I have the Shimano short reach shifters and love them. I test rode a bike with SRAM and I hated it. It would have been cheaper, and lighter the lbs pointed out. But, still not worth it imho. I felt the SRAM was: 1) a lot of reach, 2) harder tension to brake & hurt my hands, 3) did not like the double tap system, and 4) the shifting was rough compared to Shimano. It's an awful feeling having to 'think' about a function of your bicycle's performance that should be second nature. Hope it all works out for you in the end.