Sora 9 speed upgrade to 10 speed question

Frank pole
Frank pole Posts: 112
edited February 2016 in Workshop
I want to upgrade my winter bike to 10 speed

I already have tiagra 10 speed shifters ready to be fitted

Do I now need rear mech, cassette and chain?

If poss I want to leave the sora crank on the bike

And can I use my old cables as they are only a month old

Comments

  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,271
    I think the rear mech will be fine, you only need chain and cassette
    left the forum March 2023
  • Semantik
    Semantik Posts: 537
    Agree that your Sora rear mech will work fine with the new shifters,chain and cassette.
    However, the 9 speed Sora chainset will not give perfect shifting when dropping down from big ring to little ring.It gives a slow, 'lazy' down change. Found this out when I changed a bike recently from Sora 9 speed to Tiagra 10 speed.
    Swapped the Sora chainset for a Tiagra 10 speed one and the downchange was perfect again.
    I assumed the 9 speed chainset would be fine but was proved wrong.

    Did a bit of research and found other people had the same problem:
    http://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mecha ... chain.html
  • ravey1981
    ravey1981 Posts: 1,111
    I have done just this before this winter and found that the sora chainset works just fine although I kept the sora front mech on so that may make a difference? Anyway, front shifting is spot on. I couldn't however get the sora rear mech to index properly with the 10 speed cassette. Everything I had read before said it should work but in my case it didn't... It might be the case that the sora rear mech was slightly bent and the bigger tolerances with the 9spd cassette didn't show up the issue... Putting a tiagra rear mech on solved the issue instantly. Old cables will be fine.
  • Semantik
    Semantik Posts: 537
    ravey1981 wrote:
    I have done just this before this winter and found that the sora chainset works just fine although I kept the sora front mech on so that may make a difference? Anyway, front shifting is spot on. I couldn't however get the sora rear mech to index properly with the 10 speed cassette. Everything I had read before said it should work but in my case it didn't... It might be the case that the sora rear mech was slightly bent and the bigger tolerances with the 9spd cassette didn't show up the issue... Putting a tiagra rear mech on solved the issue instantly. Old cables will be fine.

    Front shifting still works but if you read the link I posted the conclusion is that there is a difference in the spacing between the centre line of the 9 and 10 speed chain rings. The 9 speed rings are presumably fractionally further apart than the 10 speed ones so the chain on the optimal full 10 gear set up drops down onto the little ring perfectly but not on the 9 speed. Your definition of 'spot on' front shifting may not be the same as someone else's.
    And yes, your Sora rear mech was probably worn or had some play in it, but a new one would have sorted it.
  • dj58
    dj58 Posts: 2,217
    What STI's do you have, 4600 or 4700? There is a thread that mentions that the 4700 10 speed pull ratio has changed so the STI's don't index correctly with the 4600 10 speed RD.
  • ravey1981
    ravey1981 Posts: 1,111
    Semantik wrote:
    ravey1981 wrote:
    I have done just this before this winter and found that the sora chainset works just fine although I kept the sora front mech on so that may make a difference? Anyway, front shifting is spot on. I couldn't however get the sora rear mech to index properly with the 10 speed cassette. Everything I had read before said it should work but in my case it didn't... It might be the case that the sora rear mech was slightly bent and the bigger tolerances with the 9spd cassette didn't show up the issue... Putting a tiagra rear mech on solved the issue instantly. Old cables will be fine.

    Front shifting still works but if you read the link I posted the conclusion is that there is a difference in the spacing between the centre line of the 9 and 10 speed chain rings. The 9 speed rings are presumably fractionally further apart than the 10 speed ones so the chain on the optimal full 10 gear set up drops down onto the little ring perfectly but not on the 9 speed. Your definition of 'spot on' front shifting may not be the same as someone else's.
    And yes, your Sora rear mech was probably worn or had some play in it, but a new one would have sorted it.

