New group set - do I need a new rear wheel?

jd843

Hi

I've got a bike with 8-speed Shimano Claris on it. I want to upgrade to 10-speed Tiagra, and assumed this would mean a new rear wheel would be needed as well. Is this necessarily the case though? Or are some wheels that are 8-speed compatible fine with a 10-speed cassette?

Thanks

super_davo

You will be fine moving from Claris to Tiagra.

If you were moving to 11 speed you may have had an issue with some older wheels because 11 speed hubs and cassettes are a few mm wider, but you don't have that issue moving to 10 speed.

A lot of 10 speed and below bikes will have 11 speed hubs with a spacer, so you may want to check that out and go 105 if your wheels can (R7000 is a wonderful groupset).

svetty

Another vote for R7000 if you can stretch to it - it's way better than Tiagra.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

From what little I know, the only slight drawback with Tiagra 4700 is the unique setup it has, being 10-speed but having 11-speed cable pull ratios between gears.

There are some 11-speed road cassettes that fit 10-speed freehubs, such as the 11-34, which require a supplied spacer before the cassette on 11-speed freehubs.