105 or Tiagra?

welshside

Ive just upgraded my frame from a Giant defi to a Specialized Tarmack. Im intending to swap the running gear over from the giant but want to upgrade the crankset.

It has to be a 9 speed.

Is 105 9 speed compatable and is it worth it over a tiagra?

cheers

Mothyman

i'm a beginner but my research says 105 minimum - so must be worth upgrade if you can

skyd0g

As I understand it, you can run a 105 shifters with a 9-speed casette, if this is what you intend to do.
Why does it have to be 9-speed?
The main reason to run 105 over Tiagra is the fact that 105 is a 10-speed compatible system.

topdude

Reading between the lines it looks like you have a Tiagra groupset which is 9 speed and want to fit a 105 10 speed chainset ?
Any 9 or 10 speed chainset will work fine ie 105 / Ultegra / FSA etc, etc.
I had a Tiagra compact chainset and swapped to a FSA Gossamer 10 speed compact with no problems. The FSA is a little lighter and much better made ie, nicely machined chainrings as opposed to stamped out chainrings on the Tiagra.

careful

They are compatible. The Tiagra is a little heavier (about 30g) mainly because it has a steel inner ring and does not have the hollow crank. I use both (different bikes obviously) and cannot tell the difference if use. I suppose the Tiagra inner ring will last longer especially as I use it a lot being an old rider living in a very hilly area.

bikerZA

From experience 105 is much nicer than Tiagra.

paul_or

I have a mixture - tiagra chainset and 105 rear mech/brakes. I'd like to swap the chainset for 105 but there are much higher priority upgrades, and the tiagra seems perfectly good to me at the moment. Unless I can find a bargain in the sales I will wait til it wears out.