What's the difference please?

moffmcewan

I'm looking at buying my first road bike. Got a budget of about £600 and must buy new as I'm on the cycle to work scheme. Been looking at the giant defy range as I like the look of them but the parts are confusing me. Can someone tell me the diff between the following

shimano 2300 and shimano sora and shimano tiagra mechs and levers

tektro dual pivot and shimano sora brakes


I realise my budget ain't massive but I'm just starting out but the parts above are confusing me too much I just want to make sure getting right bike for my budget as I will upgrade parts when I understand them

thanks[/quote]

sungod

2300 is shimano's entry level and 8-speed, so bigger steps between gears,

sora and tiagra are the next two steps up, they are both 9-speed - so smaller steps between gears for a given range of cassette

it's worth having 9-speed for the smaller steps, plus if later on you want to change/upgrade any bits there's more choice

there are differences in materials and weight, but tbh there's no big difference in actual performance - i've ridden bikes with sora and tiagra, and the reviews of 2300 say it's fine

the tiagra shifters are by far the nicest to use, so i do recommend those if you can afford it, but there's nothing so terrible about the others

ALaPlage

All I would add to the sound guidance above is the Tiagra shifters are definetly worth the extra for. Sora has a thumb button to change gear which works fine most of the time when you are on the hoods however if you are on the drop bars it isalmost impossible to change gear as you cannot reach the thumb button. Tiagra has a dual lever system like the more expensive 105, Ultegra and Dura Ace groupsets.

The brake set should be ok and at this level not much difference between the tektra and sora. Sora possibly a little better quality. As you go up the range you will notice the difference as the 105 and up brakes have much more feel and pull up more effectively.

If you can spend a little more - bearing in mind the C2W voucher allowance takes you to £1k then aim for full Tiagra as a minimum.

Giant is a good bike and I would also recommend the Specialized Allez range as well as the Trek 1.5.

Friend just got a Pinarello FP2 with full Shimano 105 groupset for £1250 with 105 spd pedals thrown in - LBS allowed him to top up the £250. Was last years part Alu part carbon framed model but none the less a cracking deal as this years bike is £1950!

moffmcewan

thanks for replies, the reason i say £600 is the mnthly deductions, finding it hard to find a full tiagra for under £800 i have looked at the tiagra shifters as the first thing i asked about the sora range was how do i change gear if on the lower bars, its all just a bit alien to me just now but learning fast, think ive narrowed it down to a giant defy 3, trek 1.2 or specialized allez, just need to ride them now and see how i get on