Tiagra 4500 problems + upgrades

felixj500

Please excuse me for my lack of knowledge...i'm just trying to learn!

So I am currently riding a Felt with a Tiagra 4500 groupset but having a few problems. It often takes me half a turn or so before I get any drive and when I do finally get off the line the is sometimes a bit of slipping and clunking from the rear cassette. I came off the bike (because of the chain locking up, I think at the rear end) and bent the rear hanger and potentially the rear derailleur.

I appreciate that I probably need a good service and gear adjustments but I think either my rear hub (also tiagra 4500) or my free hub body could be knackered.

Is it easy enough to find out which part is knackered and replace the free hub body without having the wheel re-laced? At this point is it possible to upgrade to a 10 speed rear cassette? Would my shifters be able to handle 10 speed? Could I upgrade to a 105 derailleur or would that be pointless?

Any other tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

jameses

When you try to start off, does the cassette rotate without the wheel moving? If so, could be that pawls in the freehub body are shot. It's a relatively straightforward job to replace the freehub body if you've done any sort of maintenance before. No need to re-lace the wheel.

The slipping and clunking from the rear is almost certainly due to the bent rear hanger - replace this before looking at the derailleur. I don't think you would notice much difference replacing a Tiagra derailleur with 105, but any excuse for an upgrade! Not sure how much luck you would have finding a 9-speed (5500 series) mech, though. Not strictly speaking necessary, but keeping derailleurs the same speed as the rest of the drivetrain makes indexing a bit easier.

Upgrading to 10 speed, you would need new shifters, cassette and chain at least, and preferably front and rear derailleurs as well. Not really worth it for an extra sprocket.

Hope that helps!

Matthewfalle

It's junk. Take it off, set fire to it and buy, at the least, Ultegra in the sales - between CRC and Merlin it's going dirt cheap.

Alternatively, do it properly and buy DA or Red in the deals - no point eating McShit when you can have fillet steak. You can then transfer this to the new frame you're going to get in January sales.

felixj500

That would be living the dream, unfortunately as a student I have next to no money so doing everything on the cheap until I get a job and some spare cash. Are there alternative hubs etc that are similarly priced to Shimano but better quality?

Matthewfalle

Not sure offhand re hubs but agree completely as above - stay 9 speed: far, far cheaper to replace and maintain and you aren't going to miss that one cog.

Check Merlin/the bay re hubs - deals are always kicking round. What's your budget if you don't mind telling us: wheel deals are always kicking round as we'll.

Addendum: have just checked Planet X: bog basic Shimano training wheels down from £159 to £69. Maybe. Coming into budget?

felixj500

I recon I have about £100-£150 but that includes new rear hanger and potentially a service etc getting the whole bike up to scratch for a trip to the alps this summer...

jameses

You don't need a new hub, just the freehub - should be £15-£20 for a basic unit. The hanger shouldn't set you back very much either. Even if you can't do the maintenance yourself and need to get your LBS involved, it shouldn't set you back more than £50-60.

Matthewfalle

Buy the new Shimanos (rational: all work perfectly, no messing around with free hubs, shops and all associated shenanigans). Also as they are shiny they will be faster.

Sell either existing front or new front wheel and recoup outlay or part of.

Buy hanger, fit yourself (one or two Allen bolts, five mins).

Buy new cables (about a tenner for inners and outers) and fit yourself - simple job and it means that you can give everything a really good scrub, lube ready for the summer.

Total outlay: oooooh, probably £100 maximum.

All a service will do is the above but charge you for the privilege.

Get all old stuff and set fire to it. Job jobbed.

felixj500

Thanks for all the tips and advice.

So having gone in to my LBS to discuss various things they quickly let me know my bike was a write-off due to the frame being slightly out and the bonding between the carbon and aluminium could fail at any point leaving me with out a rear end.

The new plan is to buy a new bike now so obviously my budget has had to change. I reckon I can scrape together about £1000. At the moment the obvious choice seems to be the Planet X pro carbon with the 11 speed Ultegra. Is there anything else out there that is comparable within a similar price range? A lot of people I have spoken to have said that the frame isn't great but no one has really expanded past that. Is it slightly heavier? Will it fall apart?

Any insight would be amazing.

Thanks

antsmithmk

Matthewfalle wrote:

It's junk. Take it off, set fire to it and buy, at the least, Ultegra in the sales - between CRC and Merlin it's going dirt cheap.

Alternatively, do it properly and buy DA or Red in the deals - no point eating McShit when you can have fillet steak. You can then transfer this to the new frame you're going to get in January sales.

That made me spit coffee everywhere! Super post