(originally posted by Francois)

Move over Japan and Italy, the USA has come to play in the arena of high end road components. The Red groupset by Sram is pretty. It is advanced and innovative. It is light and it is expensive. 1928 grams and $2142 are its vital statistics.

Sram assembled an armada of ultra-expensive bikes that were all fitted with the Red groupset. They mapped out a 40-minute road loop near Bootleg Canyon, Nevada that was filled with climbs, rollers, descents and corners.

I’ve never ridden an Sram road groupset before and I’ve never ridden the Scott CR1 bike used for the test. The bike is a rocket! But that’s for a later story. The first thing that floors you with the Red groupset is the shifting. Click, Click, Click. Wow, it’s a totally new experience. The shape and feel of the carbon shift lever is just right. The action is light, short and precise. The shift is sharp and almost instantaneous. These downshifts are so fast and precise that they’re a bit addicting. Upshifting is best described as a ‘eureka’ experience. To upshift, you use the same lever and the same direction as downshifting. But go past the downshift point by a few millimeters and the shifter interprets it as a dowshift. It works and it is consistent. And it is guaranteed to deliver and amazed look to the rider’s face during this initial experience.

Under power, shifting worked fine. The front derailleur moved the chain through the front rings with little drama or noise. Braking was powerful and it was easy to modulate. There was no noise or vibration experienced during the ride. Power delivery through the drivetrain worked flawlessly.

So on our first ride, we were left mighty impressed. This group has substance and style.