You have to give SRAM credit for building suspense around their new shifters. Cyclingnews and VeloNews both now have explanations of how they work, but for me the suspense is not quite over. I think the shifters look pretty good, but I will reserve judgment until I get a chance to try them in person (note to people that I know: buy these shifters so that I can try them in person). Off the top of my head, the idea of the same lever moving the derailleur two different directions, depending on how far in you push it, kind of bothers me. Then again, when I was still using downtube shifters and STI was brand new, I was skeptical about it as well. I thought that the new system would cause me to accidentally brake while trying to shift. That has never happened to me, so I will give SRAM the benefit of the doubt. Masiguy has tried them and reports that they work very well, so hopefully others will have the same results.

Based purely on aesthetics, I still like Dura-Ace shifters the best. I like the aggressive styling of the DA levers, especially when viewed from the side. The SRAM shifters look nice, and I do like the hidden cables, but DA 10 is still the best looking grouppo out there in my opinion. If I had to list the three top end road groups in my order of preference, I would say Dura-Ace, SRAM, and then Record. Of course that ranking might change when I see what the new SRAM group feels like. In any case, I am glad to see them giving Shimano and Campy some competition. For the consumer it will mean better, more innovative products from all three companies in the future.