    No. It's "spot on" or I wouldn't have said so. It does indeed drop onto the little ring perfectly. Its as good in that sense as my Ultegra on a different bike or dura ace on another one....
  • Frank pole
    Frank pole Posts: 112
    The shifters I have are 4700 and I will order the same rear mech to match
  • mugensi
    mugensi Posts: 559
    I changed my 4500 Tiagra 9spd bike to 10spd by just changing the chain, cassette and shifters. The front and rear mechs work 100% in all 20 gears with no chain rub on the FD when cross chaining (which, lets be honest, happens every now and then) The RD is indexed 100%, I think I adjusted the limit screws ever so slightly and then just used the barrel adjuster for fine tuning.
  • peterbob
    peterbob Posts: 46
    The sora crank on my bike is 9/10 speed and it works properly with the eight speed block and tackle on my bike. I flipped the small ring over to increase the spacing slightly, if your look closely you see it is slightly offset.
  • Semantik
    Semantik Posts: 537
    And to reiterate, I set my bike up with 4600 10 speed everything apart from the chainset which was Sora 9 speed.
    And. no, it DIDN'T give perfect front shifting as previously explained. Changed the chainset to 4600 and all is now as it should be.
    Perhaps some end users down the bottom of the component food chain struggle to detect the difference between perfect shifting and shifting that is merely ok. Or perhaps the other people, including me, who have experienced identical issues with front shifting and the 9 speed chainset are making the whole thing up..
  • peterbob
    peterbob Posts: 46
    Semantik wrote:
    And to reiterate, I set my bike up with 4600 10 speed everything apart from the chainset which was Sora 9 speed.
    And. no, it DIDN'T give perfect front shifting as previously explained. Changed the chainset to 4600 and all is now as it should be.
    Perhaps some end users down the bottom of the component food chain struggle to detect the difference between perfect shifting and shifting that is merely ok. Or perhaps the other people, including me, who have experienced identical issues with front shifting and the 9 speed chainset are making the whole thing up..
    You could be mistaken to what caused the problem, new 10sp chain might not like worn 9sp rings or something. teeth can get burred over and misshapen over time.If pitch has worn a new chain may no mesh cleanly. Your new chainset had new teeth as well as being 10 speed. My carbon fibre boardman bike runs 10sp sram from new, your assumption I haven't used a decent modern setup is incorrect. The 8 speed is my trust old kona jake the battles through the rough while the other is in a heated inside room.
    Talking about a difference of 0.4mm, half of which affects the gap between the gears.
    To be a dogs breath I'll see your reiteration and raise you again, it shifts properly.
  • antonyfromoz
    antonyfromoz Posts: 482
    just checking, but does this mean that to upgrade my 1 x 9 sora geared bike to be 10 speed all i really need is a RH shifter and a 10 speed cassette or will i need a new chain too?
  • peterbob
    peterbob Posts: 46
    new 10sp chain yes. 9sp chains are about 0.4mm wider which can cause clearance problems with the width between cassette sprockets. its less problematic to use a higher speed chain than the block because you have extra clearance as a result.
  • andy9964
    andy9964 Posts: 930
    Might as well throw my bit of experience in here.
    I too have a full 4600 groupset, with a Sora 3500 compact chainset.(Chain, cassette and chainset all brand new)
    The LBS who fitted the chainset, along with a Praxis converter, said he found that it didn't shift as well on the front when in the smaller cogs at the back.
    Personally, I haven't found any issues at all, although I have had to fit a new RD after the hanger snapped at 37 miles, and tweaked the front cable tension to adjust for stretch.
    Maybe I've stumbled upon a sweet spot, maybe it's because of all new components but as I said, no problems at all
  • ravey1981
    ravey1981 Posts: 1,111
    Semantik wrote:
    Perhaps some end users down the bottom of the component food chain struggle to detect the difference between perfect shifting and shifting that is merely ok.

    Check this guy out, thinks he's some kind of hero because he has some nice bits. Plenty of us also have nice stuff you know.... :roll: :roll: :lol::lol::lol:
  • pastryboy
    pastryboy Posts: 1,385
    I've got an old Sora 3400 triple setup. I want to change to a Tiagra 4600 double chainset but the rest of the setup will remain.

    I need to buy a new front derailleur so will it matter if it's a Tiagra one or a Sora one?
  • trailflow
    trailflow Posts: 1,311
    Tiagra 4700 will also need the 4700 long arm front derailleur.

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