August 6th, 2008 by 
cooper
SRAM Rival Pro Review - By Steve Cooper
Component Weights as listed on SRAM website
- DoubleTap shifter/brake levers: 340 grams
- Rear Derailleur: 188 grams
- Front Derailleur: 102 grams (band clamp version tested)
- Compact Crankset with BB: 830 grams
- Brakeset: 287 grams/pair
- MSRP: $899
The temptation to introduce melodramatic themes into a SRAM Rival review is great. There’s the classic road group rivalry between Shimano and Campy, with SRAM, the plucky upstart, ratcheting up tensions as it jumps into the fray. For colorful metaphors you could draw comparisons with major religions, game platforms, and even burger joints. But this is a review focusing on function, not the fancy; it’s practical stuff, so let’s get down to it.
SRAM unveiled their first complete road component groups, Force and Rival, at the Sea Otter Classic in spring of 2006. New terminology was introduced to the road cyclist’s lexicon such as DoubleTap shifters, 1:1 Exact Actuation and OpenGlide cassettes. The product launch was well managed, well hyped and made plenty of buzz in the cycling press and in the race community. Following the success of Force and Rival, in spring 2007 SRAM announced Red, an evolutionary step beyond Force that was clearly a shot at Dura Ace and Record. Ultimately, over the last two and half years, SRAM has pried loose a strangle hold maintained by the road bike industry’s two dominating forces behind road components. And that opening has sparked many comparisons between the entrenched and the untried.
As SRAM’s entry point into their family of road components, Rival is graced with many of the important new features in their more expensive bits but at a bargain price. List price for the front and rear derailleurs, shifters, brake set, crankset, bottom bracket, chain and cassette lists around $1000 USD, with deeply discounted deals for those willing to hunt around. At Rival’s affordable price point, you could build-up a race-ready crit or cross bike that could be ridden “no-regrets aggressive” in even the sketchiest pack.
For our review, we selected a 50/34 compact crankset in 175 with a 12-26 OG-1070 cassette and a PC-1070 HollowPin chain.
August 27th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Wow, I think I’m in love with the shifter…
September 4th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Just installed Rival on a CX bike. It took a couple rides to get the front derailleur adjusted properly, but with that behind me, I love the build! My only other complaint is the manpower needed to shift up to the big chainring. Overall the shifts feel smoother and faster than my ultegra / DA road bike. I’m sold.
September 25th, 2008 at 5:23 am
The 2008 Rival brake/shifters are lighter than the competitors product, the build quality is good, the levers and top of hood ‘feel’ are better than most others, shifting across a Sram cassette is good, but..too much user effort/travel of left shifter lever is required to move the chain onto the large chain ring. This is the downfall of an otherwise fine setup. The 2009 Sram Rival shifters have addressed this shortcoming by incorporating the features of the Sram Red Shifters. If the extra effort and travel required to move your chain onto the big ring doesn’t bother you - save some dollars and pickup the 2008 Rival brake/shifters as they are going to be discounted as the 2009 Sram Rival brake/shifters become the more desired component.
p.s. those unfinished rivet on the reviewed Pedal Force frame look pathetic in comparison to premier frame makers such as those by Look of France.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:10 am
I have about 3K miles on a rival build. I love it. I just built another bike using Force components. i’ll never go back to shimano.
October 30th, 2008 at 6:41 am
I have swapped the Rival group (less cassette) I bought onto my Scott Cr1 SL race bike which had DA 7800. It might not have the qudos of top kit but it sure works. Front shift is not a problem worth going on about as it only happens now and then.
November 5th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
With the exception of the new Doubletap levers, I wish 2009 Rival had kept the same polished finish as 2008. To me, the black actually has a cheaper look than the polished finish.
Everything else is a great improvement, and I also applaud SRAM for making an affordable 180mm crankset in the Rival group. My friend who is new to riding (and is 6′9″) got these to replace the 175mm 105 compact cranks on his Trek 2.3 this year and is happy with them. I do wish that SRAM could do this with their Red group though too, like Campy and Shimano do with their top-end groups. I’m ending up with 177.5mm Red cranks to replace the 180mm Dura-Ace 9spd cranks I had (I’m 6′4″ with a long inseam, myself).
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:56 pm
The shifters on the Force sound great … The ‘Double Tap system’ seems to be well thought through and works well. SRAM chains are the best you can get and I think the cassettes are of an equal quality, they look good http://www.bikecyclingreviews.com/faq/SRAM_update.html
June 4th, 2009 at 10:32 am
came with my Bianchi. I must say, I test rode before I bought and now after having it daily, it’s even better than I thought. I was imagining I’d have to get Sram Red to have this type of feel. The Rival does it all right now. Now need for Red unless I want weight reduction. The brakes, great modulation. Shifters…they fit my smaller hands perfectly. The tester has VL hands so you can see they’re for everyone. And I love that perfect shifting action when you want it….now, instant. And to downshift 2, 3 even 4 at a time….outstanding.
I may eventually get Red to bring my bike to under 16 pounds but as it is, that may be awhile if at all. I’m in love with these components right out of the box. And to think the 09 are even better..