Triple to double

mcowan77

Thinking of changing from a triple to a double on my winter hack

Currently have 9sp sora with the old thumb shifters. My good bike is a compact full 105 which i prefer.

Worth the money involved?

Cheers

Anonymous

As you have both already on your own bikes I would have thought you are the best person to decide that.

I am not a fan of triples for the majority of rides/riders so am pleased to hear you prefer the compact. Especially as it suggests you would have preferred to have got a compact in the first place as I feel so many people do.

Sounds expensive though.
Depending on what your two bikes are, would you not be better off just getting a new winter bike, or even a new best bike and demoting current one to winter use?

Selling the Sora bike and buying a sale one with 105 might not be much more than binning all the Sora components (is old style Sora triple sellable?) and buying new for the current bike.

StillGoing

Do you use the granny ring on a triple? If not, go for the compact double. Then again, is the winter bike worth the upgrade? There's little point spending the money upgrading a bike that isn't worth it. If you already have the groupset sitting around then fine, but if not, you have to calculate whether the cost is worth it.

mcowan77

My good bike is brand new carbon.

I thinking upgrading the sora to tiagra?

My winter bike has a brand new defy 0 frame ( replaced under warranty)

I dnt use the granny ring

gozzy

Triples are brilliant, all the benefit of a full double and the option to bail out if you need to. Perfect spread of gears for any situation.

Anonymous

Do not mean to sound rude Gozzy but the OP already has both a triple and a compact..............and prefers the compact

gozzy

I know, I was just putting a good word in for triples.

nochekmate

Not worth the cost involved to go from Sora to Tiagra - as somebody mentioned earlier if the triple is on your winter steed, then just leave it on there and ride it!

diamonddog

nochekmate wrote:

Not worth the cost involved to go from Sora to Tiagra - as somebody mentioned earlier if the triple is on your winter steed, then just leave it on there and ride it!

^^ This

frazered

same as above, not worth the money involved imo. I have the same difference nearly, 2300 on winter bike and ultegra 11 spd on the carbon.

mcowan77

Cheers for the replies

I'm now thinking sora to 105?

cycleclinic

The point of triple chainsets is that you can run a close ratio cassette out back say a 12-23T and still have good hill climbing potential. Given the cost of chainset, shifter, and front mech is high and ideally you will change you rear mech to I would just put a close ratio cassette on so you will actually make use of the inner ring.

Sora to 105 will cost even more. You will get 10 speed but while 105 works well and you will not have those thumb shifters I am not sure the expense is worth it either. Sure 105 is a bit lighter but not buy much. If you are changing everything then why not campagnolo veloce with a ambrosio conversion cassette. Veloce is lighter and cheaper than 105 10 speed and functions well. Also the rear mechs are good for 30T rear cassettes. Useful I think.

gozzy

If all you want is to lose the thumb buttons then get some 9 speed tiagra shifters.

Anonymous

...... 2013 Sora ones look nicer IMO (and are 9 speed as standard) but I think its one of the chainrings that the OP really wants to lose.

Still think a new bike is the best bet.
If funds allow maybe keep the triple in case you go cycling in the Alps.

gozzy

mcowan77 wrote:

I dnt use the granny ring

Actually, I see why you possibly don't like the triple, it's because (and I'm assuming 12-25 on the triple/ 12-27 on compact) you're essentially running the equivalent of xx-21 on your compact. Which is fine for tt-ing, but not fine for climbing.
If you want to access the equivalent gears of the 24t and 27t that an xx-27 will provide on your compact, then you have to use the inner ring of the triple.

It's no wonder you don't get on with the triple if you refuse to use all the available gears.

(Of course, if you never need those low gears on the compact, then feel free to ignore everything I said).

Dunedin397

The short version is that It's not worth the money to change everything. Whilst the triple shifters will work (I'm lead to believe), you'll still have the thumb shifters. STi's, even Sora (or lower!) are very expensive and it's only "worth" changing if they break.

However if you have money to burn and would like the gearing on both bikes to match, then that's up to you.

Slightly off-top[ic, my previous 2 bikes were both 8 speed triple Sora (with thumb shifters) and I found the wide range of gearing to be very useful, particularly when climbing. The main thing I noted, compared to riders with compacts or doubles, was that I used the middle-ring the most, with gears 2 to 6 (and without the chain grinding on the front mech). The inner ring was good for gears 1 to 3 and the outer for 6 to 8. On moving to bikes with 10 speed 105 compact, I found myself constantly changing from the small to large I also had to move usually 1, but many times 2 gears to suit! So with a triple, I feel there's more of a progression through the gears and most people will sit in the middle ring, but with a compact, you have to change down 1 or 2 gears when moving from the small to large ring.

Cheers,

Dunedin397