Worth upgrading gears?

Rouge Penguin
Rouge Penguin Posts: 347
edited February 2011 in Workshop
Need some advice please peeps.

A friend has offered me his Carrera Vanquish for £90. Its not done that many miles, and has 105 gear on it. The question is, should I swap the gear onto my winter hack which currently only has 8spd St-2200? Is it worth the hassle of swapping the rear cog and mech, rerunning the cables, replacing the chain and having to re tape the bars?

My old gear is well maintained and runs smooth as it is. Will 2 extra cogs be all that different and will the 10spd fit on the 8spd hub anyway?

Comments

  • unixnerd
    unixnerd Posts: 2,864
    Biggest difference is going to 105 levers, different shifting style and you can now upshift from the drops. I have Sora on my tourer and 105 on my racer. Frankly both are good and work well. Sora is nicer if you're wearing big thick winter gloves, otherwise I prefer 105.

    As for the gears I suspect the ten speed has a narrower range than your 8. It likely has a higher bottom gear and less of a gap between the gears. On my 8 speed I find an annoying gap between the top four and bottom four gears, a ten speed would sort that.
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  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    I'd ride the Vanquish as it is first; you might decide you prefer it to your hack. Unless of course your hack is some retired ultralight racing machine.