I feel like bikes from 5-10 years ago that were "Dura Ace" or "Ultegra" were actually all dura ace and ultegra.. including the brakes and crankset.

Nowadays it seems like you almost never get the good shimano crank or brakes on your "Ultegra" bike and get some crappy FSA or tektro brakes or other offbrand stuff. I hate it when they do that.

Anyway, I too will say that I had an old 9 speed tiagra that I could get shifting just as well as my 10 speed Dura Ace bike. The dura ace does feel better though.


The SRAM stuff is nice too.

IIRC it goes apex-rival-force-red.. there might be another one I'm forgetting? I have a rival set up and that feels very solid and I think a lot of people like the SRAM because they have fancy carbon levers and the shifter cables routed with the brake cables even on the cheaper groups. That's probably why you can get a cervelo with rival but not tiagra.

Oh yeah and don't get a hybrid unless you just ride to the grocery store and back. I rode one of those things and it was one of the most miserable experiences of my life (ok not that bad, but it was so much worse than a road bike).