Road Cycling - shimano question??

I recently got a Trek 1000 with Shimano Sora componants...I was wondering if anyone had any experiences with them...either good or bad..??

The Shimano Sora is the base STI road group. It works fine. Seems to hold up well, I have not seen any Sora specific problems and we sold lots of Sora equipped bikes.

the Sora is shimano's entry level group.
But the sora is a very good gruppo as compared to shimano's mtb entry level groups (ALTUS). I think its equivalent to at least the Alivio.

Apart from the finishing and weight, it shifts and works well and is eight speed w/c is enough for the average to intermediate cyclist.

The sora shifters are really good if you have small hands too. :)

Carlee

so im set for a while with this stuff...good good, thanks

Is performance difference very noticable between Sora and 105 or Ultegra or is it mainly longevity?

Can components be upgraded to 105 or Ultegra as needed or does the whole package need to be done at once?

Is performance difference very noticable between 105 and Ultegra or is it mainly longevity?

Can components be upgraded to 105 or Ultegra as needed or does the whole package need to be done at once? There is so little real difference between 105 and ultegra I wonder why they bother. Maybe that is why they made 105 black:to make it different.........If you are asking about upgrading sora to 105 or ultegra,some of it can be done piece at a time. You can upgrade front and rear derilers or cranksets/BB.Sora is 8 speed so new shifter upgrde to 9 speed also requires 9 speed cassette and chain, all at the same time.

Unless you source shimano 105 parts that are 8spd.... I know that as I wear out My Sora components I have been replacing with Ultegra 8spd!

Brendon

I have two bikes equipped with various Sora components and am very happy with the performance. One bike has the STi shifters, the other the Sora indexed downtube shifters.
My view is that, even though it is "entry level" componentry the advances in index shifting and particularly STi are features that we would not have dreamed of on "affordable" bikes years ago. Some components do suffer from being "low end", particularly wheel hubs (see my other posts on this subject) and I have had problems, riding as I do in all weathers and seasons. Wheels are something you may want to upgrade in the future anyway.
On the flip side, it was not too expensive to replace parts (shifters) after a crash last year - ultegra parts would have cost more than double!

So I say enjoy the Sora stuff, it works well when properly set up and looked after.

Cheers,

Ed

Unless you source shimano 105 parts that are 8spd.... I know that as I wear out My Sora components I have been replacing with Ultegra 8spd!

BrendonYou can just as easily use 9 speed stuff, other than the shifters and cassette of course.

On the flip side, it was not too expensive to replace parts (shifters) after a crash last year - ultegra parts would have cost more than double!

True, but Campy Xenon levers are half the cost of Sora levers :)

Anyway, I have Sora on my Orbea, it's great. Apart from the different shifting style (thumb switch for smaller cog on Sora (and Campy), secondary lever on Tiagra up), the only real differnce is weight. Sure DA will shift smoother and last longer than Sora, but Sora still shifts smoothly and lasts a good while.

Any problems with low-end Shimano hubs can probably be put down to low-end build quality. I had my LBS build up a set of commuter wheels with Altus hubs, Mavic rims and DT spokes. The wheels are as bomb-proof as any, and they spin nicely after a year of all-weather use.
Low-mid end Shimano stuff is excellent value and very effective.

^^^ What he said. I have Sora hubs in my wheelset (CXP rims and black SS spokes), and they're great. I've had no problems with the hubs, only with the spokes wearing in and needing a tension.

I'm certainly not spoiling for a fight over this, nor want to hijack the thread;), but personally I had bad luck with Sora hub bearings due largely to poor seal design. See http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=11503&highlight=sora+hubs if you're really bored. My recommedation is to keep an eye on this area and re-pack the bearings on a fairly regular basis if you do a lot of wet weather riding.

I since had very good luck with lower level MTB hubs (Shimano Deore) for my older road bike. A much better design, they were fitted to a set of Mavic CXP33 rims (stainless spokes of course) and have proved to be a great set of reliable wheels.

Sorry if I have ranted on. Ultimately I have had (10+) thousands of happy miles on my Sora equipped bikes over the last few years and the gear has served well.

Cheers,

Ed

I didnt particularly care for my Sora stuff. After some hard climbing, it seemed to always be out of adjustment, and noisy. I did have a get off on the bike, however. It was never really the same after that.