Upgrade Front mech: Sora to ?

toli
toli Posts: 8
edited May 2008 in Workshop
A bought my first proper road bike a few weeks ago (I used to own a touring bike that I had for many years). It is a Specialized with Sora components expect the rear mech which is Tiagra.
I really enjoy riding the bike but I have been having some problems with the front mech; I have been back to my LBS a few times already to have it adjusted. It is also not as "crisp" as I would have expected (the rear mech is fine).

Now, would it make sense to upgrade the front mech?
A new front mech isn't very expensive and I don't mind spending some money on it if it means fewer problems in the future.

(Most of my current problems are presumably due to bike being quite new and the cables are stretching etc; but I have realized that I really HATE having to worry about something breaking, levers getting stuck etc when I am out riding)

Now, presumably I could upgrade to a Tiagra front mech (since the rear mech work with Sora levers I assume the front mech would work as well).

Also, is Sora levers compatible with a 9 speed 105 front mech?
There is after all not much difference in price.

(and yes, I retrospect I realize that I should have spent more money when I bought the bike)

Comments

  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    toli wrote:
    Now, would it make sense to upgrade the front mech?

    Not really. When set up properly the Sora Mech works fine.
    I like bikes...

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  • toli
    toli Posts: 8
    So there isn't any difference when it comes to reliablity between Sora and Tiagra?
  • gkerr4
    gkerr4 Posts: 3,408
    not really - the tiagra one will look better and be a bit lighter - but not really noticable in terms of feel when changing gear.

    actually - i'l re-phrase that - there will be a difference in reliability and shifting feel across the whole groupset - move from full 'sora' to full 'tiagra' and you will notice a big difference (an extra gear for a start!) but this effect is reduced when individual items are used.
  • andy_wrx
    andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
    I found the Sora front mech a bit of a pain to set-up on a triple, so replaced it with a 105 and found this just as bad - could effectively only use 3 rear gears on the little ring, 6 on the middle ring, 4 or 5 on the big ring.
    Lots of chain-rub otherwise, which I put down to using an 8sp chain with a front mech designed for a 9sp-wide chain.

    Have replaced the Sora shifters with 9sp Ultegra, a 9sp block and a 9sp chain and can now get 4 on the little ring, all 9 on the middle ring, 8 on the big ring without the chainrub
    - when I do get it, it's actually useful as it stops you using too horrible a cross-over chainline !

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