My Felt F90 came SORA equipped and 3 years and thousands of miles later it continues to be trouble free. It is the same as anything else, manitain it properly and it will give good service, sure I might get looked down upon for showing up with "inferior" stuff but it seems like I beat some guys on better bikes and also get beat by guys on lesser bikes, in the end as always, it's "THE MOTOR".
In the end, buy what you can afford, ride it like you stole it, and enjoy yourself.