May I reopen a "SRAM or Shimano" discussion?

[Miranda]

I've tried SRAM and had one component that came stock on my roadie...not a fan...Shimano girl here.

In comparison to Shimano imo I think it shifts rough. And the SRAM chain that came stock on my roadie for some reason with my Shimano groupo was just junk. It was rough and made the bizarre squeaking noise. Once I swaped it out for a Shimano chain I never had the problem again.

I am not sure if the LBS gets more of a profit margin with SRAM? Seems like I've read that before somewhere. But they seem to push it. No thanks!

As far as the hand issue that keeps being mentioned... I have thin lady hands, weak grip, but long fingers. A guys size small glove in full fingers works best for me fwiw. However, I have the Shimano short reach shifters and have never had a problem. There is a way to shim them too.

Good Luck with your shopping!

[Jo-n-NY]

I was also one of those gals and only used Shimano for all my years on the bike. Mainly Ultegra & Dure Ace. When I won the Dolce there was no choice as it came with Sram Apex and wasn't sure if I would like it. The sales lady in the shop said it is very intuitive. She certainly was right. I found it to be snappier than Sram. My Amira with Sram Red changes gears in a real snappy way and really with both Apex & Red there is less effort in going from the lower chain ring to the top. If I had a choice at first I would have chose Shimano because that was all I knew and was comfortable. In this case I am glad the choice was made for me as I am very happy with the Sram. I also have small hands and fingers at 5'2".

[IBrakeforPastry]

Here's something else I just noticed. The SRAM cassette is 11-32, the Shimano is 12-30. Because it's hilly around here, and the season is short, I like the idea of the lower gear. Will the 32 be a noticeable difference over the 30? And will the wider gear spread make shifting rougher?

See what you ladies have done to me? I never would have cared too much about this stuff, other than "high gears" and "low gears". Now I'm really learning the nitty gritty and enjoying it! It's giving my math/science oriented brain some much needed exercise

[Crankin]

I have a Shimano cassette with an 11-34! It's a mountain bike cassette and it's perfect with the compact up front. They are compatible The difference between a 30 and 32 isn't much, but with the 34, I certainly can feel the difference between it and my other road bike that has a triple and an 11-28 cassette. At first, the wider gear spread on the compact did bother me, but after a few months (3-4) I found my groove and I really love the combo. I've had secret thoughts of changing out my other bike to this combo.