u/ericcoxtcu

I was on a pretty fast group ride yesterday with a local team - it just so happened most of the folks on the ride were a little older (all 45 plus). We weren't a huge group, but there were several masters category hitters on the ride. What surprised me as I looked around was the dominance of SRAM - Rival, Force, Red, and even one Red with rim brakes. The only Shimano bike in the group of 9 was older mechanical Dura Ace (though the polished Dura Ace crank was amazing).

It just seemed odd to me given that in 30 years of riding, I've seen the Shimano vs. Campagnolo battle settled by the dominance of Shimano in group rides and the eventual emergence of SRAM. I grew up on Shimano, and even 5-6 years ago, wouldn't consider SRAM. You still see people like Phil Gaiman rip on SRAM, and yet SRAM has come to dominate. My first SRAM bike was a gravel bike I got because the bike I wanted wasn't available with GRX. Now, I have SRAM on all but one road bike. I still really enjoy my Shimano Di2 bike (current back up road bike/travel bike), but if I were to buy a bike tomorrow, it would almost certainly be SRAM.

This is purely vibes based - I don't know what high end sales figures look like - but it sure seems like SRAM is the default choice for a lot of folks now, even older riders who probably grew up on Shimano like I did. To be clear, I still think Shimano is great, and I think Di2 shifts a little better than SRAM, but I prefer SRAM shift logic, shifter shape, removable batteries, chain control, and aesthetics.

So there is no real point to this post - just an observation.