Road Cycling - Sick of Sora.....Upgrade Guidance?

My GT ZR roadbike has Sora Components with about 600 miles on them. It's an 8 spd. Not a lot of miles, I know, but I'm riding every day and building miles. I only started seriously riding a month or so ago. Currently I ride about 400 miles a month, but hope to soon add another 100-150. This only months after my stroke and kicking my 2 pack a day habit.

Anyway, my components are starting to get "mushy". I've kept up with adjustments and such, but I feel let down by them. Some things I'm happy with, others I'm not.

I'm happy with the shifters. They seem OK, but I know shifters can make a huge difference. They are Flight Deck compatible too, BTW. The front derailuer works good. Never had a problem with it. Kinda surprising.

I'm not happy with the crank. My big chainring is bent, and I get the scrape once around on the front derailuer. It's been bent since day one. The rear derailuer absolutely sucks. Hesitant, noisey, just a PITA. The brakes are so-so. Pro Max something or other.

What do I do? Upgrade to full Ultegra? I don't really hafta go to 9 spd, 8 seems like plenty for me. Should I upgrade the crank, BB, and rear derailuer and go from there? It's got an HG cassette and chain. Currently at 53/12.

Thanks,

Allen

I don't know anything about your frame, but you have to ask yourself whether or not the frame is worthy of upgrading to better components. For example (and my opinion), I would be heisitant to upgrade maybe a Giant OCR to ultegra whereas if I had a nice Cdale or Bianchi frame, I would have no qualms about upgrading it to durace if it was required.

Sometimes, it's better to just stick with the bike for a while, save up some money, and then get a new bike with a nice frame and better components...and then keep the old bike as a commuter or something. Grupos aren't cheap :)

For starters, straighten that front chainring or have the LBS do it. Nothing to lose, since you're contemplating a new crank anyway. :) A rubber mallet might be all you need.

If you wanted better quality, one possibility would be to upgrade to 105 9sp but use an Ultegra crankset (I'm a fan of the thicker, forged-aluminum Ultegra chainrings). You'd need to adapt to the different shifter style. Possible plan:

new bar tape
new shift/brake controls
new crank
new bottom bracket
new rear derailleur (since you want a better-quality one)
new chain (9sp)
new cassette (9sp)
maybe new brakes if you want

The 9sp stuff is sort of a byproduct of going up in quality level. You could stick with 8sp in back and re-use your existing shifters, of course.

Another option would be to convert the whole rig to, say, Campagnolo Veloce. Your local shop could price out a complete bike kit from QBP.

Don't waste your money upgrading that POS frame.The chainring can be fixed or replaced.The rear derailer just needs adjustment.If you just hafta spend the coin,do a 105 RD derailer , 105 crankset and ultegra BB.

Or to go another route, upgrade the bike with some decent upper-mid level parts, and I'm talking around Ultegra or Campy Daytona or maybe even Chorus, or go all out if you are enjoying yourself and your cycling and pick up Dura-Ace or Campy Record and then in the future upgrade the frame to something nice and have what is then a "world class" bike, while defering the cost over a little time.

Andrew

dude i have the exact same bike , GT ZR5. It's a great frame but Sora SUCKS! I've had it for about a year and a half and just could not stand it any more. I also had the same problem with chain noise on the front derail. i think it's just because sora is crap because i had 3 different bike shops adjust it and it never went away. I just upgraded to an all ULTEGRA drive train and it is sweet. I cant wait to take it out on the road for a test spin. ( i only 'ride' road once a week but i do trainer classes twice a week with the road bike.)
(ps did i mention that the frame is sweet? it's not coloagno steel or light speed ti but there is nothing wrong with your frame ((unless it's bent or something like that)))

oh ps i like mechBgon's upgrade list too.

Use this bike as a bad weather/winter training bike.
It don't seem worth upgrading the components with a so-so frame. Use it to get a lot fitter, and as you are training, save up your money and get a good frame with Ultegra stuff on !

:D

I have Sora components and they do require frequent fine tuning. I'm saving up for a bike with Dura Ace or Ultegra cuz Sora components usually means a Sora quality frame. Anyways....I used WD-40 on the gears....front/rear and u can't hear a thing except for the wheels. It also seams to run alooooooot smoother. I wouldn't upgrade if I were you. Just like others have said, stick with ur bike and put your money towards a better all round bike.

I wouldn't use WD-40 on any bike, even if it had Sora. It's a crime.

UH OH. Hows that?

Originally posted by velocipedio
I wouldn't use WD-40 on any bike, even if it had Sora. It's a crime.

i know. Blasphemers.

Originally posted by kewlrunningz
UH OH. Hows that?
WD-40 is a pretty nasty solvent. It's an excellent cleaner, for some applications, but a lot of people think that it's also a lubricant, which it isn't. What it WILL do is remove lubricating material from your chain, cogs, jockey wheels, etc., so they grind together metal-to-metal, causing things to wear out much, much more quickly. It's not even very effective for cleaning gunk off of your chain before re-lubing because it's not water soluble and will prevent real lubricants from adhering to yuor chain.

Bad stuff...

Death before WD!

Thanks for the info on WD-40. Makes sense, and lines up with my experience with the stuff. I'll keep it in mind.

WD-40

Water Displacement, 40th attempt. Never use as a lubricant.

All:

My friend has the GT ZR 2.0 which is full Ultegra and he loves it,
it's a great bike.

My understanding is it's the same frame so you could go that
way if you want.

Don't know the expense but it's an investment in yourself so
go for it!

I just did this:
jensonusa
ultegra f derail - 25
ultegra r derail - 35
ultegra chain - 18
ultegra shifters - 150
Casette - 32
total = $260

Supergo
ultegra 9s 2ring crank - 90
ultegra bb - 29
Total = $119

plus i guess about $20 for shipping

grand total = $399

Thanks to those who responded.

I have decided to continue upgrading, and will proceed with a full Ultegra component set. I have already upgraded the wheelset, tires, skewers, stem, seat, seatpost, and added a Time carbon fork which converted the steering to threadless.

I noticed the negative responses regarding the frame itself, and must disagree. The frame rides very nice, especially with the carbon fork. While it may not be as plush as steel, it's far from harsh. As to the value and wheteher it's worth upgrading or not, that is subjective. Besides, I can always buy a high dollar frameset in a year or so if I become unhappy with the bike, and transfer the components over. Which I doubt. Yes, overall weight is important to me, and when I'm done I'll take that into consideration when and if I look into buying a frame.

Not only that, but upgrading a piece at a time teaches you a lot about bike mechanics and repair. If you do the install yourself, that is. I've done everything myself so far, and plan to continue doing so. I get bored when I buy something and leave it be. I'm one of those people who must always be working on/upgrading/tinkering with whatever I buy. It's a disease I think. :D

Fellow riders with the same frame seemed to have the same complaints as I, and upgraded. Their happiness in doing so has convinced me to do so as well. I valued your input the most..........so thanks.

Here she is so far..................

Allen

http://home.attbi.com/~jeeperz/MVC-005F.JPG

For what it's worth, I was very impressed by last year's GT road frames. Very nice bikes with a lot of potential. Me? I'd go with Campy 10-speed on the GT frame... but that's just me...