Replacing 2300

smbm
smbm Posts: 37
edited June 2013 in Road buying advice
Hi all,

Got a Giant Defy 5 early last year to get fit and have since done a bunch of miles and lost 20kg of weight.

Have had a bike fit and am really happy with the fit/feel of my bike although I am slightly regretting not getting one of the versions with the carbon fork and fancier (non thumb button) group sets.

I have some money to either put towards a new bike or improve what I have. I would imagine most people would suggest wheels but I still have some weight to lose to get to my ideal body weight for my height so figure it might be best to wait until I am as light as I intend to be.

Which leaves me with group set/shifters. I'm finding the thumb buttons a pain to shift if I am riding in the drops. I have outlined a couple of options and would appreciate peoples input:

Get new Sora shifters, cassette and chain. Do I need a new chainset? I have FSA Tempo at the moment (stock). This option is cheap at not much more than £100 to improve the functionality of the shifters.

Get 105. Fit to existing frame and run until I can afford a nicer frame (although I am happy with the geometry of what I have so maybe try to get a Defy Advanced or Composite frame) and then swap the 105 over and run the Defy 5 as winter bike with 2300 back on it or sell it. This is obviously more expensive but will leave me with nicer kit.

What do people suggest? I am open to suggestions. As I understand it the frame on the Defy series is the same throughout the aluminium range so it should be pretty reasonable, although I could be wrong on this.

I have also changed the saddle to a more comfy (cut out) one and the tyres to Gatorskins which roll much better than the originals.

Comments

  • cycleclinic
    cycleclinic Posts: 6,865
    A wet weather winter bike need proper musguards imo. A defy is not that kind of bike. Buy a proper winter bike like a Tifosi CK7, Genesis equilibrium..... and if the defy frame suit you fit Tiagra, 105 to that.

    Your defy will take clip on mudguards but these are make do sort of thing. Proper wet weaher/witer bikes will take full length mudguard and wider tyres at 25mm but 28mm is better. That is my thoughts anyway.
    http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.
  • cycleclinic
    cycleclinic Posts: 6,865
    this bike shop gets shifting right. It not hard.

    Yes 8 speed works well and shifts fine but as the OP want to ditch the thumb buttons. There are variety of Stonglight and Sugina square taper chainset like the impact CT or the sugino 800D or the sugino XD 500D. All these options are compact and the sugino chainsets come with 48/36T rings and the stronglight with 34/50T rings. Now most shops won't be able to supply these but as I can set up gears correctly it would appear I am not most shops which is why I know about them. Also a 10 speed chainset will work with 8 speed.

    I also stock Shimano FC-1055 7/8 speed chainset (new!) that are 710g. The RX100 shainsets (again new) are even lighter. These are cheaper than the stronglight or the sugino options. These chainsets are all standard double though which does not suit some but suits others.

    So plenty of options for chainsets but to get rid of the thumb shifters it will have to be a groupset higher up the pecking order.
    http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.
  • smbm
    smbm Posts: 37
    Thanks for your replies everyone.

    I do not actually wish to change my chainset if I do not have to. The weight doesn't bother me.

    My main problem is the lack of comfort and lack of ease of shifting from the 2300 thumb shifters/hoods. When I am not on the drops and can reach the thumb shifters they work perfectly so quality of shifting is also not something that I need to upgrade necessarily.

    New Sora (9 speed) is an option with the non thumb shifters. The problem here is that I may have to change from my 8 speed chainset to a 9 speed, although there does not seem to be a definitive answer to this.

    If I spend money on Sora shifters, mechs, a cassette and 9 speed chain and then have to buy a new chainset then I am approaching how much money I can get a whole Tiagra group for.

    The Sora plan, if I can keep my existing chain rings works out at about £150.

    Tiagra is on offer at Merlin at the moment for £250. 105 is £350.

    Has anyone got any experience of running 8 speed chainsets with 9 speed chains, mechs and cassettes.

    Also for the record, although I don't have them, I think Giant do sell a proper set of mudguards for the Defy series so it may do as a winter bike. I am not sure how good they are though.
  • smbm
    smbm Posts: 37
    2400 sounds perfect. Thanks for that.

    Unfortunately (or not :) ) I've just ordered a full Tiagra group. It gets round all my problems for not a massive amount more money than partial Sora would have been.

    When I eventually reinstate the 2300 on my current bike I will make sure I fit 2400 shifters.

    thecycleclinic: do you have any idea how much you will be selling the levers for when they are released? I am also going to be looking for some wheels next, the wheels section on your website doesn't give any guide prices. How is best to proceed for a rough quote?