

cheers for your reply guys, this is just what i was hoping for team carbon for me i think. roll on jan.

gregster10217

Got home this afternoon and rang Halfords to ask if I could 'pre-order' a ltd carbon, even though they are holding a standard one for me.
Rang me back within 2 minutes to say they got one 'pre-ordered' for me and will hang onto the standard one should there be any problems when the ltd edition one is released and I don't get one. At least I'll have one or the other, but seriously hope it's the ltd edition one.
Have said it before, but Halfords Maidstone have been superb and I'd highly recommend them.

gaanrowl

when do you get your voucher do you think they would hold one untill january?

gregster10217

My voucher is due any day now. Once it's here I'll ring them to confirm but won't be handing it over until I collect the bike.
Not sure whether they'll hold one, or allow you to pre-order one unless your scheme is open. May be worth asking if they'll take a small holding deposit to secure one and then either getting it refunded when you hand over your voucher.
Good luck. I was excited about. The standard version, but roll on December!

merlinghnd

I use a Halfords C2W scheme. You need your voucher in your hand when you make an order, whether in store or over the phone in my experience. The voucher lasts about 3 months if I recall correctly which gives you time to find what you want. I got one voucher, ordered a bike about 3 months later, waited a month to finally get it and had paid for it all 8 months after that. I am now on my third voucher, it gets harder to persuade my wife I need another bike, not sure if I will getaway with a fourth this time next year!!

gaanrowl

gutted, just looked into the scheme and we are going to use the cyclescheme.co.uk version no halfords jsut local bike shops i can go to just about any shop you can think of but no boardman. .

so now any suggestions please for a different model.

NickHu

Gaanrowl - Planet X race to work scheme Full carbon frame and fork with 2010 Ultegra 6700 for £999. I've got the same frame with Rival group and Mavic Cosmic Elite's and it comes in at just over 16lbs. For the money you can't beat it.

The only issues you might have is that you have to build it yourself and there is no local dealer - internet only.