Tiagra vs 105 upgrade

1973mjg

Hi,

First post so be gentle!

Back in May I decided to take up cycling and after pedaling around for a few weeks on a very old heavy mountain bike I decided to go for a proper road bike. Budget was the issue but I had plenty of choice at the bottom end of the market. In the end I decided on the relatively unknown B'Twin brand and their Triban 5. Carbon front fork and rear seat stay and it should've had the full 24 speed Shimano Sora groupset, but the one I bought had a few upgraded parts on it, I was told this was due to the production line running out of standard kit. So instead mine came with Tiagra shifters, gearset,brakes and the 9 speed cassette. Loving the shifters, I always wanted them over the Sora but my budget seemed to say it wasn't possible.

Now I've done about 450 miles since buying this bike, 3 sponsored rides and everything seems ok, although the sora front and rear derailleur seem very clunky despite having a service and getting everything tightened, so now that leaves me wondering if the mix of Sora and Tiagra is causing the change to be a bit rough. It's to the point that sometimes the change seems to miss the cog and cause me to do a third of a rotation on the crank in a nanosecond!

So here's the question, I'm wondering whether I should change the front and rear derailleur to bring the whole bike up to Tiagra spec or whether to spend a little more and change them to 105, problem with the later is I would then have a Tiagra/105 mix and would I be getting the same issue that I have now with the Sora/Tiagra mix?

Any thoughts are grately received.

Thanks.

flasher

It's not clunky because of the derailleurs, they move where the shifters tell them. Sounds like an indexing issue, not a component one.

MatthewBulmer

Flasher wrote:

It's not clunky because of the derailleurs, they move where the shifters tell them. Sounds like an indexing issue, not a component one.

+1. I run a Tiagra/Sora mix on one of my bikes and it works fine.

ugo.santalucia

Tiagra is as good as 105... probably will give you less problems as a 9 speed system is always less problematic than a 10 speed.
Your issues are due to poor indexing or cable related issues, don't blame the groupset, which is faultless... and these are the words of a Campagnolo person

jw4g

Poor shifting is unlikely to be down to the components, assuming they are not damaged. It's usually either adjustment (cables can stretch or bed in) or friction in the cables. Is it front or rear shifting that is poor?

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html

EarlyGo

1973mjg,

You say that you've done 450 miles? Have you had the bike serviced? After a few miles / months the cables will bed in slightly and cause the exact problem you describe. If you can't get it serviced then try unscrewing the adjustor on the rear derailleur cable half a turn only. Slowly ride the bike and change gear to check that the indexing is still ok. Hopefully this will cure / lessen your problem.

Also the Sora / Tiagra mix of components is not unusual and they work fine together.

Personally I wouldn't upgrade from Tiagra to 105. You'll be spending 400quid to save about 200 gramms and the gear change is much of a muchness. The only benefit is that the 105 (5700) has cables that run under your handlebar tape, giving a tidier cockpit area.

Regards, EarlyGo

Hinzy9

EarlyGo wrote:

1973mjg,

You say that you've done 450 miles? Have you had the bike serviced? After a few miles / months the cables will bed in slightly and cause the exact problem you describe. If you can't get it serviced then try unscrewing the adjustor on the rear derailleur cable half a turn only. Slowly ride the bike and change gear to check that the indexing is still ok. Hopefully this will cure / lessen your problem.

Also the Sora / Tiagra mix of components is not unusual and they work fine together.

Personally I wouldn't upgrade from Tiagra to 105. You'll be spending 400quid to save about 200 gramms and the gear change is much of a muchness. The only benefit is that the 105 (5700) has cables that run under your handlebar tape, giving a tidier cockpit area.

Regards, EarlyGo

surely this is essential?

keef66

I'm sure he's referring to the handlebars rather than the contents of his bibshorts!

1973mjg

The bike was serviced after 200 miles and I complained about the change issue then, they tightened everything and it was better, not great, but now it's happening again and actually thinking about it, it's happening on the front as much as the rear.

Sounds like I've got to play around with the adjustments on the front and rear, but at least I don't have to fork out any money so that's a plus!

Thanks for the advice.

brianonyx

The cables tend to stretch and things go out of adjustment on a road bike. Save yourself a lot of money and read the sheldon brown website so you can do it all yourself. Once you read that it becomes clear tha adjustment isn't rocket science and a methodical approach means you can do it yourself pretty easily.

RoadyForever

I could never get Sora to shift well, especially under power. I don't know how much the new staff has improved. I love the 5700 (105) on my new bike.

MatthewBulmer

Have a look on the Park Tools website http://goo.gl/xUqxb

prawny

When I sold my old Boardman to gizmodo I had a go on his old carrera tdf with 2200 on it and after a little tweak that shifted perfectly.

Setting up my new bike on the turbo tonight I had a right game setting that up satisfactorily. In my limited experience 2200 is clunky but easy to set up 105 is smooth but tricky to set up tiagra is in between. (8, 9 & 10 speeds)