Upgrading from Sora to Tiagra or 105

Soni

I have a Trek 1.5 2009 Tripple, it has Tiagra on the rear,which works fine no problems, however it has Sora on the front, which is working hopelessly, however if i wanted to upgrade the front, could i upgrade to Tiagra or possibly 105 on the front?

If so, what would i have to look for i.e., there seems to be many different variants of 105 and Tiagra.......and i would be grateful if somebody could tell me which type i would need.

nicklouse

any poorly set up mech works poorly.

fitting a more expensive one will not fix it.

But to answer the question. you need the same type/size as currently fitted
bottom pull. and from your picture with the band fitting in the high position ( you will see there are two positions). Size does not matter as most come with shims to fit all sizes.

http://cycle.shimano-eu.com/publish/con ... iagra.html

alfablue

The Sora front mech works fine when properly set up. My g/f has Ultegra shifters wired to Sora Mechs and the shifting is perfect, we felt no need to upgrade the mechs.

on-yer-bike

Soni wrote:

I have a Trek 1.5 2009 Tripple, it has Tiagra on the rear,which works fine no problems, however it has Sora on the front, which is working hopelessly, however if i wanted to upgrade the front, could i upgrade to Tiagra or possibly 105 on the front?

If so, what would i have to look for i.e., there seems to be many different variants of 105 and Tiagra.......and i would be grateful if somebody could tell me which type i would need.

Don't,Tiagra and 105 left hand levers are rubbish. I have had 2 Tiagra shifters break and my LBS say that 105 are no better. Apparently all the levers are for triple chainsets and don't like being used on doubles so you may be OK. I rode 100 mile charity ride yesterday on a borrowed bike with Sora and a triple, because my 2nd Tiagra shifter broke on Saturday, and I was impressed.

alfablue

I thought the OP was referring to a mech upgrade, it isn't clear though.

If it is shifters, then I tend to agree, I would rather go to secondhand Ultegra (which I did, 9 speed, £30 pr) than Tiagra or 105 because of recent unreliability reports I have read.

ohlala!

I'm not sure what's wrong with your SORA front mech, mine works fine. maybe let your LBS have a look at your set up first, then decide whether you still need to buy Tiagra or 105.

By the way, I would agree on the secondhand Ultegra idea. I'm trying to get some on ebay.

alfablue

ohlala! wrote:

By the way, I would agree on the secondhand Ultegra idea. I'm trying to get some on ebay.

I got two sets from the classifieds on here, why not put a wanted ad in classifieds?

ohlala!

Hmmm I didn't think of that, cheers mate..

Soni

Hi guys, no the shifters are great, i can't fault them at all, i find them both comfortable and reliable, although i read that the little clickers on the side are fiddly, i don't experience that as i have quite small hands and find them fine.

The Tiagra on the rear, again, i have had no problems with them at all. Its just the front mech, although i tweaked it again last night following the Park Tool website service page, and it seems to be working a hell of a lot better.

The only problem is i seem to have lost the 'half clicks' that i used to be able to use to stop the chain rubbing on the side of the derailier.

I would really like to be able to purchase a new front section off ebay or on these classifieds, but as i've said previously i don't really know enough about bikes to make the decision whether the stuff will fit......

alfablue

The clicks come from the shifter not the mech, so if you have lost the clicks I reckon the cable tension is too great. Why not start from scratch, release the cable completely, set the front mech in position with the lower limit screw so that it is close to the chain without rubbing when the chain is on the small ring and large sprocket. Then set the shifter to be on the small ring (press the thumb lever as many times as it takes), then attach the cable, pulling all the slack out of it. Then you should soon get it properly indexed with only minor tweaks on the cable adjuster.

ohlala!

I agree with alfablue

Soni

alfablue wrote:

The clicks come from the shifter not the mech, so if you have lost the clicks I reckon the cable tension is too great. Why not start from scratch, release the cable completely, set the front mech in position with the lower limit screw so that it is close to the chain without rubbing when the chain is on the small ring and large sprocket. Then set the shifter to be on the small ring (press the thumb lever as many times as it takes), then attach the cable, pulling all the slack out of it. Then you should soon get it properly indexed with only minor tweaks on the cable adjuster.

Hi Alfablue, ok i'll start from scratch, however firstly i better replace the cable as its only just reaching the attachment point and i snapped the nobbly bit off the top the other evening when i was pulling it through!

OK, so tonight as soon as i get in i'll replace the cable first, i've run off the instructions from the Shimano website......

Then, i'll do the following, can you tell me if this is correct?

1. Click the shifter little button until the derailer is over the smallest chainring on the front and release all the tension off the cable.

