Flatbar road bikes

curium

I've only just noticed this class of bike and I'm quite interested in picking one up for my commute next winter provided I can confirm some technical details.

Something like the Cube SL Road Pro comes with Shimano BR-M355 hydraulic disc brake system and 9-speed Sora derailleurs and Sora SL-3500 shifters. The images suggest it will take full guards front and rear. It comes with 35x622 tyres, ideally I'd replace these with at least 28s.

What I want to know is can I upgrade this bike to at least 10 spd, perhap even 11 speed? I know that will likely mean replacing the rear Shimano Deore FH-M615 hub. I'll also need replacement shifters - I'm assuming that the shifters on a flatbar road bike are separate from the brakes? Is this correct? What shifters can I replace the Sora with?

It has Hollowtech II BB so in theory I could pick up a 10spd 105 crank to use with it, right?

The bike is only £599 so I'm happy to spend a little to bring it up to 10/11 speed while enjoying hydraulic brakes in the winter.

Cheers

dgunthor

i'd get:

deore hydraulic brakes - good value and good braking
xt 10 speed shifter, rear mech and a 10 speed cassette and chain (leave the front shifter, mech and chainset alone - the rear gears is where better shifting will be an advantage)

10 speed will do you just fine (no need for new rear hub/wheel)
if you do want to go 11 speed, need these shifters:
SHIMANO Road SL-RS700 shift levers
along with an 11 speed rear mech, front mech, cassette and chain (no need to replace the chainset)

FWIW, a 105 chainset isn't going to be that much better than the one that comes on the bike

arlowood

If you're on a budget then these are the shifters to go for:-

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... -prod69502

If you can afford a bit more then these are recommended:-

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/shim ... /wg_id-439

You'll need some brake levers and I'd suggest these are fine:-

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... lsrc=aw.ds

You can pick up 105 5700 mechs very cheaply in the classifieds or on Ebay so it shouldn't be too expensive to swap to 10-speed. You can always sell off the 9-speed bits.

I recently built up a flat bar bike for my grandson so I have a bit of experience with the setting up etc:-

curium

dgunthor wrote:

deore hydraulic brakes - good value and good braking

What's wrong with the current brakes? Bear in mind I'm coming from a road bike with 105 calipers.

dgunthor wrote:

10 speed will do you just fine (no need for new rear hub/wheel)

Just to confirm, the current gearing is 9-spd sora, are you saying that the current hub will accept a 10-spd cassette?

arlowood wrote:

You'll need some brake levers and I'd suggest these are fine:-

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... lsrc=aw.ds

What is wrong with the existing brake levers? Are they not compatible with replacement 10-spd shifters?

Cheers for your help.

arlowood

curium wrote:

dgunthor wrote:

deore hydraulic brakes - good value and good braking

What's wrong with the current brakes? Bear in mind I'm coming from a road bike with 105 calipers.

dgunthor wrote:

10 speed will do you just fine (no need for new rear hub/wheel)

Just to confirm, the current gearing is 9-spd sora, are you saying that the current hub will accept a 10-spd cassette?

arlowood wrote:

You'll need some brake levers and I'd suggest these are fine:-

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... lsrc=aw.ds

What is wrong with the existing brake levers? Are they not compatible with replacement 10-spd shifters?

Cheers for your help.

1. The current brakes will be fine - no need to splash out on new hydraulics

2. Yes you can run a 10-speed cassette on a freehub that is currently running 9-speed Sora

3. Sorry I forgot that it was already a flat bar set up. I was thinking you were switching from a drop bar shiftyer/brake combo. So you don't need to buy new brake levers - there will be no compatibility issues

4. Just remember that if you want to run a wide range 10-speed cassette similar to the 11-32 9-speed already there, then you will need to buy a medium cage 10-speed rear derailleur (105 RD5700 GS) to cope with that range

dgunthor

curium wrote:

dgunthor wrote:

deore hydraulic brakes - good value and good braking

What's wrong with the current brakes? Bear in mind I'm coming from a road bike with 105 calipers.

they are fine, but those are better. IIRC the ones on your bike are difficult to change the pads on - need to remove the caliper to do this. Easier on the deore.

approaching it from if you have £X to spend, then get the best bang for your buck

curium wrote:

dgunthor wrote:

10 speed will do you just fine (no need for new rear hub/wheel)

Just to confirm, the current gearing is 9-spd sora, are you saying that the current hub will accept a 10-spd cassette?

yes, only 11 speed shimano requires a different hub

dgunthor

arlowood wrote:

I recently built up a flat bar bike for my grandson so I have a bit of experience with the setting up etc:-

Looks nice!

