Road Cycling - Raleigh Sport- Entry level

MY LBS has the Raleigh sport entry level road bike on sale for $375. It is a steel frame with sora components.

Anybody's opinion on this bike compared to other entry level bikes?

I'm not familiar with that bike, but Raleigh's been around long enough that their low-end bike should compare pretty darn well with anyone else's. That price sounds good. The Fuji Finest, also steel, also Sora goes for $400-450. I have the Finest and while I will get a better one someday, it's a solid friggin' machine and I bet the Raleigh would be too.

Take it for a test ride, if you like it, buy it, ride it, enjoy.

What's your opinion of sora components? Do you have any complaints so far?

I keep reading about ultegra (without ever riding sora) and wonder if it is just cheaper in the long run to upgrade right off the bat. I don't care about the 8speed cassette vs. 9 speed cassette difference though.

I keep reading about ultegra (without ever riding sora) and wonder if it is just cheaper in the long run to upgrade right off the bat. I don't care about the 8speed cassette vs. 9 speed cassette difference though.
Not sure what you're trying to say here. I doubt it would be cheaper to upgrade the Sora equipped bike to Ultegra than it would be to just buy a complete 105 or Ultegra bike. When you buy a bike equipped with a better group from the factory, you get better other components too - seat posts, stem, wheelsets, fork etc, not to mention a frame often made of better material. IMHO, this is a much better idea than buying a Sora bike and upgrading it.

I've ridden Tiagra, 105 and Ultegra, and while the higher end groups are smoother to shift, they all function well. I'd recommend a 105 equipped bike as something that will shift well, has good component life, and won't need upgrading. You can usually pick up a good 105 bike for $800-1200. I haven't ridden Sora myself, but have noticed a few around this forum who have said the components wear faster than higher groups (particularly chainrings, cogs). The 8 speed vs. 9 speed cassette is significant if you do enough riding to wear out chainrings or cogs, or if you get the urge to upgrade for smoother shifting. Sora shifters/cassettes/chaingrings are only compatible with Sora (8 speed), whereas Tiagra, 105, Ultegra and the old Dura Ace 9 groups are all intechangeable (all 9 speed).

All that being said, the Raleigh looks to be a good buy for an entry level bike. If you really get into road riding, you can always hang on to it as your bad weather bike and get yourself something a bit nicer to add to the stable. It's always good to have an excuse to buy a new bike... ;)

I nearly bought a Raleigh Sport as a first roadbike. It seems to be one of the better sub-$500 raodbikes. The other of note was a Fuji League (about $100 less than the Sport), the leage had lower grade components though, and even a threaded stem...BUT...it had a hybrid cro-moly/HiTen framne instead of the pure Hi-Ten steel frame found in the Sport. Really, after reading up on the frame amterials and such, I figure both frames would prolly ride the same, with maybe a slight weight difference....so I almost went Raleigh....

....Then today at the LBS some guy was selling his used roadie...I eventually got it from him for $100...given it needs a few minor repairs...but I bet for under $100 in labor and parts I can have it running. :)

As far as gearng, from my mtn bike experience...you will only appreciate anything htat is as high as your skill level is. For a casual rider, like my mom's boyfriend, going from his shimano tourney equipped bike to my shimano XT equipped bike, he could not tell the diffrerence. It was just his level of riding was not high enough to really get any gain from higher level gear. So, you could either upgrade and get it over with, and grow into it...or just get something mid-range and ride it till it breaks (I hear lots of good things about Shimano 105 components, but havent rode a roadie before, so I can't be sure if they were right or not).

I think the roadie component grades from entry to top is Sora -> tiagra -> 105 -> ultegra -> dura-ace

Bottomline... if you know for a fact that you're going to enjoy riding and know you'll do it for years to come, buy the best bike you can afford.

I had been really enjoying mtb when I bought my roadie last year and wasn't sure road was for me, so I bought cheap.

Within a few weeks I was complaining to the store manager about the Sora rear derailleur losing tension and the wrench told me that the Sora doesn't hold that well and would need tightening every month or so. Performance does this for free, but hell if I was gonna be forced to bring it in that friggin' often. I felt this was stupid and unreasonable and convinced the store manager to let me trade it for a 105... he sold me the 105 for $20 and put it on for free.

That said, the other Sora components have been just fine for 2600 miles now. I'm satisfied with the shifters, brakes, front derail, cranks... it's not great, but it most certainly works well enough.

You were able to replace a sora rear derailler with a 105. I thought they were incompatible (8speed (Sora)vs. 9spped( for 105))

I'm glad to find out the rest of the sora components are performing satisfactorily.

I meant buying a 105 equipped bike over a sora equipped bike. Yeah I know upgrading parts is almost not worth it. I think someone accuartely quoted, "The cheapest way of buying parts is to get them already bolted to a frame (ie, complete bike))

You were able to replace a sora rear derailler with a 105. I thought they were incompatible (8speed (Sora)vs. 9spped( for 105))

I'm glad to find out the rest of the sora components are performing satisfactorily.
Derailleur is interchangable - the indexing (distance derailleur moves for each shift) is in the shifter.