CAAD8 Tiagra, is it worth the extra over the Sora?

Schobiedoo
Schobiedoo Posts: 121
edited February 2010 in Road buying advice
I'm normally hanging out in the mountain bike forums, but have decided to get myself a road bike as well. Apologies if this question has been covered before, but I tried a search and didn't see anything.

I am looking at the Cannondale CAAD8. The two models seem to have exactly the same geometry and accessories, the only difference is the groupset: Sora or Tiagra. As I'm not too familiar with the road groupsets, my question is whether the Tiagra is worth the additional £150 over the Sora groupset?

From testing, it's clear that the shifters on the Tiagra are better with the integrated lever rather than the small thumb button which makes me want the Tiagra but surely there must be something else between the two that justifies the big price difference? Both groupsets have worked flawlessly in testing - but that is only to be expected for a brand new bike.

Any advice would be really appreciated.
Neil Pryde Bura SL
Cannondale CAAD8

Comments

  • jimsam33
    jimsam33 Posts: 59
    I personally have absolutely no problem with Sora stuff. So much so that both my bikes are Sora. I have chosen both my bikes for the frames over the groupsets and I'm very happy.
  • skyd0g
    skyd0g Posts: 2,540
    Both groupsets will work perfectly - as you have mentioned the main difference is in the gear-change method. There is also a small weight advantage with the Tiagra.

    I personally prefer the integrated lever action of the Tiagra - it's down to you to consider whether this justifies the difference in cost.
    Cycling weakly
  • pontarlier_pete
    pontarlier_pete Posts: 195
    The biggest problem with Sora is the thumb shifters can't be reached from the drops.
  • Lig
    Lig Posts: 178
    I am used to campag and so went for the sora for a training bike, but i found the little buttons on the shifters a pain as they dug into my thumbs. I would go with Tiagra or better still 105. Is this a new bike you are buying and how much is it??

    Cheers,
    Lig.
  • Dazza2280
    Dazza2280 Posts: 156
    Absolutely, not much in it in shift speed, quality etc but for the lever behind the brake lever instead of the thumb trigger, its a small price to pay.

    Test it out, take a trial run on Sora, get in the drops, and give it the beans, start flicking up the gears as you get faster, you'll find the inconvenience of having to get back up on the hoods to flick that switch a pain in the neck. I usually jump it up 3 or 4 gears at a time just now cos i cant be bothered moving my hands every 2 mins.
  • avoidingmyphd
    avoidingmyphd Posts: 1,154
    Pontarlier Pete wrote:
    The biggest problem with Sora is that Pontalier Pete can't reach the thumb shifters from the drops.
    I fixed that for you.

    OK, I admit some other people, essentially those with small hands, have this problem too. But the OP will be able to find out in 10 secs in a LBS if he or she is one of them.
  • rake
    rake Posts: 3,204
    a lot of bikes seem to have the levers set high up. to me its harder to brake and would make the shift button hard to reach.
  • Schobiedoo
    Schobiedoo Posts: 121
    Thanks for the responses. Looks like I will have to do a bit more testing as if the only main difference is whether you change down using the thumb button or not, it makes it a hard choice. In my eyes £150 is a lot for a button behind the brake lever rather than on the hood, but I guess if I'm doing a lot of miles, it may be £150 well spent!
    Neil Pryde Bura SL
    Cannondale CAAD8
  • waterford45
    waterford45 Posts: 51
    If you're a mtb'er you can probably answer the question yourself. Is deore lx
    worth x amount
    more than deore. Same applies to road groups. Dura ace offers better performance than ultegra and so on down the line .the question is what performance/durability do you need and what do you want to pay.
  • andy_wrx
    andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
    avoidingmyphd wrote:
    Pontarlier Pete wrote:
    The biggest problem with Sora is that Pontalier Pete can't reach the thumb shifters from the drops.
    I fixed that for you.

    OK, I admit some other people, essentially those with small hands, have this problem too. But the OP will be able to find out in 10 secs in a LBS if he or she is one of them.
    rake wrote:
    a lot of bikes seem to have the levers set high up. to me its harder to brake and would make the shift button hard to reach.

    Agreed - it's urban myth #768

    I guess if you have the shifters adjusted up high, and you have deep-drop bars, and you have small hands, then you might not be able to reach the thumb levers from the bars.

    I could manage it, and I'm no octopus...

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