Questions re Sram Rival - brakes and chainset

Rhods
Rhods Posts: 400
edited April 2010 in Road buying advice
Hi

Toying with the idea of having a Rival build an have a few questions:

1. What are the stock brakes like?
2. If they aren't particularly good/light enough, anyone got any reasonably priced alternatives?
3. What type of bottom bracket does it use and does anyone have any alternatives to the Sram options?

Thanks

Comments

  • wildmoustache
    wildmoustache Posts: 4,010
    rhods - my gf's bike has a full Rival groupset.

    For comparison, I have Record, Super Record, Centaur, Chorus, DA 7800, Ultegra, Sora and some mixed groups.

    The brakes are superb. Very powerful. In fact in the drops I think SRAM has the best ergonomics (I am not as keen on the shiftting as with Shimano or Campagnolo, but that's another matter).

    Rival stock Chainset is good too. BB is GXP. You can upgrade to their ceramic bearings version for c£100 if you want the best.

    A matter of taste of course, but I think the new Rival is the best looking of the SRAM groups and weighs about 2200g which is light for a mid-range group at that price.
  • MRadd
    MRadd Posts: 205
    +1 for the Brakes.

    I have a full Rival setup on my Pro-lite and love it! Brakes are more than capable for fast decending (and obviously stopping at the bottom).

    BB is, as Wildmoustache says is GXP. I haven't upgraded onto Ceramic yet. Im going to wait for this one to wear out. So far I've had no issues after 1000 odd miles.

    Everything works like a dream. As for the shifting, yes that is a very personal thing to get used to. Bit like marmite..
    : "Why don't i remember breaking my face?" :

    : Semi Professional Grease Monkey, Full time Tea boy... :
  • topdude
    topdude Posts: 1,557
    Just fitted a Rival groupset to my VN Euros, brake callipers come with Swisstop pads and are excellent, better than the Ultegra ones i had before.
    Also the shifters are more compact than Shimano so better ergonomics in my opinion.
    Also like the concealed cables, much neater :D
    He is not the messiah, he is a very naughty boy !!
  • msw
    msw Posts: 313
    @wildmoustache: you said you had tried Sora and also a few Campagnolo groups - I've been thinking about Campagnolo shifters but I think I've been mentally scarred by the thumbshifters I had on Sora, which I *hated*. They were totally impossible to use from the drops, and I ride in the drops quite a lot.

    How different are the Campagnolo thumbshifters to the Sora "buttons", would you say? Easier to reach?

    (PS - I might end up buying Rival anyway...)
    "We're not holding up traffic. We are traffic."
  • wildmoustache
    wildmoustache Posts: 4,010
    thumbshifters in campagnolo are totally different to sora. they are much bigger and much nearer the hands when in the drops. basically much better in the drops. go to your LBS and have a go I'd suggest.

    Rival is good and very good in some respects but the shift is all a bit too snap, crackle and pop for me.

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