doctor j

Ol' Fuj and I rolled over a total of 8,000 miles as of Friday evening after work. I thought I would provide a brief review of the Sora drivetrain. Fuj is equipped with Sora derailleurs and shifters, triple crank and 8-speed cassette.

During the 8,000 miles, I've adjusted the front derailleur once. Last year I was having some shifting issues with the rear derailleur and commenced to fiddle with the barrel adjuster. Didn't help. Installed a new chain and shifting problems vanished. We replaced the rear derailleur cable once during the 8,000 miles.

Lately, I've had occasion to ride a few miles with 105 components. I'll have to say that shifting the 105 components is smoother and more convenient than the Sora components, but they don't seem to be any more reliable than the Sora. The Sora uses little thumb levers to click to a smaller chain ring or smaller cog. The 105 has really handy little levers. What'll they think of next?

Anyway, Ol' Fuj was my entry back into road biking after many, many moons. I wasn't sure what to expect and therefore did not choose to lay out a lot of money right out of the gate. The Sora gruppo has worked well for me, and so, I might add, has the rest of Ol' Fuj.

waldowales

To each his own. I prefer the thumb levers, they're more like my beloved Campy Ergos.

Robert Foster

My Jamis was Sora equipped and I have no real complaints so far either. But I do think I might want to switch to a 10 speed somewhere down the line.

maddmaxx 

Last year, Shimano changed the Sora Group over to 9 speed. The only remaining equivalent should you ever wish to replace a broken brifter would be the 2200 group. There are still Sora parts on Ebay, but they are becoming more rare.

stapfam

My first road bike 3 years ago was an OCR3 with Sora 8 speed. I never felt it lacked anything and the only problem I had was that when I got Boreas with 10 speed Ultegra- I kept looking for the thumb shifters. Took at least a year to get out of the habit.