Road Cycling - groupset upgrades

i eventually wanna get a groupset upgrade from my sora/tiagra 8 speed groupset on my specialized allez to a relatively high end ten or nine speed groupset like compagnolo veloce or shimano ultegra. i want to know if my current hub would work with the new casset or if i would have to buy a new one. thanks for your help.

It should be fine...

It wouldn't work if you go to Campy though some companies, I think American Classic is one, do make adapters.

If you switch to Campy, you will have to buy a respacing kit from Wheels Mfg. in addition to the 9 speed Shimano cassette. If you go to 10 speed, you will need to buy a remanufactured cassette (very expensive) from Wheels, Mavic, or American Classic. In either case you will need to switch your shifters and derailleurs as well. The good news is that you will be able to stay with Shimano chainrings on your existing crankset(although you should swap the rings themselves to Shimano models for the proper # of cogs in the rear), but if you want to change brands of cranks as well, you will have to switch your bottom bracket, since they use different spindles and attachment methods along with different diameter bolt circles on the chainrings.

if you upgrade to campagnolo, you will need to rebuild the rear wheel with a campagnolo hub.

Just upgrade the derailleurs to Ultegra and the crank to a slined design. Anything more is a waste of money on a cheap frame...

OK, one more opinion..
I will go with a mix of Ultegra and 105.
- Cassette, front derailleur, Crank, BB, chain ring, chain, in 105 level
- STI Shifters, rear derailleur in Ultegra.

This combo is the best bang for the buck..
the next dollars after this upgrade should go toward wheels..

I would do shifters 105, BB ultegra, casette ultegra... the difference between an ultegra cassette and BB is like $10 and you save like $60 going with the 105 shifters which dont have any noticeable degredation in shift quality IMHO... it would be one thing if the Ultegras were rebuildable, but they aren't, so might as well save some cash on something thats going to wear out anyways.

It should be fine...

Whoops, didn't notice you had mentioned Campy too. Glad the other folks corrected me.

Are you buying these components new? There are other options, too. I upgraded to full Ultegra (except brakes/wheels) last year, and the only things I got new were the shifters. And they were on markdown.

I think I spent about $330 for shifters, crankset, BB, chain, cassette, F and RD. The crankset and RD were slightly used.