Great shifters with good looks. What I like are the crisp shifting and easy braking. This is what one expects from this tier in SRAM. I do wish better graphics were on the shifters to standout, but that is just esthetic and not necessary in the grand scheme. What I hated with these and it is not a performance issue, but just something stupid by SRAM.....the fact a shifter/brake set come charged with DOT fluid!!!!! You have to bleed the darn things to install or at least for internal routed frames like my Cannondale SSE. Then you have to add it again and pressurize the system! Come on SRAM! Ship these dry! Ok.....off my soapbox. The D2 system is great!
I have been riding with SRAM's Organic/Steel brake pads for 4 years now. They are mostly quiet, as advertised and despite the description indicating that the braking power is not quite as high as other compounds, it is plenty strong for me. I can brake as hard as I would ever want.
Only downside may be the life of the pads. I find that they last about 3000 miles, which is less than a season for me. I haven't tried others, so I cannot compare.
This tool is perfect for shimano barbs but the ones Sram uses are actually threaded and a t8 torx size so this tool doesnt actually thread the sram barb into the hose end it simply presses it in. I have used it like this and it seems to work fine but not how sram designed their barbs to be installed. That being said if you shop around you can find 4mm T8 torx bits to replace the one that comes with this tool (T10) and install the sram barb as described by sram techs. Hope this helps...
Relatively simple upgrade (ideally you need a torque wrench) and provides accurate power numbers for a fraction of the cost of other systems. Equally, you can run any pedal system (road vs mtb, shimano spd vs crankbrothers vs keo etc). Pedal based power meter might be more versatile in switching between bikes, but that method means you are tied to a specific cleat system (does not exclude changing pedal body but that is costly and time consuming). So I have been running this power meter upgrade for several months with no data issues, drop outs or spurious numbers so very happy and would recommend.
