GuyBoden
Guru
- Location
- Warrington
DELETED
Last edited:
DELETED
- Thread starter GuyBoden
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Nice! With a 24/32 bottom gear you will be equipped to tackle any of the hills on my lumpier forum rides, so you should come over for a few of them... 
(I will be coming over to Cheshire a couple of times this year and hope to see you there.)
(I will be coming over to Cheshire a couple of times this year and hope to see you there.)
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Haha, I hope to be too - I have only cycled 114 km (71 miles) since Christmas!
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I haven't fitted mine yet because that bike is out of action until its fork has been replaced (safety recall).
- Location
- London
Iasn't that Spa triple an UPgrade?
bonzobanana
Guru
Modern Sora definitely an upgrade even if it is heavier because of the triple chainset. It's really about use as well I mean if you had a Dura Ace road bike and changed it to Claris that would be an upgrade if you were touring with the bike. Claris would be much more reliable at shifting and the wear rates would be lower and again Claris has a triple option for a wider range of gears. Claris is often recommended for touring and some people even use friction shifters just so they can compensate for cable stretch or friction on the bike without having to stop etc.
I totally accept if your goal is to make the bike lighter and faster then higher end groupsets make sense but not every cyclist is obsessed with speed many are more practical.
I totally accept if your goal is to make the bike lighter and faster then higher end groupsets make sense but not every cyclist is obsessed with speed many are more practical.
DCBassman
Guru
- Location
- The lumpy far South West
Not a downgrade, more a change of use.
Saracenlad
Senior Member
- Location
- Mattersey. Nottinghamshire.
Well done. all looking good. Love the chainset.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Sorry, disagree. Vintage Shimano 600 and Dura ace user here. Wouldn't be seen dead with claris. 👅
bonzobanana
Guru
That's more brand or groupset snobbery than a practical analysis. Claris is very decent, reliable and long life. Steel cassettes, re-usable quicklinks etc. It's a great groupset for touring. You don't really need to fine tune your cadence on a touring bike and the groupset weight difference is insignificant if you are carrying a huge amount of touring equipment. Also 8 speed cassettes are widely available pretty much anywhere and cross compatible with mountain bikes etc. As disposable income goes down and bike part prices go up we are now seeing Claris based bikes over £1000 by some of the more expensive brands. I can see higher sales of some of the lower groupsets in the future.
I've also got a Viscount road bike with Shimano 600 Arabesque and its lovely but doesn't compare to modern Claris in my opinion.
roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
Didn't know that, thought only Sora had the triple option. As you say, an excellent touring option.
@GuyBoden nice bike, good job.
bonzobanana
Guru
Claris is less performance orientated compared to other road groupsets. It still has a good gear range and decent high gearing but across less cogs meaning the cogs and chain is thicker for reduced wear rate and easier more reliable shifting when dirty. However you are mentioning mountain bike groupsets like Deore and Alivio which are used on tourers as well which I guess moves the tourer into slightly different territory, Claris I think would be more of a fast light touring bike and Deore/Alivio would be lower geared slightly more gravel focused.Sorry but, Shimano 600 Arabesque is not as high a quality as Shimano 600 Tri Color, which was the 1st Gen Ultegra.
I had Shimano 600 Arabesque on my Raleigh Record Sprint, which was the ultimate school boy racer, and yes, they're perfectly good enough gears.
I know nothing about Claris, but on my tourer I have Deore XT, which I think is an excellent choice for touring bikes needing more gears. Alivio seems popular for modern tourers too.
Most will work quite adequately.
When you look at people who tour the world and have fine tuned their bike for touring it can often be quite different to the some of the shop bought touring bikes because they have faced many problems with their bikes and have changed their bikes considerably with the workarounds like friction shifters suddenly making a lot more sense rather than constantly adjusting the gearing.
bonzobanana
Guru
Sora is probably the highest with a triple option but as you go down the groupsets to lower models you'll probably find they all have triples but Claris certainly has;
https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/claris-r2000.html
SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
I would never, ever, consider fitting a triple as a downgrade, especially the first time you've got a hill, a headwind, and legs that feel dead all at the same time! You'll be glad of the Granny gears even if they add half a pound to the chainset.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
I'm a little knackered with my old road groupsets, can just about get a 39 x 26 as bottom gear. Gone are the days of a 1 in 4 on a 42 x 21....
Hard work they are...
