Originally Posted by
phulin
...My original question was mainly, "are there any advantages to, say, 105 over Tiagra other than weight?" Clearly 105 does worse in price, but does it shift more reliably and more quickly? Will I have to fiddle with the adjustment less often?...
IMHO (concerning derailleurs) if it's reliable and shifts gears the way I want it to, then that's all I care about. Expensive derailleurs are usually lighter and operate smoother throughout their travel range however the latter is only really a concern with indexed shifters. I run old fashioned non-index shifters so I can trim the shift as needed so cheap stamp steel derailleurs work for me. However I've had plenty of expensive aluminum derailleurs come through the shop that needed to be replaced because the spring boss had sheared... something I've never experienced with my cheap steel ones.
Originally Posted by
no1mad
... It's up to you to determine your own sweet spot when it comes to that sort of thing.
+1