I was able to find a good deal on a Dura Ace 7400 group on eBay. If you can find something like that, or Ultegra, then that's the way I'd go for an older steel road bike. Part of that, for me, is the aesthetics of them, but another part of it is that I think Claris is crap in comparison, and I dislike the thumb-lever thing on the older 8-speed Sora (new Sora is 9-spd).