ultegra 6800 vs force 22

justin_c2000

Hi, I am building a bike from the ground up and am trying to chose between sram force 22 and shimano ultegra 6800 11 speed for my Norco tactic frame. I live in an area with a lot of short steep climbs and cant pick between the lightness of sram or the durability of shimano. I have used shimano's sti sifting before but have never tried double tap before. need help, any opinions on which one is a better choice. thanks

banditvic

Just had the same dilemma myself but went for the force, even though it was over £100 more. I run shimano and Sram but prefer the hoods on the Sram, I have never had any problems with Force Red or Rival. Merlin are doing Force for just over £600 but you can get 6800 for £500.

bobmac64

Shouldn't comment, as I haven't tried the Force 22, but I would consider SRAM to already be behind Ultegra as they only have 11 speed combinations that start with 11 tooth cog: 11-25, 11-26, 11-28, and 11-32!!
Can't fathom why one would "up-grade" to 11 speed if the only gain is the 11 cog. Seriously, one would consider a whole new gearing / wheel set-up because we were lacking the 11? I am happy to get off my seat into a full tuck position whenever my cadence is too high at 50 / 12.
At least with Ultegra 6800 I can choose 12-25 and keep my beloved 18 tooth cog!

I'm actually considering going 10 speed Campagnola at 13-26, or maybe 14-23 with a triple up front!

Currently own 2 sets of wheels, both 10 speed Shimano at 12-23 and 12-25 (no 18 cog!), combined with compact 50-34.

pastey_boy

Its down to personal preference, Sram Force is much lighter and in my opinion Doubletap shifting is the best out there.

diamonddog

pastey_boy wrote:

Its down to personal preference, Sram Force is much lighter and in my opinion Doubletap shifting is the best out there.

^^This +1

chrisvanderkaap

no one has mentioned the advantage of the yaw derailleur for the force 22 group.
having no trim to worry about really ups the feel for the front mech.
people have mentioned double tap as preferable over the traditional shimano lever.
personally I like the shimano shift as much as sram at this pricepoint.
Only when combined zith the zero-loss aspect that only the 'red' group carries
i'm really won over.

durability is equal, replacement cost of components is more or less equal slightly
favoured by 'force', weight advantage is pretty obvious, looks imo too!

good luck!

pastey_boy

chrisvanderkaap wrote:

no one has mentioned the advantage of the yaw derailleur for the force 22 group.
having no trim to worry about really ups the feel for the front mech.
people have mentioned double tap as preferable over the traditional shimano lever.
personally I like the shimano shift as much as sram at this pricepoint.
Only when combined zith the zero-loss aspect that only the 'red' group carries
i'm really won over.

durability is equal, replacement cost of components is more or less equal slightly
favoured by 'force', weight advantage is pretty obvious, looks imo too!

good luck!

Force features "Zero loss" technlogy.

majormantra

Ultegra all the way unless you have a particular affection for DT. The front shifting is great and IMO Shimano far exceeds SRAM in durability.

ck101

Ran both in 10 speed for a year, Ultegra is slicker and doesn't need as much maintenance.

racingcondor

I'm always surprised when people claim SRAM needs maintenance. Mine shifting never goes bad (I recable annually though as part of basic maintenance).

OP - Both are excellent. Personally I love double tap and the SRAM hood shape but I used to use Ultegra 6600 and assuming it hasn't suddenly got worse wouldn't say a bad thing about it. Ultegra does have the advantage that you could easily add a Stages PM later if that's your thing.

How Far is too Far

Got over 10,000 miles on a 2011 RED groupset, after the minor adjustments in the first week or so it has been faultless.

I have Sram Apex on a CX winter hack again it is fine

I Have Ultegra 6700 on a CX bike and its has been a pain on the rear changing, granted it is a cx bike but my winter bike gets more abuse and changes fine.

Richard...

