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Winter Bike Project - Tiagra vs 105

by Gman59c
Mon, Jul 22, 2013 21:32
10

As I said in an earlier thread I putting together a winter bike. I have pretty much settled on the frame being Kinesis T2 or TK3.

The question now is what groupset to use, should I stretch to a 105 or would tiagra be sufficient for my needs. My summer bike is ultegra and I have experience of SRAM Apex on an older bike, but no experience of 105/tiagra.

Any thoughts ??

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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10 comments

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Stumps | 11 years ago
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I've got Tiagra on my bike and mulling over changing it to 105 or if i can afford it going for Ultegra, but to be honest the Tiagra has never let me down and i ride the same bike both summer and winter.

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arrieredupeleton | 11 years ago
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I've just replaced a Tiagra BB for the princely sum of £10.18!

I've never tried SRAM on a roadbike but MTB stuff seems OK. Having said that there's a fair bit of talk on this here t'interweb of SRAM shifters breaking.

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pirnie | 11 years ago
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I've had Tiagra 9 speed on my bike (which is now my winter bike) since it was new, over 3 years, and in 7000km I haven't had to change anything other than the cassette and chain and nothing has broken. Sure, it's not the prettiest or lightest groupset out there but for a winter bike that'll take a lot of punishment it does a pretty good job

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joemmo | 11 years ago
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Don't much about campag groups myself but did you check Merlin cycles for groupsets? They often have deals on.

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Gman59c | 11 years ago
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Just been on Ribble and see that I can have a campag veloce groupset for a little cheaper than the 105 would this be a good option??

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joemmo | 11 years ago
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I have a mix of 105 (mechs), Tiagra (shifters, hubs, brakes) and Apex (chainset) on my kinesis winter bike. It all works well and the Tiagra parts are fine, the external gear cabling on the shifters is an advantage on a bike that goes out in all weathers IMO, easier to maintain. the only Tiagra part I don't like is the hideous chainset but I'm sure it works well enough.

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matthewn5 | 11 years ago
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I've got an old Ultegra group on my winter/commuting bike. Works brilliantly. Feel a bit guilty about all that salt getting in though.

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arrieredupeleton | 11 years ago
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Tiagra much the same as 105 but bit heavier. Do you want a light winter bike or one slightly heavier that you can train on and come the Spring, really notice what a fast Summer bike feels like? For me, that's the single best thing about having Summer and Winter bikes.

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crash144019 | 11 years ago
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Tiagra is pretty much bomb proof in my experience. Especially with a sealed cable kit.SRAM apex is crap!!

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Northernbikeguy replied to crash144019 | 11 years ago
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crash144019 wrote:

Tiagra is pretty much bomb proof in my experience. Especially with a sealed cable kit.SRAM apex is crap!!

Can you tell us what's "crap" about it? To the contrary, I ride Apex on my cross/commuter and I think it's bombproof. I wouldn't go to Shimano now for anything less than Ultegra. I have Rival on my road bike and there's no difference in quality between that and Apex, just in materials.

In response to OP, Tiagra can feel cheap but it works and if it's just a winter bike it's not a bad option at all. If you can get Apex for the same price though, I'd definitely go with that.

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