I absolutely disagree with ****egun AND Marlin. There is nothing functionally wrong with Sora, and there is no need to spend huge sums of money on a new bike for it to be an enjoyable machine. Its about the ride, not how cool and top of the line your gear is. Ask the retro riders with less than 8 speed setups, no indexing, lugged steel frames, etc. They don't see the need to trade up every year. My Bianchi is 9 years old. It is a lugged steel frame with 8 speed Campy Mirage. Yup, an old school steel frame with the bottom of Campy's line (at the time). I have absolutely no plans to trade it in anytime soon. It still rides fine, and because it is maintained, everything works beautifully. Sora may be the bottom of the current Shimano stable, but it is still perfectly functional, and if you don't subject it to the abuses of the race course, should last a good long time. And I don't even like Shimano stuff.