SRAM, whats the general consensus?

Aha, the Rapha approach, eh?

lol..... that thread/rapha has clearly eaten into my psyche

I looked into this while being seduced by the Planet-X titanium DA or Red builds. As you would expect its a bit of a personal taste thing, although a few points I noticed were:

The rear mech of the Red group is sometimes claimed to be a bit flexy, affecting shift speed - This was a non issue for me as I would'nt be racing.

The front mech of the Red group is often swapped out for a force mech by racers due to a dislike of the flexiness.

The Red group is lighter.

The Red group comes with ceramic bearings as standard.

The new shape DA levers are very comfy to hold. This swong it for me as I would looking at long hours in the saddle.

I read good point regarding the ease in which you keep shifting with the Sram levers while moving from hoods to bends (good for sprinters? I would'nt know).

The new DA cable routing is not universlly popular. Demonstrated by people like Hushovd using the old levers in the 2009 TdF.

Most of these considerations are non-issues for non-racers though. I would have gone with DA in the end, as it would possibly offer more comfort and reliability. Probably barely any difference though.

super record FTW
Word.

The new DA cable routing is not universlly popular. Demonstrated by people like Husevold using the old levers in the 2009 TdF.

Agree with 99% of your story, but the example of Hushovd is a bad one.
Cervelo didn't have a sponsor deal with Shimano, but bought the stuff.
Early season 2009 (perhaps end 2008), the new levers were not so widely spread.
So, most Cervelo team bikes were equipped with old style levers.
Perhaps it's true that Thor insited to continue riding the older ones, but the statement of the team is that they used the older ones, just because they didn't have anything else at the time the bikes were put together.

Overall goes: pros ride whatever they get. Don't worry to swap equipment every year.
Mostly just the hobby riders and wannabe pro's are so picky about their equipment.
Same people that can feel handling difference between 2 bikes with 0.5° head angle or 5mm trail difference... or difference in stiffness or compliance between 2008 and 2009 bikes...

SRAM are shit, the reason why I went SS/fixed

Agree with 99% of your story, but the example of Hushovd is a bad one.

The notion that some pros had requested to stick to the old DA levers comes up alot on roadie forums.

The Hushovd example simply comes from me remembering seeing the Cavendish/Hushovd* sprint offs.

Always looked odd that such a techy team as cervelo would'nt have the latest levers.

(spelt correctly by me for once ;S )

Same people that can feel handling difference between 2 bikes with 0.5° head angle or 5mm trail difference... or difference in stiffness or compliance between 2008 and 2009 bikes...

The stiffness increases that are often quoted in % are damn near scary sometimes (10 - 15 - 20 % WTF!).

Makes you feel inadequate for not being to detect it. Leading to a few examples of 'emperors new clothes' syndromes I suspect.

10 years down the line, do we still think Sram is shit?

Every time I do a proper off road ride and get a bit muddy, my Rival 1x shifting ends up all over the place.

Is it normal to have to adjust gearing after every single demanding ride?

Rode a bike with SRAM for the first time in my life couple months back. Double tap stinks. /csb.

sounds strange, in my experience i would describe rival 1x11 speed shifting and indexing as "bombproof"

10 years down the line, do we still think Sram is shit?

Yes. I'm reminded of how bad it is every time I ride a road bike with SRAM. Particularly one with a front derailleur.

No complaints about Force 1 x shifting here. Brakes are strong as well

i'm quite fond of the double tap, especially on the 1x with the clutch derailleur. I assume if you were a perfect cadence chaser you'd be infuriated by it as you can over swing when shifting quite easily, especially when tired. never noticed any dropped gears and it's safe to say the only time the RD gets touched is when it's with the bike people (ashamedly)

a lot of my friends shudder at the thought of it who have used shimano for most their riding lives, but being newer to riding geared bikes without muscle memory i've found it quite intuitive/ utilitarian for my needs.

SRAM Force 1x is really reliable. Had mix of rival and apex before, and that and was total plop - was 2nd hand knackered set up though

I have SRAM on my gravel bike. I regret getting SRAM on my gravel bike.

No problem with Rival 1x on my gravel/commuter thing, building up a road bike with force 2x10 atm.