Groupset advice

[halo]

I'm saving some pennies now I'm working again (got made redundant 2 years ago and now back in employment) with a view to going geared on the road. I have a singlespeed which I'm selling to help fund a purchase. I have a question! What groupset / drivetrain components should I be looking for as a minimum to keep me on the road and spinning nicely?

Any road biking will be :-

a) in good weather

b) confined to summer (I know the two don't necessarily go hand in hand!)


c) of no longer than around 2 hours duration max.


I don't know the lower end specs very well i.e. Sora / Tiagra, but do know that from 105 up are considered "proper" (if that's the right word?) road kit - or is that just bike snobery? - for my road riding specification, what should I be looking for?

THANKS

 

[PaulSecteur]

I know a lot of people have specialized secteurs with sora, and they seem to like it. But for me, it never felt right.

I have shimano 105 on my Secteur and it is loverly, but the tiagra on my tricoss is a very close second. In fact, if specialized had done the Secteur with tiagra I would have had that.

In my mind, tiagra is shimanos lowest cost "proper" groupset, but I'm sure others will be along in moment to disagree...

 

[smokeysmoo]

+1 for 105, but I have no experience of Tiagra or Sora TBH

 

[Paulus]

I have Tiagra on one of my bikes and 105 on another. There is very little difference, the 105 may shift gears slightly smoother. Sora has a thumb operated lever on the shifters to go down a gear, a bit like Campagnola, which is not to everyones liking.

 

[Glover Fan]

I personally wouldn't buy a shimano equipped road bike with anything less than Tiagra on it. My current bike has 105, but for my N+1 I am prepared to go as low as Tiagra for price and gradually upgrade to Ultegra as it is rarely more expensive than individual 105 parts.

Personally wouldn't touch Sora, but plenty of people have and aren't bothered so it's horses for courses really.

Without hijacking, what are the equivalent Campagnolo groupsets?

 

[Fnaar]

I've had Sora on my roadie for 6 yrs, with no problems bar my own incompetent adjustments

 

[Paulus]

Without hijacking, what are the equivalent Campagnolo groupsets?

From the bottom up,
Mirage, Veloce, Centaur, Athena, Chorus, Record, Super Record.

 

[TheDoctor]

Sora got me up and down Ventoux with no bother. 105 is nice, but Sora is OK.

 

[jayonabike]

I also have Tiagra on one bike & 105 on another and like paulus said 105 is slightly smoother. There really is very little in it except tiagra is 9 speed and 105 is 10.

 

[MacB]

tippy toeing into this area myself I've started out buying tiagra triple shifters and a front mech, but I've also just bought an Ultegra rear mech. A groupset didn't really work for me as I had some bits already, wanted a non-standard chainset and am using disc brakes.

I've sort of figured, front mech is a simple device and the most important bit was getting the shape and clearances right for the chainset I wanted. So I got the one recommended by Spa to go with a Stronglight triple.

Shifters - I hummed and hawed between tiagra and ultegra, settling on the former as they were on offer at Ribble for about £130, had I been paying nearer full price then I might have gone ultegra, but I did want 9 speed as well.

rear derailleur - I thought it was worth spending a bit more on this

I didn't really look at 105, though I do like the black version, as the 105 9 speed stis seem to have vanished off the face of the earth, there one day and gone the next. Either people went mad buying up stocks or they were withdrawn...or at least that's what it seems like to me.

 

[gavintc]

From the bottom up,
Mirage, Veloce, Centaur, Athena, Chorus, Record, Super Record.

You will still see Xenon around - neighbour just bought a Bianchi with Xenon fitted. It sits below Mirage. It is supposed to be discontinued, but old stock keeps it alive.

 

[Judderz]

So what works on an 8speed cassette?

I have 2300 groupset at the moment, would like to upgrade, but bit by bit, swap the chainset first, but if I upgrade the chainset, do I have to upgrade other things at the same time?

And if I understand it correctly, (as someone has already done the ascending order of Campag) does it go:

2300, Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, Dura Ace?

 

[smokeysmoo]

2300, Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, Dura Ace, Di2

Spot on, but then add Di2 on the end as well for the guys with big fat wallets

I looked into putting Di2 on one of my bikes a few months back, (even though I'm certainly not blessed with a big fat wallet!), and although the bike's got full Dura-Ace 7900, it would have still cost me around £1300 to upgrade, and that's fitting it all myself

New front mech, new rear mech, plus battery, wiring etc. Basically all I could use of my exisitng gruppo would have been my shifters - needless to say, didn't bother

 

[Deleted member 1258]

My kilmeston came with sram rival and I've been very impressed with it, how does it compare with the higher end Shimano? My last bike had Sora.

 

[HLaB]

I've got Sora on one bike and 105 on another and for sharpness I prefer the Sora but thats because I like thumb shifters (similar to Campy) but after 5 minutes you soon find the 105 is superior; with Sora unless you have really long thumbs you can only change gears on the hoods which quickly become uncomfortable.