Groupset to suit this Kinesis frame?

[Citius]

adequate for what?

 

[Milzy]

adequate for what?

club races.

 

[Citius]

Yes - perfectly adequate. One of our race bikes here is on Apex. It all works just fine.

 

[woohoo]

I have Athena because I prefer the hood shape to Shamano Ultegra / 105 ...

But the Athena Power Torque chainset in a crap design. You need £100+ of special tools to remove the crank (no self extracting bolts) and change the bearings. When I have to do this (probably quite soon because I also have BB30), I'm getting the LBS to remove the crank and then I'm replacing it with a Praxis BB + Ultegra chainset.

 

[Milzy]

I have Athena because I prefer the hood shape to Shamano Ultegra / 105 ...

But the Athena Power Torque chainset in a crap design. You need £100+ of special tools to remove the crank (no self extracting bolts) and change the bearings. When I have to do this (probably quite soon because I also have BB30), I'm getting the LBS to remove the crank and then I'm replacing it with a Praxis BB + Ultegra chainset.

I also prefer the hood shape. It's just that people say changing down is a bit clunky & shifting isn't so smooth. I have a bike mechanic to take care of tooling issues so that doesn't put me off. The silver Athena would look amazing on that frame too. The feel has to come before looks though.

 

[Crandoggler]

Do you think rival 22 will be adequate as Force seems pricey?

Absolutely, I have rival. Have a read of some reviews. Everyone says it functions as if it were the Red series, the difference is weight and of course materials used. I personally can't believe that people would choose shimano over SRAM.

Here's a list of what I like about it:
- Double tap, it's so intuitive. You press once for a change up, press once, twice for a change down. You can even press fully across to the left to change down 2 gears. As for changing up, it's like rapid fire on a MTB. Extremely accurate and fast shifting.
- Shifters are not part of the brake, they're proper paddles which can be moved totally independently.
- Adjustment - so easy, just 2 Allen keys and 20 seconds later the shifter is moved.
- Noise. Not to everyone's taste, but when you change up (especially) you get a very satisfying and slick thump/click. It's quite a mechanical feeling and noise. I love it.
- Yaw front dérailleur is so worth it, no more trimming on the shifters. The FD yaws to accommodate the chain on any gear and in any combination. Marvellous when you're happy spinning the big ring in a not so ideal gear combination.

The only notable difference I could find that I didn't like at first was the width of the hood. They're slightly slimmer than shimano. But that takes all of 10 minutes to get accustomed to.

Genuinely, a good/great groupset. And happily sits between 105 and Ultegra in pricing. Functionality in shimano terms is roughly between 105 and Ultegra, however many believe it to be on par with Ultegra.

Try to find a bike with it on and have a poodle about.

Ps. Sorry for the long post.

 

[Milzy]

Absolutely, I have rival. Have a read of some reviews. Everyone says it functions as if it were the Red series, the difference is weight and of course materials used. I personally can't believe that people would choose shimano over SRAM.

Here's a list of what I like about it:
- Double tap, it's so intuitive. You press once for a change up, press once, twice for a change down. You can even press fully across to the left to change down 2 gears. As for changing up, it's like rapid fire on a MTB. Extremely accurate and fast shifting.
- Shifters are not part of the brake, they're proper paddles which can be moved totally independently.
- Adjustment - so easy, just 2 Allen keys and 20 seconds later the shifter is moved.
- Noise. Not to everyone's taste, but when you change up (especially) you get a very satisfying and slick thump/click. It's quite a mechanical feeling and noise. I love it.
- Yaw front dérailleur is so worth it, no more trimming on the shifters. The FD yaws to accommodate the chain on any gear and in any combination. Marvellous when you're happy spinning the big ring in a not so ideal gear combination.

The only notable difference I could find that I didn't like at first was the width of the hood. They're slightly slimmer than shimano. But that takes all of 10 minutes to get accustomed to.

Genuinely, a good/great groupset. And happily sits between 105 and Ultegra in pricing. Functionality in shimano terms is roughly between 105 and Ultegra, however many believe it to be on par with Ultegra.

Try to find a bike with it on and have a poodle about.

Ps. Sorry for the long post.

Thanks for the post, I may go with this & I'll have more money for a better wheel set. Win!!!

 

[vickster]

SRAM Rival 22 is very good

You can get for sub £350 on eBay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Sram-...459f0ae&pid=100011&rk=2&rkt=7&sd=371344331873

You can even make an offer to get a few quid off

 

[Milzy]

As I've decided to convert some spare hand built wheels to 11 speed I can now budget more for the group set. So SRAM Force it is. Which is basically Red but about 200g heavier. I can't wait now, I need to pick out some bars with a stem.

 

[Milzy]

I changed my mind and bought some unused 105 parts from a mate. Nice little bike for little money.