Tiagra Vs 105 vs Ultegra hubs.... what is the difference?

[Hacienda71]

If they don't do them in a nice anodised colour to compliment your bike they ain't worth having.

 

[montage]

Weight and sealing seems to be the answer - the ultegra hubs are apparently very well sealed despite being a cone based hub, so it is about weight and longevity rather than performance. I wonder at what point it is worth using sealed bearing over cup and cone though!

This got me looking at sealed bearing hubs... such as the Miche primito. This is never ending!

 

[Drago]

Don't sealed cartridge bearings potentially present a higher rolling resistance to cup and cone?

 

[hoski]

Don't sealed cartridge bearings potentially present a higher rolling resistance to cup and cone?

Yup - though if you're as bad as me with cone spanners then it probably doesn't make that much difference...!

 

[PpPete]

Don't sealed cartridge bearings potentially present a higher rolling resistance to cup and cone?

Possibly - but only compared to a perfectly adjusted and lubricated cup/cone.

IMLE a Hope sealed bearing outperforms a Shimano cup/cone every time.

EDIT: TMN'd by hoski

 

[raleighnut]

I think you'd notice the difference Tiagra-105 but it would be less 105-Ultegra, Diminishing returns and all that.

 

[Drago]

If there's a noticeable performance improvement, however slight, then why do Shimano not claim it in their marketing bumpf?

 

[raleighnut]

If there's a noticeable performance improvement, however slight, then why do Shimano not claim it in their marketing bumpf?

If there wasn't we'd all be riding Sora.

 

[Rob3rt]

Noticeable is subjective...

 

[Drago]

We're not all riding Sora because some people like the lighter weight, some people like the shinier finish, some people like the bragging rights. If there's another tangible benefit then I would question why the manufacturer themselves haven't pounced on it and proclaimed it proudly in their sales gen.

 

[Arjimlad]

I have 105 hubs and all I can say is that they run nice and quietly and appear to have done very well over 18 months of all-weather commuting.

I find a lot of other hubs extremely noisy when freewheeling !

 

[Drago]

105 is indeed very lush. In my experience Tiagra has the performance but you need the jump to 105 for the really nice finish.

 

[bpsmith]

We're not all riding Sora because some people like the lighter weight, some people like the shinier finish, some people like the bragging rights. If there's another tangible benefit then I would question why the manufacturer themselves haven't pounced on it and proclaimed it proudly in their sales gen.

Just took a trip over to the Shimano website. NONE of their groupset pages try to sell specific models over others. It's just not their style. It is generally accepted that each range holds improvements over the range below it, so Shimano just concentrate on what's new to each range basically.

It's quite a simple way of displaying their products tbh.

Much like Giant's website giving the specs for their Defy range, for example, where they just tell you what's different between models. They also don't state any performance gain between them either.

 

[Drago]

Shimanos website openly list weights for each individual component, so it's not difficult to work out.

They also mention many times the hierarchy if the products. For example, in several places they refer to Ultegra benefiting from technology trickle down from Dura Ace.

But Shimano are very sensible. They sell their products in numerous markets and knkw they would soon be sued to smithereens if they started making unfounded claim a that X hub rolls better, or Y mech shifts quicker. They simply stick to making claims for empirical data, and not word of mouth urban legend performance spiel that some cyclists use to justify the extra cost to their TT chums.

Once you get to Tiagra/Deore level the only significant differentiator is the weight (and choice of 10/11 speed), and Shimano are happy to list this until the cows come home.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

What trickle down effect? 105 was 10spd from 2007, Tiagra wasn't 10spd until 2012 and Sora is still 9spd since 2009, the only change being STI levers.

The newest additions do no more than add an extra gear.