Input on SRAM Red

[kenyonchris]

I have Shimano ultegra on my Road...SRAM on my MTB. I agree with the long throw on the Shimano's left. I have small hands. I have learned to deal, I like the Shimano "ok"...I am a Campy girl at heart and am putting Campy on the new build, I have had Campy on bikes before. So for the Road it is Campy. I have ridden the Red on a road bike for a short distance to try it, and like it better on the left shifter, but it feels too mechanical for me in general on the road bike. However, I love it on my MTB, far better than the Shimano (I have had Shimano on MTBs before). It shifts very surely, very securely, even if I misjudge and wind up shifting hard on a climb (apologizing to the bike as I do it).
I read a review of the three (Campy Super Record, Shimano's upgraded 2009, and SRAM Red) and the biggest gripe the reviewer had with the Shimano was that the left shifter's engagement point required 1.7 inches of shift movement. I have found that to get a really clean shift, I have to push it over, pause a sec, then slowly release. I found this irritating when I first started with the double and ultegra stuff (as opposed to Campy) and took the bike back to my LBS and griped about it. They adjusted and messed with it, but in the end told me to deal. I have, and now it is just a part of the shifting action. I don't spend much time on the smaller chainring unless I am on a big hill, so it is not a huge issue for me, since my shifting to the larger is fairly infrequent.
I have had bikes with Dura-Ace stuff (both MT and road) and thought its performance on both was subpar for anything more than tooling about town.