Once you’ve found the right family and platform for your riding style, goals and budget, it’s time for the last step! Choosing a model is mostly about smaller preferences you may have regarding componentry, but for many, it’s about price.
One last choice you may have here is choosing between SRAM and Shimano, the biggest players in the road drivetrain space. They make the brakes, gears and shifters on all of our road bikes.
Both have dedicated followings, and you can’t go wrong with either (despite what some all-caps forum posts may say). If you’re trying to decide between SRAM and Shimano drivetrains, take a bike with each drivetrain for a test ride to reveal your preference.