Are the varying levels of brifters from Sora on up different in their guts? I have use Sora for a long time, works ok for me, no breakdowns. Is spendy really better or not?

It depends on what you mean by "better". More money spent on brifters will buy you lighter ones, ones with better aesthetics, possibly ones that'll shift more cogs (11 speeds versus 10 or less), and so forth. As far as I know, durability hasn't been a problem with Sora relative to other Shimano brifters, so I don't know that spending more money buys you better longevity or reliability.

If you got a more expensive one, how could you tell if it's more durable. What would it matter?

I would make sure the LH lever has two trim "clicks". Some of the older versions didn't. The biggest issue with STI is the cable breakage on the exposed casing routing versions. Replacing the inner cables before they fray is the simple and cheap solution. Andy.

The question makes sense, and you can't tell when examining or using a single unit. However, there may be anecdotal evidence that says, for example, that Dura Ace shifters last longer than Sora shifters, and it would be useful if the sample size is large enough. I would ask a bike mechanic for his/her impressions, because they get to see a lot of this stuff. Of course, they will have their biases, and there is a tendency to prefer high end stuff, but you might be able to read between the lines. And some mechanics are not always enamored of the most expensive stuff.

My very small sample is that I had some Ultegra brifters from about 1998 that were 3x9, and they worked flawlessly. I got them used from a friend. The bike they were on was stolen, so I didn't get to use them until they failed.

I have a 1995-or-so Bianchi Volpe which came with an RSX-100 drivetrain, which is fairly low end, slightly higher or lower than Sora. The bike came to me badly neglected, and the brifters didn't work at all, because the pawls didn't engage. I spent weeks soaking them in lubricant, and they came back to life. Now they work very well.

That's a sample size of two, so don't take it too seriously.

One of the great benefits of Campagnolo brifters is their rebuild-ability. My several 8-spd sets have only needed a few rebuilds in the almost 20 years that my wife and I have been using them. The job is easy with the right instructions, and parts have been inexpensive, although some are no longer being made for 8-psd.

Yes, it's too bad Campagnolo stuff isn't in wide use in North America. It seems to be good stuff, and if you shop around, it's not more expensive than Shimano.

There is a guy here on BF who has written instructions on servicing a few model brifters. They are excellent, but there is variation among the models, so I doubt he has covered all models. It's not as nice as having Campagnolo in the first place, but sometimes you have to deal with what you have on hand.

Not wanting to put words in the OPs mouth, but I think he wanted feedback from others to help in future buying decisions. In other words, if the consensus was that higher end brifters lasted a lot longer or were functionally superior, it might affect decisions down the road.

Personally, for many people, Sora is quite good enough. I've talked with experienced mechanics who say the biggest difference in levels is weight and appearance. Not necessarily shifting performance. I've used Dura Ace, RSX100 and Tiagra brifters, and had good luck with all of them.

There will always be those who just have to have the best. They will turn their nose up at Sora, and even 105. Whatever helps them sleep at night...

If you're buying used stuff, avoid 9 speed dura ace. They had little pawls that wore to failure much earlier than anticipated. The last I heard they are not rebuildable. (If I'm wrong someone please tell me, I have a patient.) The 9 speed ultegra I have are much better. I can't comment on any other DA or ultegra version.

I have had very good luck with 9 speed Dura Ace Sti Shifters. I am running 2 pairs since 1999. I just flushed and cleaned one pair and it is working flawlessly. (Must be lucky)

also:
Stripping Shimano Dura-Ace 9-Speed STI Levers

Yes, that was exactly my point. I don't care about looks or weight, use old 8 speed, etc. i just don't want to go cheap and have regrets. And the thumb lever set up works well for me.

Good info, I read that one of those little internal pointy parts wears and causes hard shifting until it fails completely. Mine feel "very worn". What did you flush your levers with?

Removed hoods
Flushed with "White Lightning Clean Streak"
Worked the shifting without cables attached
Allowed it to dry
Flooded with Boeshield t-9
Worked the shifting without cables
Allowed the lube to dry
reinstalled hoods and cables

I used WD-40 sometimes and ATF at other times. I like ATF for general bike use.

A second question on durability: is there a difference in likelihood of surviving a "routine" slide? The old aluminum levers pre-index almost always survived crashes (at least if you weren't concerned with looks). The newer levers (like Tektro) do far less well. Are there brifters that have better or worse survivability? (I'm thinking a heavier model like Sora might be considerably better.)

I have yet to own brifters. DTs work, are cheap, light, versatile (cog spacing and number matters zero) and I know how to use them.

Ben

That the levers pivot inward, the direction that a fall down produces, means that very little bending of the levers happen. My years of servicing bikes bears this out. I see far more fixed pivot (non brifter) levers with bent in levers then STI ones. I've seen PLENTY of scuffed up, rotated in on the bars, lost/loose end caps but very few issues with the actual internal shift or brake functions. In this respect I consider the Shimano STI to be pretty durable. They do like, as I mentioned, periodic cable replacement and as others have alluded to, lube refreshment.

Now the SRAM double tap levers are FAR more breakage prone. In the few years they have been around I've seen maybe a dozen with cracked/broken bodies. The good thing is that SRAM has a pretty liberal replacement policy. They need to for customer acceptance.

I've seen a few Campy levers with broken bodies, but very few. And Campy parts are quite available either as new replacements or from Ebayed old levers. You'll even see worn/broken Campy Ergo for sale because the seller knows that someone else can and will be able to rebuild them or use the still good parts.

Ben- Depending on how you ride and feel about things like cadence you might find brifters to be only interesting and rather involved to deal with. But if you're like the vast majority of riders I think you'll really like the ability to shift with less effort. As you increase the cog count the inclusion of indexing will have it's advantage too. Andy.

happy with Sora? fine . If and when they fail buy new ones, same sort. Shops get each-s so only need the right one thats all you get, ..

Robots assemble them in the factory , so bin them if not working well or you crashed..
(other than the old gummy grease , oft mentioned here.)

The main knocks against Sora are 1) they have the release button in an awkward location so it's difficult to shift from the drops 2) they are usually one "speed" below the upper level groups and 3) they have little status with "serious" riders.

Not anymore. Newer Sora levers are shifted similarly to their higher-end relatives in Shimano's lineup.

Interesting, Andy. I hadn't thought about how brifters have a built-in safety feature.

Some components were more crash-worthy than others, back in the day. Mafac levers were much better than Weinmann in crashes, because of the design.

My 9-speed Dura-Ace(7700) shifters are by far the best Shimano shifters I've ever owned or used. They are much more reliable and easier to use than my wife's 9-speed(6500) Ultegras. What has impressed be the most is that I can use any gear combination never need to trim the front derailleur. I have had to flush them with WD-40 twice since they were new in 1998. I like my Campy Record 10-speed but it requires trimming the front shifter in one gear combination, and the D-A is much quieter.

They don't sell small parts for the new ones (although a replacement mechanism for $90 beats the competition), and the G-spring units needed it frequently because the springs had bad wear characteristics. I rebuilt my 1996 G-spring levers every few years until I broke a discontinued spring and moved on to 10 speed Ultrashift in 2012. If you do your own work that's not a big deal (the hardest part is taping the bars) although many people don't.