Personal preference, but you/he might find braking much more comfortable with those brake levers more like 45 degrees below the bar

arlowood

dgunthor wrote:

arlowood wrote:

I recently built up a flat bar bike for my grandson so I have a bit of experience with the setting up etc:-

Looks nice!

Personal preference, but you/he might find braking much more comfortable with those brake levers more like 45 degrees below the bar

Your right - the pic was taken before I had a chance to do a quick test ride. Brake levers were re-positioned after that. Had to be careful not to move them too close to the shifter levers tho' otherwise my banana fingers were catching the shifters if I grabbed a handful of brakes :shock:

arlowood

BTW if you're looking for a 10-speed 11-32 cassette to replace the 9-speed Sora one - this one will work fine although it is ostensibly an MTB cassette

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... lsrc=aw.ds

I used one like that on the build above and it worked perfectly with the 5700 medium cage derailleur and the Ultegra flat bar shifters

apreading

If you already want to change it over to 10sp and possibly hydraulic brakes and looking at a start point of a £600 bike with Aluminium forks, then I think you are not making the wisest choice. For less than the conversion would cost you, you could start with a bike that is already 10sp and hydraulic but also has a carbon fork - something like the Boardman Hybrid Team http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... -bike-2014 or a Whyte Portobello.

The Boardman is reduced to £675 at the moment and you can get another 10% off if you are in British Cycling and 4.5% cashback from Quidco. Its an absolute steal at that price.

apreading

In fact, the Boardman is reduced to £675 at the moment AND you can get 10% off with code B15BK08 until 15th April AND you may also get a further 10% off for British Cycling AND 2.5% cashback from quidco. Would make it £533 - WOW!! For what is one of the (in my opinion THE) best of these bikes that you can get for under a grand.

curium

apreading wrote:

In fact, the Boardman is reduced to £675 at the moment AND you can get 10% off with code B15BK08 until 15th April AND you may also get a further 10% off for British Cycling AND 2.5% cashback from quidco. Would make it £533 - WOW!! For what is one of the (in my opinion THE) best of these bikes that you can get for under a grand.

Cheers for that. The Boardman look really attractive but I'm unfamiliar with the BB used - FSA Mega Exo. Is that compatible with Shimano hollowtech II?

Also one of the reasons I'm keen on shimano is that I have some 105 parts that I could transplant. How does SRAM differ compared to Shimano? What's the deal with their shifters?

apreading

Yep - mega-exo is same as hollowtech, so no stupid press fit malarkey. Just about to upgrade my chainset and BB to Ultegra after 4 years and 15K miles - still working fine but the Ultegra should be a nice upgrade and was £100 for the pair.

If you have chainset, cassette, chain etc they should all be switchable, I have been running 105 cassette for some time on mine, with KMC chain (the only 10sp with re-usable quick links).

The front derailleur isnt supposed to be the best but mine has served me well. And would swap stright for a 105 if you want.

apreading

I think a shimano rear derailleur may not be compatible with the SRAM shifters as SRAM use a 1:1 ratio and are alot easier to index I think from what I read ages ago. The SRAM Apex has been superb though so dont see why you would want to swap it - dont think 105 would be any better.

curium

Cheers. I'll have a sit on one in Halfords tomorrow.

ravey1981

Just a question, why do you want to change from 9 to 10 speed? I run a Sora 3500 groupset on my winter bike and it performs brilliantly (compared with ultegra 10s on my summer bike) If you are going to swap out most of the groupset would you not be better buying something that already has those parts on it?