This weekend I had the pleasure of riding Orbea's '07 Opal complete with Sram's new Force road group.  Orbea is apparently the first bike brand to work out a deal with Sram.  You can currently get eight '06 road bikes or the '07 Opal or Aqua (hydroformed Columbus aluminum paired with carbon stays) built with Sram components.  The coolest thing though about Orbea is its made to order program.  You can now build 10 of its road framesets with your selection of Sram, Campy or Shimano drivetrains, Mavic, Shimano, Rolf or Zipp wheels and specify the size and make of your bar, stem and saddle from the choices available.  Orbea gets a perfect 10 for having the very best method of buying complete bikes on the market.  The bike pictured is a '07 Opal with the components I selected from the made to order program (sorry about the reflection on the Ksyrium ES wheels, it could not be avoided). (Please note that Orbea's web site has not been updated to show either the Sram components, Zipp wheels or '07 framesets in its Made to Order section.  If you are interested in the same, you will need to contact your local dealer.)

This will be a short review since I have only used the group for two rides.  Sram Force is outstanding.  It looks great and performs flawlessly.  Its shifts are super-fast and require little effort.  At first blush, it's easily as good as Dura-Ace 10.  The shifting is very similar to Dura-Ace 10 and after two days of riding, I'd say I like it better.  Nevertheless, I wouldn't replace a perfectly good Dura-Ace 10 speed drivetrain just to get the Sram. 

The real difference in the two is the shape and feel of the hoods and the fact that you use one lever to shift instead of two.  The hoods are very similar to the size, shape and feel of Campy hoods (which in my book is a good thing) and I love the cable free front end (again, a la Campy).  The Sram shifts with only the inside lever while Shimano uses both (Campy uses the inside lever and a thumb operated button for shifting).  With Sram, you tap the inside lever until it clicks once to up-shift and until it clicks a second time to downshift – note that the gears don’t shift until you release the lever.  You can downshift several gears at once by swinging the lever as far as possible.  I like how the Sram up-shifts but it is very similar to Shimano and Campy - except when sprinting where it is clearly superior.  Downshifting a single gear is quick but I wish it were a little quicker.  My favorite aspects of the shifting are that you only use one lever and up-shifting is quicker. My least favorite aspect of the shifting is, since I don't have long fingers, downshifting with my middle finger instead of my hand (or thumb) requires a little bit of a stretch.

The front shifter works just the opposite, downshifting requires one click and up-shifting requires two.  It will take a lttle more time before I can determine if I prefer Sram shifting on the front chainrings.

The brake calipers are beautiful, work perfectly and are under 300g.  Finally, someone has made a brake caliper I’m willing to use over my increasingly finicky Zero Gravity OGs.  Yes, the Sram’s are 100g heavier, but they are just as good looking, work better and are much easier to install and adjust.

The cranks work flawlessly and along with the front and rear derailleurs, are also very attractive.  I am particularly fond of the look of the rear derailleur, but all of the parts combined are better looking than either the entire Campy Record Carbon or Shimano Dura-Ace 10 groups.

I'll write a more descriptive review as soon as possible.  For now, though, I am extremely pleased with the group from top to bottom and will plan on using it as my primary road group.

KDG