james-p

Hi everyone, I am currently riding a 2008 giant OCR2 with shimano sora. I having been training pretty hard for the last 6 months, and am looking to start racing in the near future. My question is this, I am troubled by some of the components on the bike, for instance, the thumb shifters really really really annoy me, the triple crank keeps requiring tuning to keep it shifting decently, and my seat creaks. I am looking to fix some of these issues, but before i charge off to buy a new group, I was wondering about the suitability of the frame for racing. In short, is it worth buying a new group for the frame, or just flogging it on ebay and starting again (if so, what frame?)

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I have a set of 105 derailleurs sitting around if that helps (although they are only for a double, and sadly not my triple)

helmut

I have an OCR 3 w/Sora and have been pondering the same thing for six months. I hate the triple and the Sora shifters. Changing groups can be really expensive (when you're riding a $600 bike) but I went to Ribble Bikes online and configured a full Campy Veloce groupset with Fulcrum 7 wheels for about $450 bucks. That gives you proper 10 speed gearing, a new double crankset with external bottom bracket, nice new wheels, and it looks cooler than Sora by a mile. You still have the thumb shifters, but they're positioned lower so you can reach them from the drops.

Buying Campy stuff from Europe makes a lot of sense. Set of shifters is only $130 or something ridiculous.

james-p

Wow, that sounds really sweet. Thanks for your help. I just got my hands on a truvativ rouleur crankset for something rediculous, so it looks like im going to have stick with shimano for now. Any ideas where you can find cheap shimano shifters (tiagra are the only 9 speed ones they still have arent they?)

mzeffex 

Keep in mind the OCR has a longer wheelbase, stays, headtube, etc. That means less suited for racing. It will be fine for cat 5 and 4 races, but after that you might consider something with more racy geometry.

james-p

Hmm, I understand that the geometry is slightly different, but when i looked at the numbers it seems that the geometry for the OCR is quite close to the TCR.

TCR has:
10 mm longer TT
15 mm shorter HT
12 mm shorter wheelbase

So do all those differences of about 1cm ish make a big difference in the end? And if they do, is it worth leaving the OCR as it is, and buying another bike with a more racy geometry? (I'm assuming that the CAAD-9 has this? any other bikes?)

mzeffex 

The tcr has just a hair under 16 inch stays, where as the OCR has 16.4 inch stays. That makes a difference. Every little thing does. Again, fine for cat 5 and 4 races. After that you must be pretty good, and deserve a more race designated bike.