2. Slacken off the Derailer bracket on the frame and move the derailier by hand to ensure that the outer cage is just above the largest sprocket on the front so that a 1 penny piece can fit between the bottom of the derailier and the top teeth of the largest sprocket.

3. Rotate the derailer housing so that it is in line with the chain when viewing above and then tighten up the derailer bracket on the frame.

4. (this is where i think i went wrong - as Alphablue recommends it differently!) Have the chain on the biggest ring on the back and the smallest on the front, and adjust the screw so that the chain is just touching the inside of the derailer cage... ??

Is the above correct? Is there anything else i should be doing?

Also - there are two limit screws (as you all probably know) but the inside screw closest to the frame seems to move the derailier in and out when the chain is on the smallest sprocket on the front, but the outside screw doesn't seem to move anything?? Could this be a problem?

alfablue

Soni wrote:

alfablue wrote:

The clicks come from the shifter not the mech, so if you have lost the clicks I reckon the cable tension is too great. Why not start from scratch, release the cable completely, set the front mech in position with the lower limit screw so that it is close to the chain without rubbing when the chain is on the small ring and large sprocket. Then set the shifter to be on the small ring (press the thumb lever as many times as it takes), then attach the cable, pulling all the slack out of it. Then you should soon get it properly indexed with only minor tweaks on the cable adjuster.

Hi Alfablue, ok i'll start from scratch, however firstly i better replace the cable as its only just reaching the attachment point and i snapped the nobbly bit off the top the other evening when i was pulling it through!

OK, so tonight as soon as i get in i'll replace the cable first, i've run off the instructions from the Shimano website......

Use some decent cable cutters (bike specific ones) and get a cable end.

Then, i'll do the following, can you tell me if this is correct?

Well, I think the Shimano instructions will be fine, but I see I differ with them on one point (4, below), but they are still probably right.

1. Click the shifter little button until the derailer is over the smallest chainring on the front and release all the tension off the cable.

Yes, but keep clicking until all the clicks are used up, we are aiming to have the shifter in the lowest gear position.

2. Slacken off the Derailer bracket on the frame and move the derailier by hand to ensure that the outer cage is just above the largest sprocket on the front so that a 1 penny piece can fit between the bottom of the derailier and the top teeth of the largest sprocket.

This is the trickiest bit, vertical alignment is not so hard but horizontal alignment is fiddly, it seems fractions of a mm make a lot of difference. If the mech hasn't been moved since you bought the bike then don't do so now, unless you are absolutely sure it's set wrong.

3. Rotate the derailer housing so that it is in line with the chain when viewing above and then tighten up the derailer bracket on the frame.

As above, only do this if absolutely necessary, my suspicion is that your problems are probably just cable and indexing issues.

4. (this is where i think i went wrong - as Alphablue recommends it differently!) Have the chain on the biggest ring on the back and the smallest on the front, and adjust the screw so that the chain is just touching the inside of the derailer cage... ??

So if Shimano say do it this way then they are probably right, but it makes more sense to me to set it so that it is almost touching (but not actually touching) the chain when its on the small ring and big sprocket - that way you will get maximum range of gears as you shift up on the rear before getting chain rub.

Is the above correct? Is there anything else i should be doing?

Er, I would say, before you start, unwind the lower limit screw so the front mech can move fully.

Also - there are two limit screws (as you all probably know) but the inside screw closest to the frame seems to move the derailier in and out when the chain is on the smallest sprocket on the front, but the outside screw doesn't seem to move anything?? Could this be a problem?

The inside screw is the lower limit screw. loosen it before doing the above, then once the cable and shifting is set, wind it in to a point where the mech still successfully downshifts the chain to the small ring, but without throwing it off the ring onto the bottom bracket. This will take some trial and error, having the bike on a workstand makes this much easier.

The upper limit screw appears to do nothing whilst on the small ring, because it sets the limit to which the mech can move outwards, to stop it coming off the big ring onto the cranks. Set the chain onto the big ring, wind the screw in until you feel resistance, check you can still upshift to the big ring okay, if not unscrew in small increments so you can do it slickly.

I think that is okay - hope I'm right. Doing it is easier than describing it!

Soni

Many thanks Alfablue for your detailed instructions, i am just about to go out on it first and will then attempt the above when i come back.

I'm a bit worried about messing it all up again as i'm using the bike everyday for training at the moment, have managed to loose 1.5 Stone in 2.5 weeks by riding 12-15 miles every day and 30 miles per day at weekends and restricting my calorie intake to 1500cals, but will give it a go when i come back, hopefully i will have it back on the road by the morning for tommorrows run!

alfablue

You're welcome Soni. Just take it easy, and preferably don't move the mech as I said above. Everything else is fairly easy to put right if it's not working.

Fantastic progress you're making, though 1500 calories seems very harsh, with cycling as well! But all credit to you!