Today’s Drivetrains: Who Are The Good Makers

[trailrunner]

They’re all good. Even the lowest end Shimano stuff is reliable and durable, perhaps even more than the high end stuff in some cases, and close to the top of the line components I started out with 25 years ago. As long as you don’t buy your bike from Wal Mart, you don’t need to worry too much about different brands. For a touring bike I would stick to Shimano or SRAM since parts might be easier to find if I were to ever have a problem out in the middle of nowhere.

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[Judd]

I have three bikes. One has low end Shimano Claris, one has low end Shimano Sora and one has Shimano Ultegra. The Ultegra drivetrain feels a lot smoother and very rarely has a clunky shift. I probably wouldn’t buy anything with something lower than an Ultegra drivetrain, although I have never ridden something with a 105 groupset on it.

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[dkel]

Gates Carbon Drive. Smooth as butter, silent as the night. You have to choose what type of IGH or SS—or fixed!—hub you want to run with it, because Gates doesn’t make that stuff.

[DismalScientist]

Suntour barcon shifters and Cyclone deraileurs.
Just avoid the Heliomatic freewheels.:rolleyes:

[Emm]

I’ve had great luck with Shimano–I have ultegra on one bike, 105 on another, and alfine on another.

Personally, I wouldn’t go for less than 105 on a road bike I really planned to ride long and far. I currently have that set up on my commuter and it works very well. It’s reliable, shifts much smoother than an old bike I had with shimano tiagra, which on longer commutes make a real difference. Ultegra rides smoother and shifts crisper, but it is pricey enough I’m happy to keep it on my fancier road bike for long distance weekend rides, since replacing chains and cassettes adds up quick.

Another important question–do you want a triple, double or compact chain ring? I find that is one of those things that makes a big difference on my rides–especially hilly ones, and it can also impact how easy it would be to replace parts if you’re touring.

[vvill]

For touring, etc. I would go with Shimano just for more universal serviceability, and durability. SRAM is probably fine too but I think there’s a few more plastic pieces? I’m actually not really sure, as I don’t have much experience with their stuff.

I’ve ridden Sora, Tiagra, 105 and Ultegra – any of those are fine in my book. My 9-speed Tiagra right shifter is probably one of the smoothest shifters I’ve ever had. The MTB/flat bar stuff is fine too if you aren’t riding dropbars.

Belt drive is nice in theory, but I would want to bring a spare belt (which isn’t that easy to pack). I know some folks have toured very successfully on belt drive but they do bring a spare belt since there’s no way of repairing a broken one.

[americancyclo]

I hear Rene Herse makes some pretty good stuff.

Seriously though, it might be worth checking out and meeting up with some of the DC Randonneurs to ask them and see what they have on their bikes.

http://www.dcrand.org/dcr/

[hozn]

I can’t comment on applicability to touring, but agree that generally you can’t go wrong with modern technology.

I had old-school Ultegra (with external shifter cables) and that was a really light-touch shifting groupset. Then I had SRAM Rival on my road bike and while it takes a bit more effort to shift (and front shifting is not as nice), I love the “thunk” “thunk” positive-feedback on rear shifts. The 1:1 pull ratio is probably to thank there (on MTB I switched to SRAM for the 1:1 pull ratio after having terrible luck with Shimano shifting mucking up in races — never looked back).

I had Shimano 105 for awhile on my commuter, but I felt like after a few thousand miles on the drivetrain the shifting was just so sloppy (yeah, I would fiddle with the adjustments regularly to try to get it to improve). Since using that 105 drivetrain for a couple years I, probably unfairly, decided that I was not a fan of Shimano shifting and I replaced it with Apex (and then slowly upgraded to Rival cranks, X-9 MTB 10sp rear derailleur, and Force+S700 hydro brakes). The other reason I moved to SRAM was because I had problems with my Shimano brake levers and was dismayed that you can’t get service parts for Shimano levers. (I used superglue which fixed them well enough in that case.) I have only really taken advantage of serviceability once when I replaced the shift paddle and brake lever on my Force front lever/brake when I broke them in a crash.

If I don’t do 1x on my road bike, I’m strongly considering switching back to Shimano Ultegra given the positive community feedback on their hydraulic brake system. Basically the hydro brakes are the most important thing to me now about the groupset and Shimano has a strong reputation there. (And I love my Shimano SLX brakes, so if their road offerings provide the same sort of progressive feel and modulation, I think that would be an improvement over SRAM — though I really can’t complain about SRAM either.) Also, Shimano is good for folks with larger hands. My SRAM Force (non-hydro) levers really feel too small — especially when the roads get rough. And finally, Shimano Ultegra is a *lot* cheaper than SRAM Force or Rival — at least when considering gray market sourcing (order from UK).

