Shimano 105 or SRAM Rival 22?

I'm thinking about making the upgrade from downtube shifters to a modern setup - question is whether to go with the 5800 105, or Rival 22.

I've got fairly small hands (medium gloves), so the size of shifters is a concern. You can pick up both sets for a similar price, so it's more about the ergonomics and quality for me. The new four bolt 105 chainset looks rather tasty, but then I like the idea of SRAM's doubletap system.

Anyone here have experience with either gruppo?

http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/141412/newest/

Rival 22 is £200 more pretty much everywhere though?

I have quite small hands too and the new 105 levers feel similar in size to 10 speed Rival shifters.

Ribble have the 105 for £279 and the Rival 22 for £316. You can get some excellent prices on most sets at the moment, Ultegra is only £432!

That's interesting that the shifters feel similar - I've never tried SRAM but they look smaller than Shimano in the pictures. How did you find doubletap vs sti?

Sram is lighter.

have you checked on merlin cycles, some keen prices there

Isn't there already a groupset thread?

Sram is better for smaller hands.

Deal with the new 105 a lot at work, took one of our demo bikes out the other week and have to say it is nice but not as nice as Sram. Sram has a far more positive feel when selecting a gear and as mentioned it is lighter than Shimano's 105, it depends on what bike you will be using it on and budget. Shimano is cheaper, it is also far more readily available. You can walk into most respectable bike shops and pick up a replacement part, Sram would probably have to be ordered as most Sram stuff on stock tends to be their MTB kit. The double tap is great, means no flappy brake lever! Go test ride some bikes with the new 105 and Rival 22, see which you prefer.

Cheers for the advice @chris_tim, I ended up going for SRAM in the end!

I could only find Shimano to try out locally, and the width of the lever and weirdly low pivot point of the levers put me off. The paddle also looked a bit small so it might be tricky with gloves, so SRAM it is!

I'm also trying to decide between sram force 22 and ultegra. Thing is i've had two sram gear leavers snap on me within two years! First the right went and was replaced on warranty. But the left snapped not long ago(outside of warranty). A friend in the industry told me this is common with sram leavers, especially rival ("rival is made of cheese!"). I just hope sram have addressed the issue! I personally prefer double tap and the new force 22 looks real nice! Would be great to hear some info regarding this matter from a sram rep.

What would/could they say? Other than "we fixed that for sure- no problems now!"