Originally Posted by minorhero

Hello all,

I am a beginer and generally thinking of upgrading my bike (more for kicks then because of any real need). My bike is a 2012 Felt Verza City 2 and frankly it does me just fine. But when buying the bike I test road several with much nicer components and I want to see if I can replicate the feel of those components on my Verza City.

I am trying to get an idea on where in the line-up of derailleurs each named version would be listed. This seems really and naturally difficult to do if you do not have extensive first hand experience with each component.

mountain/hybrid:
Tourney
Altus
Acera
Alivio
Deore
Deore LX (mostly Europe but sometimes available in North America)
Deore XT
(and others...)

road:
A050
2200
2300
Sora
Tiagra
105

For instance, I see sometimes Shimano Sora components mentioned as if they are their own lineup and other times I see people talking about Shimano Tiagra components being part of the Sora line-up, etc.

I don't know what you're talking about here. Sora is Sora, Tiagra is Tiagra.

The reason why I am trying to get a handle on quality levels is that many of the components when in a "used" condition sell for about the same price on ebay. So if I am going to buy a used component it would make sense to buy the highest quality used component possible.

Once you go above Deore LX or 105, you might see diminishing returns for your money.

So far my list of Shimano components are as follows from lowest quality to highest:

Atlus
Alivio
Deore
Tiagra ? / Sora?
Ultegra
Dura Ace

I have no idea if that is accurate, I am mostly going by what different bikes have on them. So if its a cheap bike it will have Atlus derailleurs. If its a fairly expensive bike it might have Tiagra, and if its really expensive it might have Dura Ace, etc. Sometimes I see SRAM components which my understanding this is a competing brand? Do these components work with Shimano? I have no idea where those components would fit into the above list.
I can't remember whether SRAM and Shimano did in fact standerdize the cable pull on their shifters or not. I thought I briefly read they did but forgot the details. I know at one time you could not use SRAM shifters with Shimano derailleurs (if I'm correct anyway). Some people use SRAM cassettes with KMC chains (apparently they make Shimano chains) and Shimano derailleurs/shifters. One reason I'd choose Shimano over SRAM or Campy is parts availability.

The other thing I am trying to figure out is what size components should go on my bike. Front derailleurs have clamp sizes measured in I believe? millimeters? (diameter? circumference?). I looked at the stats on my bike but it does not say the size of the front derailleur. What is the best way to figure this out? I have already figured out that my rear derailleur needs to be a "long cage" derailleur based on the range of gears I have.
The size is stamped inside the front derailleur if you take it off. (Can often be 31.8mm)

I frequently see derailleurs advertised that are for 10 speeds. My bike is a 3x8 (drivetrain?) can I use those derailleurs? I figured out I can not use a double front derailleur, I need a triple, but could I use a front and rear derailleur that describes themselves as 10 speeds?

Although an 8 speed chain is wider than a 9 speed chain which is wider than a 10 speed chain, rear derailleurs generally don't have speeds. However, for the front derailleur, even though people can say a 9 speed chain front derailleur might be adjusted properly so an 8 speed chain wouldn't rub, I'd prefer not taking chances. (I'd prefer an 8 speed front derailleur for an 8 speed chain.) From what I can remember, there's only a difference of 0.46mm in the distance between chainrings on an 8 speed crankset and 9 speed crankset. I've discussed this with people here and the consensus was there's no reason to add a 0.5mm crankset spacer to use an 8 speed chain on a 9 speed crankset. I wouldn't try using an 8 speed chain on a 10 speed crankset however (unless I'd do the research to figure out which spacers to use)

If I do upgrade my derailleurs do I need to upgrade my shifters? Should I upgrade my shifters before my derailleurs if I want to see the greatest performance gain (where I am measuring performance by smoothness of shifting).

Good question. I'd prefer starting with better shifters. From the research that I did, the only Deore-level quality shifters in 8 speed you could probably find are new old stock (NOS) Shimano STX-RC shifters on eBay. According to someone I emailed in Germany, they were close to LX quality. Someone wrote a message stating they questioned clients for years comparing Alivio to Deore. Apparently Deore shifted better, longer with less maintenance. There might be a reason for going with LX or 105 if you find a good price. But personally I wouldn't go higher than those levels.

Thank you in advance for any answers. I realize many of these questions are quite basic, but I am very new to all of this.