bh85

I have 2016 Specialized Diverge A1. It is 8 speed Claris. How many speed would my rear wheel accept? I was thinking about upgrading it to at least new 9 speed Sora (internal cable routing). Would my rear wheel and frame accept 9 speed, 10 or maybe 11? Thanks!

Retro Grouch 

On a 2016 bike? Kind of an expensive upgrade but 9 for sure will work and I'm pretty sure that 10 will work with just shifters, chain and cassette. For 11 I think that you need a different rear hub but I really don't know.

nfmisso

9 - new cassette and shifter only.
10 - new cassette, spacer, and new shifter.
11 - new rear hub (maybe cheaper to get a new rear wheel), new cassette, new shifter, new derailleur

What it the benefit that you expect?

Z953

I recently went from a Sora to 105 groupset (did the upgrade myself). Some things that I noticed when researching the upgrade:

Rear hubs seem to accomodate 9/10/11 cassettes--I never saw a rear hub that listed 8/9/10/11. If your current hub doesn't have spacer(s) in it to accomodate the smaller cassette that you have now, I agree with Retro that you will need new a rear hub. If you do need a new hub, I suggest just getting a new wheelset and keeping the Claris wheels as a back up.

At the very least, you will need a new right brifter/w cable because the lateral movement of the rear derailleur will be smaller per shift. You might be able to use the same chain depending on what cassette you choose and if you stay with your current crankset. I agree with Retro that it would be expensive.


A couple of suggestions:

If you decide to upgrade, don't go up one level in terms of groupset because (yes, like Retro said, it's expensive)--upgrade to a groupset that you will use for the rest of the bike's life. May I humbly suggest the 105 and upgrade the whole groupset. You don't want to be upgrading incrementally because you'll end up spending enough money to purchase 2 more bikes. I pieced my 105 groupset together from take-offs and some new parts from eBay and it still cost me about $350 (only saved about $50 vs a new complete groupset in box).

If you plan on doing the upgrade yourself, take the cost of tools into consideration...I didn't. I didn't have to get all Park Tools but those stupid bicycle specific tools (which really are worth getting) cost me about the half of what I spent on the groupset (and that doesn't include the bikestand that I got)!


Hope this helps out.

2lo8

Tiagra 4700 uses 11-speed actuation ratio not the old 5-10 speed actuation ratio and the and FD design.
Sora 3600 uses the new FD design.
I would advise against trying to mix and match from these groupsets.

You should also get a chain rated to the number of speeds on your new cassette, and FDs and chainrings can be finicky when used with a thinner chain, but are usually good for at least +1 speed. An 8 speed hyperglide freehub will accept a 10 speed cassette. The freehub was increased in length for 11 speed. Sometimes a new non-11 speed bike will come with 11-speed wheels, but they still often times use old production 10-speed and less hubs to cut costs.

cny-bikeman

Well, I was going to say that most of the "upgrade" will be a couple useless gears, but somebody stupidly spec'd the 8 speed cassette on that bike with an 11 tooth cog and a 50 tooth chainwheel, so you're already there. Might as well at least have smaller jumps between gears. I just don't get this penchant for 11 tooth cogs, especially on an 8 speed wide range cassette (11-32)

alcjphil

It is a sure bet that your rear wheel will accept a 10 speed cassette, however 11 speed cassettes require a slightly longer cassette body than 8,9, or 10 speeds. If you are already thinking about upgrading a bike that you bought only a few months ago you may be getting ahead of yourself. You may be realising that you like cycling much more than you thought you would and may be having buyer's remorse over not having bought a better bike. Wanting to upgrade the bike you have indicates to me that you like your bike. You may not like it any better after you upgrade it. We all had starter bikes. Mine lasted only a year before I had to have a better one back in 1973. my first bike could not have compared no matter what upgrades I did to my second one. I went from a basic 10 speed Peugeot to my beloved Raleigh Professional which I rode for 27 years. My point is that your basic bike is good, but not all that worthy of upgrades. Don't think about turning it into your dream bike, it can never be that. Enjoy it for what it is

Bill Kapaun

If you just bought the bike, take it back and get the 9 speed version for $150 more.

bradtx

bh85, There are several 8S cassettes available to tailor the gear inches to something you might very well like better and the cost is much less than what the title involves. Chain rings on the crank set can also be swapped if desired.

Tailoring the drivetrain to your needs will go a long way for you to know what you want should there be a bike upgrade in the future. Search for the various gear inch calculators on the 'net so you'll know what you have and what needs to be changed.

Brad

Spoonrobot 

Freehubs will either be 8/9/10 speed or 11 speed. Unless they are Mavic, which was always 11 speed compatible.

