New bike/PM
I'm getting ready to purchase a Trek SC and will get a new PM as well. I'd like to get....
1- Thoughts about the bike vs other new bikes out..there are some really cool new framesets, I think the Trek is cleanest....
2- Been riding SRM and I really like it, but its almost 4k for the new wireless 7. Quarq a good bit less. Thoughts on pros/cons of each ? I'll have Shimano groupset.
Thanks in advance for input.
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Comments
1 - I like the speed concept the most out of the "super bikes" as it makes the most sense for a long course triathlete. The draft box and other features to keep it aero and haul all of our crap with us are very nice. Obviously fit is key so make sure one of their stems will fit you right. The only downside to the speed concept I have heard is the brakes can be a pain to work on and get dialed in. I also think it uses the Trek BB86, or something like that, BB so you may need an adater to run with the quarq or srm depending on which crank you pick. I think it is a great bike and I really hope the other manufactors follow and start to think more about long course triathletes instead of time trialist when designing bikes.
2 - I love my quarq. It has worked perfect since day 1 and battery changes take all of 10 seconds. I swap it between 3 different bikes and it takes about 2 minutes and allows me to ride any wheels I want. I highly recomend it. You can get a SRM crank only for a little over $2k which brings the price closer to Quarq as with both you need a headunit then.
I know you didn't ask, but the only way I would pick shimano is to get Di2, which is awesome. Otherwise I have had both 7800 and 6600 sets and sold both to by SRAM. In fact I like the sram rival more than the shimano DA.
What sort of head unit with Quarq ? Any issues with calibration ?
Currently riding SRAM Red on both bikes, not crazy about shifting quality. What turned you on Shimano ?
Great, if it fits, go with it. Of course, if you can ride one first. I would also make sure you are ok with the base bar as you are pretty much stuck with it unless you go with the stem adapter and then loss many of the benefits of the bike.
I have both a garmin edge 500 and forerunner 310 with the quarq and they work perfect for me. No issues and I like having 100% control of what is on the screen. The only thing I don't have is TSS/NP/IF, which everyone in the haus seems to now think is a must have but I do just fine without it.
The joule is highly recomended by many but it costs more and you have to add a speed sense for it to work wiht a quarq (and there are speed and distance issues).
I actually turned on shimano on my road bike first as the hoods just never felt comfortable to me and my hands always hurt. Plus I'm anal and don't like the shift cables sticking out. I put SRAM rival on my road bike with the same exact fit and the hand pain went away instantly, the cables under the bar tape looks so much better, and I like the double tap shifting. Plus rival costs well less than Ultegra and even 105.
Since I was so happy with the rival on my road bike I built my tri bike with Force. It worked well and I liked the way the TT900 shifters felt much more than the Shimano.
Last year, my bike came with all Red and the R2C shifters. I love the R2C shifters now as I used to have to lift my elbow or move around for the shifts at the extreme ends of the cassette. Now I just click though all the gears very easily. The inital setup of the shifters is a pain, but I mostly blame poor FD cable routing on my Ordu for that. Once they are working right though, they are great.
As far as Red/Force/Rival, I routinely ride all three and they are basically the same. If I had to buy a groupset, I would run the Zipp or Sram R2C shifters with Force or Rival for everything else, as I just don't notice the difference with Red. Of course if you get a deal on Red or it comes with the bike the cermanic bearings are nice.
The one other thing I have notices is the SRAM stuff seems to require to be setup and tuned more precisely. But when it is setup right it shifts awesome. For example with Shimano RDs you can have a good bit of play in the cable or have it adjusted wrong and it will still shift pretty good, but even if you get it perfect there always seems to be one or 2 gears that arn't quite right. I.E. the first 8 gears are shift perfect an the last 2 make noise, or the first 2 make noice but the rest work. The SRAM RD has a 1:1 cable pull ratio so once you get one gear dialed in perfectly it is the same across all 10. Sure you have to be more precise and get the cable tension exaclty right, but when you do it works so much better than Shamino IMO. Ofcourse take into account that I build and work on my own bikes and clean or tune them probably once a week.
A buddy just got the R2C shifters on the Trek SC and loves them. Will probably be a last minute call when I go in to order the damn thing.
Thanks for your insight.
Excellent notes from Matt. I too went from DA (older, probalby '06) to SRAM Red groupo on my road bike. The SRAM hoods position is MUCH more comfortable than my Shimano. No comparison. Ditto on the hidden cables, very clean. I also like the double tap but think that Shimano downshifts at little better than SRAM. And SRAM has an evil little feature. When you're in your climbing gear (small in the front, big in the back) and push the shifter to confirm that yes, you have indeed ran out of gears, SRAM will actually UPSHIFT you into a harder gear, as if to rub it in that, yes, you have run out of gears
I call that the "No Fun Button".