[jabberwocky]

Pretty much everything out there is good now. For touring, I’d stick to mid-range (higher end stuff gets expensive and lighter but I don’t think its any more reliable). My touring bike is a mix of 9 speed shimano MTB and road components.

It does depend on where you intend on touring. In the US? You can be pretty flexible. I mean, worst case you have to wait for a day or two for a part to arrive. Planning on touring in other countries? You want to really look at everything from the perspective of “how easy will it be to field repair this if I can’t get parts”. Probably bar end shifters, robust MTB derailleurs, cup and cone hubs, etc.

@dkel 146374 wrote:

Gates Carbon Drive. Smooth as butter, silent as the night. You have to choose what type of IGH or SS—or fixed!—hub you want to run with it, because Gates doesn’t make that stuff.

I’m not sure I would for a touring bike. Belts are a pain to repair and you simply won’t find them anywhere. Chains are pretty universal. Plus, I know a lot of people who have snapped belts (I think all my MTB friends who tried belt drive are back to chains because they couldn’t get belts to hold up).

[ShawnoftheDread]

@hozn 146380 wrote:

I have only really taken advantage of serviceability once when I replaced the shift paddle and brake lever on my Force front lever/brake when I broke them in a crash.

How hard was the repair? I have a right apex lever with a broken shift mechanism but can bring myself to attempt it.

[hozn]

@ShawnoftheDread 146386 wrote:

How hard was the repair? I have a right apex lever with a broken shift mechanism but can bring myself to attempt it.

It really wasn’t bad — I had to use some smaller tools (a little screwdriver? maybe tiny needle-nose? don’t remember exactly) to get in there and pop off the c-clip but I think that was about as bad as it got. Universal Cycles stocks repair parts (warning: the parts may not always be cheaper than picking up a used lever on ebay, but probably for Apex you’ll be ok!). I haven’t actually gotten into the shift mechanism itself, but the experience left me with the sense that SRAM stuff is designed to be fixable, which was a nice feeling.

[TwoWheelsDC]

If you buy an Italian bike it must be equipped with a Campagnolo groupset*. That was actually in the bible at one point, but got removed by one of the French popes during that whole Avignon Papacy unpleasantness. Sad!

*pay no attention to the SRAM components on my Cinelli…you don’t know my life!!

[dkel]

@jabberwocky 146381 wrote:

Belts are a pain to repair and you simply won’t find them anywhere. Chains are pretty universal. Plus, I know a lot of people who have snapped belts (I think all my MTB friends who tried belt drive are back to chains because they couldn’t get belts to hold up).

Belts are not repairable at all, as far as I know. A touring setup won’t put the same kind of punishment to a belt as MTB, and the only people I’ve heard complain about belts are MTBers. These days, an IGH is going to be very resilient and almost entirely maintenance free, which is good for touring (in theory), but repairing one in the wild…I don’t think so! I guess the belt/IGH combination for touring would depend on how much you’re willing to rely on your components. (Honestly, I just threw it out there because it’s interesting new technology that finally has most of its kinks worked out; I don’t think I would choose it for touring myself.)

[Harry Meatmotor]

@hozn 146388 wrote:

It really wasn’t bad — I had to use some smaller tools (a little screwdriver? maybe tiny needle-nose? don’t remember exactly) to get in there and pop off the c-clip but I think that was about as bad as it got. Universal Cycles stocks repair parts (warning: the parts may not always be cheaper than picking up a used lever on ebay, but probably for Apex you’ll be ok!). I haven’t actually gotten into the shift mechanism itself, but the experience left me with the sense that SRAM stuff is designed to be fixable, which was a nice feeling.

I’ve repaired a few – they’re quite easy to fix. Kind of in between Campy (easy) and Shimano (impossible), but closer to Campy.

[Jason]

Sorry to necro post.

Avoid all Shimano 10 speed. This was their first effort with running the cables under the bar tape. Shifting is terrible on these, needing adjustment every 100 miles or less. At least when I had it. This was on all original models of 105, ultegra, dura ace. Shimano fixed this problem with 11 speed by running the cable entry differently into the hoods. Other than that, for me Shimano Mechanical all the way, 8, 9, or 11 speed. Also, I like all shimano groupset, down to the brakes and crankset (which are two places that bike manufacturers usually chintz out).

Eventually SRAM may eventually change all that with Etap, but I would want to wait a few years (or more) to see about reliability/durability. I don’t understand having Shimano DI2 with electrical cables. If you are going to have cables anyway, why not just stay with mechanical groupset.

[Author]

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