drz400

Decided my 2014 bike and another Caloi Im not sure what year need to be upgraded. What is the preferred groupset around here?

alcjphil

It should be about what you prefer. I have a couple of road bikes with Campagnolo components and a gravel bike with Shimano. Not much experience with SRAM

datlas 

All are viable, depends on your goals and budget.

Care to give more info?

rosefarts

I just looked up Caloi.

I wouldn’t spend more than what’s necessary to keep it running well. Certainly a good bike and something that’s well worth keeping and riding, but nothing I’d drop serious dough on.

Keep in mind that your bike probably has quick release hubs, rim brakes, and 100 and 130mm spacing.

Your bike is probably 10 speed (2x10) and realistically, 11 is all that it can handle. I think the hubs required on anything newer are going to be totally incompatible with your frame.

If you want a new bike, get one. It might not be much more expensive than “upgrading” those bikes.

Germany_chris

Campagnolo will require a wheel or freehub if that is out of the picture/budget then I’d go SRAM.

veganbikes

If I recall Caloi is the Brazilian Schwinn. Mostly lower end to bottom end stuff with a few mid tier options. Though it looks like they do some nicer stuff on the mountain bike side but their road bikes go up to Tiagra and stop. Not something I would put much money into aside from keeping it running.

If it were a nicer bike I would suggest going with a upper level Shimano, SRAM or Campagnolo. Or if you are a rebel you could go Rotor Uno or FSA WE!

Dave Mayer

10-speed Campagnolo Ultrashift is about as good as mechanical shifting gets. Dura-Ace 7800 10-speed is as good as mechanical shifting gets. I've used SRAM Force, but not long enough to have preferred it over Campy or Shimano.

Newer systems will add a cog or two, but will not be any smoother or faster or lighter or quieter or more precise, or easier to keep in tune.

If you want the next level in shifting performance, then EPS or dI2 will be required. Need better shifting than that? - then Shimano Alfine internal gear hubs are better still, but at a big weight penalty.

You're going to get some 'advice' here that newer systems always offer better shifting. They don't; this advice will be coming from someone who has mangled their shifters, or hasn't tuned their derailleurs properly, or hasn't changed shift cables and housing in 10 years - which is something that should be done yearly. Bike shops will also offer the same advice, but what would you expect?

mstateglfr 

There is no preferred groupset here.
Everyone has different equipment based on interest, goals, experience, finances, availability, and more.

DaveSSS 

Campy has fallen behind, compared to SRAM and Shimano that both offer electronic shifting at three price levels. Support for rim brake bikes is falling off quickly. If your frame has rim brakes, I'd sell it and move on. I use SRAM Force AXS. I like everything except the limited range on SRAM cranks, so I use Shimano GRX.



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Iride01 

Just get a new bike with the components already on it that you desire. However if you wish to actually upgrade the components, then the same thing, get what you desire. After all, you can always get something else next time around.

tomato coupe

You're going to get banned if you keep being reasonable.

drz400

I've looked at a few new bikes and frames . Carbon frames I like are over $1K, bikes that I like are $3 to $5 K or more. $500 11 speed manual Shimano upgrade not too bad.

Steve B.

A Shimano 11 spd. 105 mechanical system might be the best bang for the buck, if you can source a groupset. Soup to nuts system, crank, b-bracket, shifters, rim brakes, cassette, chain, F & R derailers might run $700 or so. A great shifting and functional system. If you find it, grab it as they are moving this group to Di2 only, which will be in the neighborhood or $1800.

EDIT: I just saw a post on another forum said there might be a 105 mechanical group release for '23. https://road.cc/content/tech-news/me...set-way-298393

msu2001la

Doesn't SRAM's XD/XDR driver fit on 130mm hubs? This would allow 12sp SRAM AXS on an older bike. SRAM makes rim brake versions of AXS.

Iride01 

You might consider that upgrading your bikes is not going to do much for your speed or anything. At best it might make them more enjoyable to ride. But if they are both 2014 or newer, then you probably have plenty of gears unless these were low tier bikes from the get-go. So possibly they are heavy, and you'll do more with a lighter bike than you will with more gears.

Of course if you have to satisfy the inner DIY'er in you, then I can understand that as I have done the same thing. Then had the realization that the bike really wasn't any better performing than it was with the 1990 components it had previously.

icemilkcoffee 

In this last decade there has been 4 significant innovations for road bikes:

electronic shifting
disc brakes
power meter
wider rims with wider and tubeless tires

If you upgrade captures some or all of the above then it's worthwhile. Otherwise, say you are upgrading from 10sp mechanical to 11sp mechanical- I would say it's rather pointless.

Lombard

If you are staying with a mechanical group set, I would avoid Shimano as their STI shifters are known to eat cables. I just upgraded to SRAM Force 22 mechanical after one of my Ultegra shifters broke. I only changed the shifters and derailleurs, so the rest of my drivetrain is still Ultegra 6800. One thing to note is that the SRAM FD is tricky to set up, but once done, shifting is flawless. Campagnolo is another option, but check compatibility carefully. I believe 11-speed Campy cassettes are the only ones that are compatible with a Shimano/SRAM freehub. However, if you want to run Campy, you can always use a Shimano or SRAM cassette as the spacing is the same.

If you are going electronic, you can't do much better than Shimano Di2. Everyone I know with Di2 loves theirs. Here I would avoid SRAM eTap as they are known to have chintzy battery tabs that break easily.

veganbikes

Keep in mind folks the bike is a Caloi and their nicest road bike has Tiagra but we don't know what this one has. I wouldn't put money towards the bike and just buy something new.

Steve B.

Well, no thats not really accurate. It happens on occasion, but its not something we see here all the time. Shimano STI shifters are arguably the most common and widely used road shifters and the infrequent issue you describe is not a valid reason to not buy that system.

Lombard

I don't know what you see. But my bikes with STI shifters (5700, 5800, 6800) ate through a rear shifter cable every 1500-2000 miles. I had one cable that lasted only 800 miles. I am not alone as others I know have this problem as well. Ask cxwrench who has worked on bikes for over 3 decades and he sees this problem quite often. It's a design flaw on STI shifters. SRAM and Campy don't do it.

Steve B.

This is what is known as anecdotal. I've used assorted STI shifters for near 30 years, on 8 different bikes. Never had this happen. I ride with 4-5 folks all on STI, nobody's had this problem. Doesn't make your experience invalid, just one example. But do you see constant complaints here about this ?. No. That gives us some idea of how bad a problem it is and affects whether we would recommend Shimano.

Lombard

Your experience is anecdotal as well. Just because nobody has taken a nationwide poll on shifters doesn't mean this isn't a valid widespread problem.

My experience may indeed be one.......um.......actually 3 examples of STI shifters doing this. There are plenty of others who have had this problem as well. Like I said, ask other mechanics including cxwrench on this forum. Every bike shop mechanic I've dealt with has seen this problem. It became worse with the 5700/6700 generation that started under the handlebar cable routing as the shifter wraps the cable in a very tight circle.

alfaspider

shimano wears out... campagnolo wears in...lol

datlas 

I have had this same problem and find it very frustrating. I rationalize that the differences between those who shred cables frequently (like me) and those who don’t is based on frequency of shifts. Any thoughts?

Lombard

Possibly.