mixing sram and shimano components?

epo-aholic

Hi guys....

Just a quick one, can i used a sram force front mech with shimano dura ace 7900 sti shifters? I know you can do this on the mtb components but unsure of road compatibility.

thanks in advance

JB

Grill

I believe so, but the better question is why would you want to use a SRAM front mech as they shift like absolute ass when compared to Shimano (loads of Red owners swap for the DA front mech).

epo-aholic

the better question is why would you want to use a SRAM front mech as they shift like absolute ass when compared to Shimano

good point....i was under the impression it was the other way round!

andyk19

I'd be careful. I've just been having a similar situation myself.

Shimano say that the 7900 shifters are only compatible with the 7900 front mech. I thought this was probably just to try and get people to buy the 7900 mech. However after pairing 7900 shifters with an Ultegra 6700 front mech it didn't work very well. It was incredibly difficult to set up and seems to always want to throw the chain off the outside of the big chainring. The general shift feel is worse than 105 5700...

Anyway I did a bit of research and it would appear that the 7900 front mech has a slightly different shape cage to other shimano front mechs so that there is no need for the outer trim function on the shifters (which isn't present on 7900 but is on 6700 and 5700).

The upshot is I've bought a 7900 front mech this morning. My thoughts would be that it will work but given that it was far from perfect with an Ultegra 6700 front mech it will be even worse with a RED mech, and the front shifting is one of the big highlights of Shimano.

epo-aholic

Thanks for the input guys......a new 7900 it is then! :roll:

handful

Grill wrote:

I believe so, but the better question is why would you want to use a SRAM front mech as they shift like absolute ass when compared to Shimano (loads of Red owners swap for the DA front mech).

+1

I swapped my Apex FD for an Ultegra and this works far better with my Rival shifters.

James H-S

Shimano 7900 shifter work fine with ultegra or 105 rear mechs. I have a combination on all my bikes but I wouldn't go mixing SRAM/Shimano on shifting components.

Bozman

Going by the number of posts from folk complaining about Sram front derailleurs, that's the last thing to match.

amaferanga

I've never had an issue with SRAM front mechs. When they're set up properly they work extremely well.

styxd

amaferanga wrote:

I've never had an issue with SRAM front mechs. When they're set up properly they work extremely well.

They're ok to start with, if you set them up properly.

Over time they tend to go tits up, and no amount of re-adjusting will sort them out. Don't know what causes it - perhaps the pivots come loose, or the cage becomes to flexible.