Originally Posted by
KBentley57
thanks for the input guys. The only thing that concerns me is once you drop below $1000, you start getting the sora and tiagra components instead of the 105. I plan on putting thousands of miles on this bike over its lifetime and would hate to have to spend more money in the future to upgrade them instead of spending it up front. I'm not so concerned about the theft at the moment, just on the type and quality of bike I need.
Any gripes against the tiagra? Will they last a while? If so, I may be open to more lower-priced options then.
Thanks again for all the input!
I've got a 2005 cyclocross bike with 8 speed Sora components that I bought new, and a (new to me) 2004 9 speed Dura Ace road bike that I just recently bought. The cross bike has been through many winters, 5,000+ miles and still works lovely. The shifts aren't as "crisp" as the Dura Ace but as long as it is adjusted properly (as with the other bike) it shifts fine and I have zero concerns for the reliability.
Sora is not as easy to shift from the drops when compared to Tiagra because it's hard to reach, but really I don't think reliability itself is going to be a problem with the "lower" end Shimano road components.