I like the older look. When I bought my set I wanted that look. I wanted to paint the red to purple or blue to match my bike.
Having much older shifters has issues I noticed.
The right shifter spool is worn badly on mine. Im planning to order the ratio 12 speed gear and spool. My shifters are very dirty and need cleaning inside. The tiny screws are worn making maintenance a pain not to strip them.
I'd just check your shifters that the spools, teeth are good, and no gunk.
I actually got the old style shifters as new old stock from an lbs about a year ago, so no issues with those. I got them complete with hydraulic rim brakes but swapped those out for disc calipers. The newer ones are second-hand, but also in great condition as far as I can tell. Very low miles.
Thanks for your input! You gave me something to think about. The older version is probably in better condition.
I:m thinking about ordering the Ratio kit as well, but it will still be a big investment when I account for a new XD freehub, cassette and chain so this will have to wait a little bit more
Ooh I wonder how hard it would be to repaint the color accents...that sounds cool. I've seen a limited edition version of this groupset with green accents that was also quite nice.