This is the best advice. But, 9 speed Sora will be a good upgrade and very economical. 9 speed chains, cassettes are very cheap and easy to find.

2lo8

9 speed is easy to mix and match cogs too, there's a huge variety of cogs from just buying an 11-32 and an 11-34, and junior cassettes are cheap as well for non-11t small cogs. If there's a couple of cogs you would never use with 11 speed, then you can pretty easily get by with 9 speed and a custom cassette. When buying groupsets only, Tiagra is too close to 105 in price to justify not getting 105.

HillRider

Add a 9, 10 or 11-speed chain respectively to each of these lists.

The "spacer" noted for the 10-speed cassette is included with each Shimano 10-speed cassette so it doesn't have to be purchased separately.

MRT2

I agree. The 50 X 11 big gear is a huge 121 gear inches. My biggest gear is 48 - 12 and I only use it very rarely going downhill. Very frustrating when they spec a gravel bike with super tall road gearing better suited for a racing bike. I would prefer this bike be paired with cyclocross or touring gearing. A 48 - 32, 46 - 36, or 46 - 30 crankset makes much more sense paired with an 8 speed 11 - 32 cassette, or better yet, drop the 11 tooth cog altogether.

MRT2

Any reason why you want to upgrade a brand new bike?

Delmarva

+1
I don't think the o.p. has ridden the bike enough to identify a problem that would be solved by going to 9 speeds. Hopefully it is more than just the attraction of having a bike with a bigger number of cogs.

MRT2

There is parking/coffee shop lot bragging rights. But, IMO, it would be a mistake to spend hundreds of dollars for a marginal at best improvement in performance at this juncture.

bh85

I thought about upgrading for heck of it, mainly for internal cable routing on this new 2017 Sora. Like everyone says, cost would probably outweigh the benefit of this upgrade. It makes more sense to get a bike with more gears. I would like to pick up some speed, because i think 8 speed is limiting me? Thanks for great responses!

MRT2

If you are buying a new bike, it makes sense to consider going one or two steps up from entry level. But once you take the plunge, might as well get some mileage out of your 8 speed components, since you won't get much, if anything for them now.

I seriously doubt 8 speed is limiting your speed. Consider this. The pros were using 7 speed as recently as 1987, and 8 speed as recently as 1995, and only went to 9 speed in 1996.

If it was good enough for Merckx, Hinault, Lemond, and Indurain, not likely 8 speed is holding you back.

With your current cassette, the only difference between 8 and 9 speed is, one extra gear. Put another way, so, you get a 1 tooth jump when shifting from 50 - 11 to 50 - 12, instead of jumping to 50- 13.

bh85

I better start losing some weight, haha, as a first step.

bradtx

bh85, Most of us here own multiple bikes with different drivetrain configurations, in my case 7, 8, and 9 speed roadies, counting the touring bikes. If there was a notable advantage, we would have told you so.

Working on the "engine" is a great path. The going does not become easier, but the speed will increase. Learn about spinning and cadence, practice your new skills and you maybe amazed at the improvement.

Brad

Bill Kapaun

An 11T smallest cog is an 11T smallest cog is an 11T smallest cog.
They are all just as "fast", no matter how many cogs are in the cassette.

Delmarva

You have the gearing to go very fast right now. However most of us with less than perfect legs can only take advantage of that gearing on momentarily thrilling downhill rides. As others have mentioned if you want to improve speed on the flats and hills the engine has to get better.

You have a wide range 8 speed in the rear and probably a 50 34 in the front. The only change you might consider would be to tighten up the rear gearing some. And I would not spend the $40.00 or so on a cassette until putting some miles on the bike. You have plenty of gears right now. It's just a matter of learning to use them.

MRT2

I believe OP has a road compact double. He may need those low gears to get up hills, especially if he is new to cycling. My personal beef with the bike manufacturers is pairing a 50 tooth chainring with an 11 - 32. The gearing is just too tall for a multi purpose bike. This isn't such a big deal when the cassette is paired with a triple, since most folks will use the 38 or 39 tooth middle ring most of the time anyway, but with a double, many, if not most people aren't using the 2 biggest gear combinations 99% of the time.

2lo8

The Sora level CX rings are 46-34, so just a big ring swap is needed, if you really want to get rid of the "useless" gears at the top. This only really makes sense if you have a tightly spaced cassette though so it moves the small shifts into a more usable range.

MRT2

Still modestly beneficial. For the style of riding I do, I would go that route, if I were OP. I actually considered swapping out my 48 tooth big ring for a 46 but decided against it as the difference is too small to justify. But if my big chainring ever wears out, I will replace it with a 46 tooth.