Tiagra v 105 v Dura Ace etc

samsbike

I am confused about this and the confusion applies to all ranges I guess.

There does not seem to be a weight big difference between Tiagra v 105 etc.

What does the higher end range equipment buy - more durability, slickness etc

thanks

sfichele

Click - there goes the sound of a can of worms opening:)

esspeebee

Leaving aside things like Di2, and Sora/2300 which have shift buttons in different places, the differences are mainly in weight and stiffness. Test ride a few bikes with different groupsets, and see whether you notice a difference. If not, then it's not worth the money to go higher up the range. If you do notice a tangible difference in riding, then decide for yourself.

To be slightly more specific, the performance-related differences are mainly in how the shifting responds under power; whether that's worth anything to you depends how much power you regularly put out and how often you need to shift while doing so. Some people swear that nothing less than Dura-Ace/Red/Record will do; others say that nothing above Tiagra makes any difference anyway. I've found my personal sweet spot to be around the 105 level. You'll have to make up your own mind.

markos1963

Very little difference for the ordinary rider. Some of the top quality groups might shift slicker under power but the gains are outweighed by the costs. A Dura Ace cassette for instance is more than twice the cost of Ultegra but only a few grams lighter. I'm happy with 105 level kit with occasional upgrades to Ultegra when things wear out( but not cassettes or chains!)

pottssteve

I have Tiagra on one bike and 105 on the other - both work great if maintained well.

PhildB

I might be wrong here, but, I seem to remember that with the Tiagra set up you can only change the gears one way when on the drop bars, with the 105s you can change both up and down

pottssteve

PhildB,

Not sure what you mean - I can change both up and down on the drops with Tiagra.

Steve

Gizmodo

I think what PhilB is referring to is the thumb button on Sora shifters. On Sora the brake lever is used to shift to a bigger gear, but a thumb button is used to change to a smaller gear - difficult to operate from the drops.

Gizmodo

With any product, if you take out paying for marketing and buying "the brand", the difference in price between 2 similar products is the difference in manufacturing costs. So the question is, why is 105 more expensive to manufacture than Tiagra etc?

Generally a higher manufacturing cost is down to:

• More expensive, better quality raw materials, such as using better quality aluminium or using carbon fibre.
• Reduced tollerence during manufacturing. If a part should be 0.75mm wide for example, when do you reject the part as faulty - 0.76mm or will 0.78mm still work? The smaller the tollerence, the more accurate the machinery you need to make it and the more rejects you will get - thus raising the price.
• The number of parts to make the item. The more bits that you need to buy or make and then put together will affect the price - it may make the product better though (depends).
• Where and who manufactures the product. If you have highly trained people make a product they should make a better job of it, but at a higher cost than having it thrown together in a sweat shop in a back street.

Updated: I forgot one:

• Recovering the cost of development. As well as the cost of materials, manufacturing and distribution, any company also needs to recover its development costs. Let's say a product cost $1 million to develop - someone has got to predict how long the product will be on sale for and how many units they will sell. If they anticipate selling 1 million units they have to add $1 to the cost of each to recover the cost of development. So a more "popular" item this cost will be lower, a high end product that may produce less sales will have a higher cost for development per unit.

nferrar

I thought 105/Ultegra is for the winter bike and DA for the summer bike? Actually I can't tell the difference between 105, Ultegra and DA and people I ride with seem happy enough with Sora & Tiagra, only reason I've avoided Tiagra until now is it was 9sp but given it's 10sp I'd have no problems with it. Heard too many negative comments on the Sora shifters (and it's still 9sp) to consider it though.

rick_chasey

I've been told by bike mechanics in the past that the top range (so in this case Dura Ace ) is often not as durable as the ranges below, since the emphasis is on performance.

Headhuunter

I've got bikes with Sora, Tiagra and 105. The main thing I notice is the amount of effort needed to shift gears. Sora needs more of a "push" to shift and is clunkier than Tiagra. The difference between Tiagra and 105 is slightly less noticeable I think...

cougie

I've found my Dura Ace kit to be very durable - but maybe its different now - I've not had to buy it new for years.....

If I were buying today - I'd go for Ultegra. The price difference isnt there in performance and the electronic Ultegra is better than the DA version as it's more recent.

briantrumpet

And I've got Sora, Tiagra and Ultegra. I certainly wouldn't want Sora and its thumb shifters on anything other than my commuter (though it's fine for that, and has been reliable with, er, no significant maintenance), and not a lot of difference between Tiagra and Ultegra, if I'm honest (which I am, normally). The only thing I did notice, when I'd cracked the radial head in my elbow, is that the Tiagra shift is a lighter shift but longer action.

Phil_D

Gizmodo wrote:

I think what PhilB is referring to is the thumb button on Sora shifters. On Sora the brake lever is used to shift to a bigger gear, but a thumb button is used to change to a smaller gear - difficult to operate from the drops.

But what about when riding on the hoods? Clearly you can go up and down with the ones in this picture. Is it possible with the other sort (where you can do it whilst in the drop positions)?

briantrumpet

Phil_D wrote:

But what about when riding on the hoods? Clearly you can go up and down with the ones in this picture. Is it possible with the other sort (where you can do it whilst in the drop positions)?

Yes - unless you have unusually short fingers.

PhildB

Ah yes, - that's the one, cheers Gizmodo

MikeWW

The 5700 105 levers have concealed gear (as well as brake) cables
Looks far tidier on the bike
If I had the choice I would have SRAM force on all the bikes but happy to settle for Shimano 105