Percy Vera

bobmac64 wrote:

Shouldn't comment, as I haven't tried the Force 22, but I would consider SRAM to already be behind Ultegra as they only have 11 speed combinations that start with 11 tooth cog: 11-25, 11-26, 11-28, and 11-32!!
Can't fathom why one would "up-grade" to 11 speed if the only gain is the 11 cog. Seriously, one would consider a whole new gearing / wheel set-up because we were lacking the 11? I am happy to get off my seat into a full tuck position whenever my cadence is too high at 50 / 12.
At least with Ultegra 6800 I can choose 12-25 and keep my beloved 18 tooth cog!

I'm actually considering going 10 speed Campagnola at 13-26, or maybe 14-23 with a triple up front!

Currently own 2 sets of wheels, both 10 speed Shimano at 12-23 and 12-25 (no 18 cog!), combined with compact 50-34.

You could buy Force then a Shimano Cassette :roll:

banditvic

I always buy shimano cassettes with my sram groupsets ultegra seems best value weight wise.

majormantra

Comparing older groupsets (6700, Force 10 speed) is kind of irrelevant since both SRAM and Shimano have made major changes with the latest generation.

For example, 6800 shifts far better than 6700. Not that properly set up 6700 (with good quality OEM cables) is all that bad.

FransJacques

You need to ride both and figure out what hood shape suits your hand better. Face it, you spent more time holding the levers than shifting or braking.

I have both and like both functionally. Sram is lighter and that swings it for the WW in me but Shimano's rear shifting is the best in the business.

Don't forget Shimano's 11 speed cassette is wider than 10 sp and could affect your wheelsets.

Does anyone know if Sram's 11 speed cassette is the same width as Shimano 11?

earth

I have just started using SRAM Apex and have Shimano 6700 on the best bike.

Not exactly the comparison you are interested in but may be useful.

I'm impressed with Apex. It has a firm mechanical feel to shifting but it is good positive feedback and the shifts are quick. When spinning the drive train is almost silent. 6700 is noisy by comparison. Initially I had a few moments of surprise when I tried to push the brake lever to down shift instead of the gear lever but I adapted pretty quickly. The shifters are a good size and shape for my hands, which are on the small side, and I didn't need to use the reach adjustment to get to the lever. On the Ultegra's I use a shim.

The thing I am not so keen on with the SRAM shifters is they have put finger guides where you grip the shifter behind the lever, as if its the handle of a pistol. They are just about ok if you are bare handed or wearing mits but with full finger gloves they become restrictive. If I had larger hands I don't think I would like them at all.

Bar Shaker

I'm using Force cogs and cranks with Di2. Apart from being lighter, the Force chainrings and cranks also look a whole lot nicer than Ultegra.

No reason not to use an Ultegra rear cassette if the SRAM one doesn't give you the ratio and spacings that you are after.

Tjgoodhew

I am looking at a new bike and i have a very similar choice to make. Iv never used the Sram double tap system but love the look of the SRAM kit and the fact its lighter.

But can somebody explain how the double tap actually works. Iv searched for a youtube video but cannt seem to find one

banditvic

Purchased Sram force on offer a couple of weeks ago for Just over £600, haven't tried it yet but if it's just last years red with an extra gear, which i'm told it is I will be well chuffed. Thing is Probikekit are doing 6800 for £420 which is a no brainer.

diamonddog

Tjgoodhew wrote:

I am looking at a new bike and i have a very similar choice to make. Iv never used the Sram double tap system but love the look of the SRAM kit and the fact its lighter.

But can somebody explain how the double tap actually works. Iv searched for a youtube video but cannt seem to find one

Try this link it shows Shimano first then Sram, it's American so braking is opposite IIRC but shifting is left for front, right for back as UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I20wocqZRE

Grill

DA cables are amazing. Well worth the extra cash.

mitchgixer6

If you're still looking then Pro Bike Kit have the 6800 group for under £500 just now. You can use code RADAR15 to get an extra 15% off so brings it to £420. Now that's a good price!

bendertherobot

I commute on Apex all year round, I've owned Force, currently run Red on the best bike.

I'm not sure where the comments about Shimano being easy to index (in comparison) come from. Shimano is easy. But, equally, with SRAM, set the limit stops, click the lever all the way down, attach cable, done.

I've installed several rear mechs now, indexing is easy and remains in place.

Front mechs are rubbish mind. Just stick a dura ace one on or, as I've just done, the new SRAM Red Yaw.