New cranks... Ultegra or 105
 

I'm considering my next upgrade. right now I have Shimano R565 50/34 cranks paired to a 105 11/25 cassette. I'm going to go either 105 or Ultegra 11/23 cassette and want to swap out the cranks for a standard 54/39 but not sure if I should go Ultegra or 105. I only ride the flats here in south Florida, I don't race, maybe once a year I travel to Virginia to ride mountains so weight isn't an issue. I have Ultegra RD & FD so other than keeping the groupset the same is there any real reason to go Ultegra over the 105? What would you do?

Color? 105 is black and Ultegra is more greyish. I don't think the weight is really different. (I think I read less than 200g different between the two entire groupsets, and most of that is in the shift levers, carbon vs aluminum)

I would go with the same group so it's all matchy-matchy.

I wouldn't want to upset the velominati by having an unmatched groupset

I assume we're talking about 11 speed Ultegra vs 105 here?

The 105 crank is slightly heavier, and is constructed slightly differently than the ultegra. On the 105 the big ring is one solid piece, whereas the Ultegra is 2 pieces stuck together with a hollow inside. The 105 big ring gets over the increased weight of being a one piece by having cut outs on the inner edge, as seen in this picture:

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=453665

For $80 less (on Merlin), I'd go with the 105 crankset.

The Rules is silent on the matching of drive train pieces. I, personally, would be annoyed by the mismatch. If it doesn't bother you then maybe you should also look at some non-shimano offerings as well?

I'd vote Ultegra. There's a pretty significant difference in the crank weight, and the cost isn't that much.

why change it at all? If all you ride is flat terrain then you should just be on the 50T ring all the time. Going to a 53 is not going to make any difference, and 50x11 is good up to 35mph, which if you can hold for any significant period of time on a flat, you should probably consider going pro.

The R565 crankset is 10 speed, so I will assume you are sticking with a 10 speed setup. Like already suggested you might want to look at other brands. There are some very good deals to be found on lightly used Sram Red and Rival 10 speed carbon cranksets. Nothing wrong with the Shimano stuff, but you might be able to get a carbon crankset for less.

The only time you really use the 11 is downhill off a drawbridge but then there are stop lights that you might hit. The last time I used the 34 was last year on the old Tour DuPoint mountain TT course. The point of going to the 53 is more because I have all Ultegra except current cassette and cranks. I'm leaning towards the Ultegra so that it all matches because I'm obsessive like that I guess. Oh damn, that means I have to replace my 105 pedals ARGGHHHHHHH

Rumour has it that the UK mail order sites have Ultra 6700 cranks (10 speed, standard 53/39) on the super-cheap.

I get 20% off from my LBS and I really do benefit greatly from my relationship with them. They've gone to bat for me with Trek over some things before, they've served me well, given me free stuff before, excellent customer service. I know I can probably save some online but I like supporting my LBS.

Your loyalty is commendable. I just last week ordered a complete 105 5700 ten speed compact group set from Wiggle and saved about 400 dollars over buying it locally. I'm not that loyal when it gets to those kind of dollars.

I vote for neither. It was a 'maybe' at Ribble-type pricing, but not for what you'll pay at the LBS (even though I applaud your support).

I vote to always match. Nothing annoys me more than mismatching components.

I wouldn't bother with the upgrade. It's not really an upgrade, since there will be no functional difference.

You might save 5 or 10 grams, the equivalent of a piece of lint falling out of your pocket, or a drop of sweat rolling off your face. Doesn't seem to be worth the bother of buying a new crank, installing it, selling off the old one, or adding part to the spare parts bin taking up space serving no purpose.

But I'm not talking a $400 difference, I'm maybe talking $25-$40 difference (then have the shipping costs, wait time etc), for that I'll buy local. If I was looking at an entire groupset then yeah I'd have to look at online sources.

Not really doing either for weight or even performance really, it's my cycling OCD I guess that is forcing me to spend $200 on new cranks so I have the same grupo (assuming I go Ultegra which is how I'm leaning)

the carpet must match the drapes.

Be sure and put pencil to paper to that. LBS here pay significantly more for Shimano components at shop wholesale price than ordering them from England costs me. Merlin, Chain Reaction, Wiggle, Ribble, etc don't charge shipping on orders over about 50 bucks. Wait time is three days to ten days depending on what carrier they select.

+1. That'll easily be $100-150 in extra 'support' to the LBS.

+1000

Sometimes change is good, sometimes it's just a waste of money.

Maybe Ultegra stickers/skins for the cranks?

I can see it now. Some Chinese company selling fake covers to put on your low grade components to make them look like Dura Ace. Buy a Sora group set and a five dollar Chinese plastic kit to click onto them and make them look expensive. Like those spinner hubcaps that are supposed to look like expensive wheels you see on all the clapped out cars in the ghetto. Of course I'm kidding.

This. Even if you need a bigger ring you can just change the chainring to 52-36.

And I'm all for a mismatch grouppo, it kinda tells that you understand about your components selection and people would assume that you build it yourself instead of buying a full OEM bike