Originally Posted by
hybridbkrdr
I did read messages claiming Acera and 2300 shifted well enough and other messages stating the jump from Alivio to Deore or Sora to Tiagra is a significant one. But, do you need to buy Deore/Tiagra to have a real bike?
There is a bit of a chasm between a BSO and what level bike an enthusiast will recommend to another enthusiast. If it's only a $100 difference from an A-group (Acera/Alivio/Altus) bike and a Deore bike I'd go with the deore bike. I've a Trek 4000 with an A-group front derailer and LX rear derailer. Front derailer works just fine. I used to turn my nose up at the A-group stuff, but no more.
Roadies typically won't even come close to considering 2200/2300 stuff and most would rather pretend that Sora doesn't exist. A true BSO road bike will often have sub-2200 stuff, from what I've seen.
I'm not sure if this is still true but a few years ago if you saw a bike with a sticker that said "Shimano Equipped" on it somewhere, it was a BSO. The upper range up these would have Tourney derailers and the lower end would have derailers that just said Shimano, or perhaps Shimano SIS.
Ahh, I found a photographic example. GMC Denali. Note the "Shimano Equipped" decal and the differences between its derailer and the 2200 derailer below. The claw derailer is often a good tip-off to a BSO. Also the riveted chainrings, often a sign of a junk bike.
