On a leap of faith I spec'd my Geneo with SRAM RED. This was not an
option coming from Guru, but my shop worked out a reasonable deal for a
custom component group. I chose SRAM RED for three reasons; one I like
to be different; second I already had two Shimano compatible wheel sets
and did not want to go through the trouble of upgrading or replacing
those to Campy, and finally I had heard good things about SRAM RED. I
have used SRAM parts for mountain bikes in the past and have been
pleased with them, so what the heck.
It's not been quite a weeks since I have had my Guru Geneo but I have
spent about 10 hours on the bike since picking it up last Saturday.
After getting settled on the bike which took a day or two since my
riding position is a bit different, I have been putting SRAM through
some paces.
First the brakes. I have to say they are the smoothest brakes I have had on any bike. I am sure it has to do somewhat with the wheels I have. The brakes respond easily with using just one finger on the lever and so far work smoothly and silently.
The shifters are a bit different from the Shimano I am used to. However, they work just about the same aside from just needing to use the one lever instead of two. The actuation is a bit firm, but it may just need some more break-in time. Next week I plan on figuring out how to adjust the lever distance from the bar, apparently there are adjustments for both the gear change lever as well as the brake lever.
Not much I can think of to say about the crankset. By specification it is light and seems stiff. I'm a mere 140 lbs so I don't know that I could apply enough torque to get the thing to flex at all. It does look pretty, having carbon crank arms and all.
The front derailleur has needed a little adjustment since the first ride. Right out of the shop I think the cable slipped a little, which caused me a little distress on my first ride. In the small chainring, a 34, I can produce rubbing when crossing over to about the 13 or 14 (on a 11-23 cog). From the small chainring I don't believe I can trim the derailure at all. There is not a lot of rubbing, just enough to point out that maybe I should get in the big chain ring. From the big chain ring I can cross over to the 23 with no apparent rubbing, but I don't really like to do that.
The chain is interesting, it has pins that are hollow. I can see gunk building inside the hole down the middle of the pins. Not sure how I'll clean that. In the beginning the chain produced quite a bit of noise, but it seems to be breaking in now and the noise level is going down.
The rear derailleur is working quite awesome. Today I really put some standup load on and shifted in both directions. It never skipped a beat or complained, it just shifted. In combination with the Double Tap shifters the rear derailleur has so far proven to be crisp in execution under load or not. So far so good.
The cog is an interesting piece of work, I'm not sure if anyone makes one like the SRAM RED. It is CNC'd out of a single chuck of aluminum and then anodized. It proves to be super light weight and should be just as durable. Other than looking a little different, it definitely goes with the rest of the components.
First the brakes. I have to say they are the smoothest brakes I have had on any bike. I am sure it has to do somewhat with the wheels I have. The brakes respond easily with using just one finger on the lever and so far work smoothly and silently.
The shifters are a bit different from the Shimano I am used to. However, they work just about the same aside from just needing to use the one lever instead of two. The actuation is a bit firm, but it may just need some more break-in time. Next week I plan on figuring out how to adjust the lever distance from the bar, apparently there are adjustments for both the gear change lever as well as the brake lever.
Not much I can think of to say about the crankset. By specification it is light and seems stiff. I'm a mere 140 lbs so I don't know that I could apply enough torque to get the thing to flex at all. It does look pretty, having carbon crank arms and all.
The front derailleur has needed a little adjustment since the first ride. Right out of the shop I think the cable slipped a little, which caused me a little distress on my first ride. In the small chainring, a 34, I can produce rubbing when crossing over to about the 13 or 14 (on a 11-23 cog). From the small chainring I don't believe I can trim the derailure at all. There is not a lot of rubbing, just enough to point out that maybe I should get in the big chain ring. From the big chain ring I can cross over to the 23 with no apparent rubbing, but I don't really like to do that.
The chain is interesting, it has pins that are hollow. I can see gunk building inside the hole down the middle of the pins. Not sure how I'll clean that. In the beginning the chain produced quite a bit of noise, but it seems to be breaking in now and the noise level is going down.
The rear derailleur is working quite awesome. Today I really put some standup load on and shifted in both directions. It never skipped a beat or complained, it just shifted. In combination with the Double Tap shifters the rear derailleur has so far proven to be crisp in execution under load or not. So far so good.
The cog is an interesting piece of work, I'm not sure if anyone makes one like the SRAM RED. It is CNC'd out of a single chuck of aluminum and then anodized. It proves to be super light weight and should be just as durable. Other than looking a little different, it definitely goes with the rest of the components.
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