For 2010 SRAM’s original top-end professional road gruppo, SRAM Force, reclaims the spotlight with exciting upgrades, lighter weight, while continuing to deliver race-proven performance.

The New SRAM Force admittedly borrows from SRAM’s professional RED gruppo, including race-inspired graphics, featuring its distinctive white logo against black carbon. The aluminum is anodized with a sleek ‘zephyr silver’ finish that sharpens the visual package. And, like RED, the SRAM logo will be featured on the inside of both crankarms.

SRAM Force moves to unidirectional (UD) carbon throughout, which adds strength and provides a better substrate for graphics. The aluminum parts of the gruppo are now forged, providing more strength,
lower weight, and a more robust finish.

Cont’d on Page 2 (more photos included)

Cervelo Diet - Ultimate Mods for the Ultimate Bike, the Cervelo R3 - By Twain Mein

I purchased a used Cervelo R3 frame from a poster in RoadBikeReview classifieds in March of 2008. Luckily, it was in mint condition and I got a great deal on a phenomenal frame & fork. The R3, though now 3 years old, is still one of the lightest available frames. The performance is amazing; the frame somehow combines incredible stiffness yet still has a buttery smooth ride. It does this by having massive down tube, chain stays, and bottom bracket. But it has very thin and compliant seat stays which help it to absorb shock. It is no exaggeration that this bike climbs like nothing else! It also descends incredibly well with a feeling of confidence I haven’t had in years. It feels as comfortable as an old steel frame yet climbs and accelerates like a super stiff aluminum one. It’s no wonder it’s won so many awards, including RoadBikeReview’s “Best of 2008” with an astounding 4.93 average rating. I freely admit that it doesn’t look drop dead “beautiful” but it is engineered for performance, sort of like a Porsche 911.

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Brisbane, Australia — Ahead of their forthcoming debut in the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, the Fly V Australia p/b Successful Living cycling team have finalised equipment sponsors for season 2009.

In announcing a comprehensive list of sponsors, team director, Chris White said, “We are privileged to be able to announce such a fabulous list of product partners for 2009. We are looking forward to working closely with our partners and assisting them with their respective research and development programs. We have chosen our team equipment carefully to ensure the team has the most advanced and dependable cycling equipment in the world at its disposal – this will give us a big advantage in events throughout 2009”.

Team Fly V Australia p/b Successful Living will ride Parlee frames for 2009. The team will work closely with Bob Parlee and his team who will continue their industry-leading R&D program to ensure Parlee cycles remain ahead of the pack in carbon fibre bicycle technology. The team will ride the Z4 for road races and training, and the TT for time trial events throughout 2009, with the frames’ renowned combination of strength, light weight and handling making them ideally suited to the demands of professional racing. “We think the Z4 is something special, its light weight means it’s ideal for climbing, descending and sprinting. The TT is an excellent time trial bike, its low drag design will give our riders a distinct advantage in the individual and team time trials we’re targeting during the season”, Chris White said.

Continuing the carbon theme, Team Fly V Australia p/b Successful Living will spend 2009 rolling on Edge Composite carbon fibre wheels. The team will ride Tubular 1 38mm hoops for road events, Tubular 1 68mm hoops for time trials, and Clincher 38mm hoops for training, giving team riders the perfect wheel for any situation and any event. Speaking about the partnership, Edge Composites founder Jason Schiers said, “Our carbon fibre technology is world leading and our proprietary moulding process creates a spoke interface that permits higher spoke tensions to be run. This enhances the durability of the wheel as a whole by limiting spoke fatigue and increasing durability, giving riders a significant advantage when they use our wheels.”

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SRAM Red 5-piece Component Upgrade - By Twain Mein

• Double Tap brake/shift levers
• Front and rear derailleurs
• SRAM PC-1090R chain
• SRAM Red cassette (11-26)
• Actual Cost - $1236

This is a review of the SRAM Red 5-piece upgrade. I’ve been sticking with Shimano 9-speed Dura Ace because I have 4 road bikes that I’m always switching components on. Plus, I haven’t really seen a compelling reason to switch my Dura Ace Octalink BB (175 grams) and FSA Superlight Cranks (522 grams) for the new-tech outboard bearing cranks; they aren’t significantly lighter and are a lot more expensive. However, I recently bought a new used Cervelo R3 and the weight-weenie bug struck hard. Plus, the 11-26 SRAM cogset seems like a great upgrade that lends a huge range of flexibility. Shimano offers only 11-23 or 12-25. And the Red component group is rumored to be much lighter. It was time to upgrade to 10 speed. Plus I pooled my 42nd birthday funds to afford the upgrade.

Cost/Benefit
Below is pricing and weights from the Excel Sports web site (as of 9/29/08). Last year’s Dura Ace and Campy Record 10-speed currently have steep discounts while the new Dura Ace and Campy 11-speed have big premiums as they are being introduced. SRAM Red is in between; more expensive than the 2008 models but less expensive than the 2009 models. But lighter than all. Kudos to SRAM for forcing the competition to go back to the drawing board. This being said, the original Dura Ace 9 Speed has certainly stood the test of time and is a remarkable value for price and weight.

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.