Sora vs Ultegra cassette

menthel

So, the 00 needs some cassette and chain TLC- will be getting a KMC chain for ease of cleaning etc but do I treat the bike to the ultegra 12-25 or the boggo sora hg50 12-25?

Difference in shifting quality and longevity?

rubertoe

Difference in 9 speed and 10 speed?

meanredspider

I have seen huge differences in the quality of Tiagra components to Ultegra so I'd imagine, for the difference in price (if you shop carefully) the Ultegra will be in a different league from Sora and will, for sure, last longer.

menthel

9sp Ultegra cassettes are about £30 and the sora is £12 on wiggle, so a fairly big leap. May be worth the money if I can get a few chains worth out of the ultegra one.

mudcovered

menthel wrote:

So, the 00 needs some cassette and chain TLC- will be getting a KMC chain for ease of cleaning etc but do I treat the bike to the ultegra 12-25 or the boggo sora hg50 12-25?

Difference in shifting quality and longevity?

Can't comment on the shifting but I'd guess a Sora cassette will have steel cogs whereas the ultegra one will have aluminium cogs. In theory this means that the ultegra cassette will wear more quickly than the Sora one. Although saying that as long as you don't give a hoot about religiosly replacing things as soon as the chain starts to wear you can get a lot of miles out of an ultegra cassette. I've had a 11-25 ultegra cassette on my cross bike for ~10000miles using a single chain. I'm getting some very occasional slippage now but until that started (in the last week or so) its been trouble free.

This is combined with a 105 chain and a cleaning regime that consists of giving the chain an in situ scrub when it looks excessively filthy with an oily rag. Only degreasing I've ever done is that that can be achieved by riding a bike through mud for 30mins and then lobbing a few buckets of water over it.

Mike

CarlosDSanchez

Sora and Ultegra both have steel cogs and the profile of the teeth are the same. I have used both and the performance difference, if there is any, is minimal. They have a different finish, sora is shiny, ultegra matt and the ultegra gears have more material removed from the individual gears themselves to save weight. Also the spider which carries the 3 or 4 largest gears is made from aluminium (also drilled to save weight) and I believe the spider for sora is made from steel.

So the only real difference is cost and weight. You'll get the same amount of wear out of both of them, but unless you've got your eye on a 6500 ultegra (9 speed) the current version, 6800 is 11 speed and the older versions 6700 and 6600 are 10 speed, so won't be compatible with sora anyway.

menthel

CarlosDSanchez wrote:

Sora and Ultegra both have steel cogs and the profile of the teeth are the same. I have used both and the performance difference, if there is any, is minimal. They have a different finish, sora is shiny, ultegra matt and the ultegra gears have more material removed from the individual gears themselves to save weight. Also the spider which carries the 3 or 4 largest gears is made from aluminium (also drilled to save weight) and I believe the spider for sora is made from steel.

So the only real difference is cost and weight. You'll get the same amount of wear out of both of them, but unless you've got your eye on a 6500 ultegra (9 speed) the current version, 6800 is 11 speed and the older versions 6700 and 6600 are 10 speed, so won't be compatible with sora anyway.

As stated above its the 9sp 6500. I think I might just stick with the HG50 for commuting duties. Save the money for replacing the 12-30 centaur cassette on the italia when the time comes!

meanredspider

CarlosDSanchez wrote:

Sora and Ultegra both have steel cogs and the profile of the teeth are the same. I have used both and the performance difference, if there is any, is minimal. They have a different finish, sora is shiny, ultegra matt and the ultegra gears have more material removed from the individual gears themselves to save weight. Also the spider which carries the 3 or 4 largest gears is made from aluminium (also drilled to save weight) and I believe the spider for sora is made from steel.

So the only real difference is cost and weight. You'll get the same amount of wear out of both of them, but unless you've got your eye on a 6500 ultegra (9 speed) the current version, 6800 is 11 speed and the older versions 6700 and 6600 are 10 speed, so won't be compatible with sora anyway.

Well based on this, I went to look at my Tiagra (turbo bike) cassette compared to an Ultegra (both 10-speed). I'd hazard a guess that the two are manufactured in a different process because there's a clear difference in the ramps on the gears. And, yes, whilst both are made of steel, there's steel and there's steel... When the Tiagra cassette turned up I remember thinking that I now know what I pay for in Ultegra.

goonz

Id reckon you would see a massive difference between Sora and 105 so you could also try 105 as a cheaper option.

imo there isnt that much difference between 105 and ultegra

menthel

goonz wrote:

Id reckon you would see a massive difference between Sora and 105 so you could also try 105 as a cheaper option.

imo there isnt that much difference between 105 and ultegra

In 9 speed there are three options, HG50, HG80 (probably tiagra equivalent) and ultegra. No 9spd 105 any more!

goonz

Ah sorry didnt read the 9 speed part, my fault.

rubertoe

SRAM 9 Speed?

menthel

rubertoe wrote:

SRAM 9 Speed?

Now my brain hurts!