New groupset time?
 

So, my Trek Emonda still has my old Dura Ace 9-speed groupset, but with a DA 10-speed crank and FD. Shifting is decent but not fantastic, and with prices so low now, I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on an Ultegra 6800 11-speed groupset.

I'm thinking that the new Ultegra stuff will perform far better than my mix-and-match group, and I'd be able to grab the in-between, 52/36 chainring set with the 28t big cog to give me some better climbing gears. But I wish I could get the 12-28 cassette with this group, because I'll never, ever need an 52x11! I don't even need the 53x12 I have now.

The only problem is that this will give me my old groupset sitting around, and we all know what that means. n+1 time if I stumble across a deal on a frame. I'm really running out of bike space! hah!

What's wrong with 50/34 if you have to use an 11t small cog cassette? 34x11 is a higher gear than 36x12. 50x11 is a higher gear than 52x12.

The only minor issue is that the jump from 12 to 11 is a bit bigger than 13 to 12.

A lot of people would prefer 12-28 cassette for closer spacing. Myself included and don't know why Shimano stopped making them for 11 speed. 5700 105 had a 12-28 option

Most people want a 53/39 or 52/36 crankset because the tiny 50/34 makes them feel emasculated even though they'll never use the highest gear combos. I live near moutains and am a mildly in shape 39 year old so I am realistic that I will need 34/28 sometimes and would even consider a cassette with 32 t but I do't like long cage deraileurs (even though you can make it work with short cage) and I don't like the extra jumps in cassette when you get a 11-34

6800 is very good, you'll love it. And after going round and round on 52/36 versus 50/34, I went 50/34 and have no regrets. I usually run 11/25 unless it's a crazy crazy hill day.

I'm not saying people wouldn't prefer it, but if it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist. Makes it kind of a moot point unless you want to cobble together a custom cassette.

I too am looking to upgrade my gear set but I am clueless with gearing. I want to upgrade from Sora to Ultega.
I would like to get a little more speed with my small ring.
With my current small gear I can hit 23/24 mph on a flat with my cadence at where my feet are floating.
I have no idea of what size rings I have however would I want a small sprocket with a couple more teeth or several more teeth over what I have now?
What about crank length?
Like the OP I want to take advantage of the current pricing.

Can't help without knowing what you already have. (Chain)rings are in the front. Cogs and sprockets(technically a chainring is a sprocket but no one calls it that) are in the back.

Generally speaking if you want more speed in the small chainring, you need a bigger small chainring, like the 39t on a standard and/or a smaller cog, but they only go down to 11t (not including capreo and xd) which you probably already have. Changing the chainring is going to lose you bottom end gearing for climbing and the area of the cassette that has tight narrow spacing with small shifts will correspond to higher speeds.

Honestly, my ultegra 11 speed felt cheesy and cheap. It lasted about 4000 miles before it went to garbage. If shifting isn't great, have you tried a new chain and cassette? That sometimes can make a world of difference.

I just took advantage of favorable exchange rates and a Merlin sale to upgrade from 6700 to 6800 on my Emonda. Only one ride under my belt so far, but for the couple hundred dollar upgrade (figuring on selling the 6700 group), I expect I'll be pleased.

I have thought about that, but I do have a 50/34 lying around, and did install it on my spare bike. It was fine in the 50, but when I dropped from big to small, it seemed like a pretty huge gap and I had to grab a couple of cogs on the back to get the cadence I wanted. But if I went compact, I wouldn't do the 12-27 I have on the back now. I'd do 11-23 or 25 I guess. The current 39x27 low gear is more than enough for the climbing I do, BUT, I keep groupsets for ages, and I'm 51, so.... Sort of future-proofing.


The chain and cassette are new. It's more the mix-and-match that's the issue. And the fact that the shifters and RD are like 15 years old and have a zillion miles. The brakeset is leftover from my DA 7400 8-speed kit from several framesets ago, and the return spring tension is so bad, it's no longer enough to overcome the cable friction on the rear caliper, so I have to run them a mile from the rim.

I would just sort of like to have a complete matching group for once. I've been mix-and-match since something like 2005.

Sorry to hear about your Ultegra feeling cheap. My old 9-sp DA feels pretty solid. I think a test ride of an 11-sp Ultegra bike might be in order.

Given your current set up, I think you'd be pretty happy with a new Ultegra set up. One word of caution though: Do your current wheels support 11-speed cassettes? If not, that's another expense to consider.

Otherwise, I say go for it.

Which groupset are you using now that you threw away 6800?

That's the only problem with upgrading, if you can call it a problem. It's not worth the time to try and sell the parts, especially if it's not a complete group. Far easier to look for a frame onto which you can throw the old parts.

Force 22 shifters, derailleur, and cassette. Sram red quarq

Yeppers, this is why I cannot find any used integrated shifters at any local bike shop. The mechanics tell me that everyone just installs them on an old bike to flip. I suspect that's often the shop itself or the mechanic, but same result in the end.

I can't think of one LBS that makes a practice of selling used parts.

Good tip! :thumb:

My wheels are new from PSIMET and do in fact support 11-speed.

Bike shops are not usually the best place for used parts.

Try eBay or even Craigs List...

The bike shops I have visited have boxes and boxes of them. Just no integrated shifters.

OK, those old components. I've never seen a shop that made a practice of selling those. Every shop I've worked at used those for small parts needed for repairs.

I just did some pricing out on Merlin. Since I don't need a bottom bracket (my bike has a press-fit BB90) and since I'd rather have a KMC chain, I can actually price the individual components out for cheaper than the group. Or I could upgrade the FD to DA for the same price as the full Ultegra group.

HMMMMM!

You still might end up with the same problem because 52/36 is a 16t jump like 50/34 and still wider than 53/39.

53/39 = 36%
50/36 = 39%
52/36 = 44%
50/34 = 47%

Ok well that's a good point. I'd probably just get used to it anyway. The important thing for me I guess is to have a gearset that gives me nice, close spacing where I normally ride (19-22mph on the flats/shallow rollers). With my current 9-sp setup, I have a couple spots with gaps where one cog is a tiny bit high and the other is a little too low.

I was thinking that adding the two cogs (going from 9 to 11) would fix most of that, and the 36t front would just give me some more gear down the road. I might try to ride a compact with a tighter cassette to see how it feels. Or I could do a 50/36 compact.

Not sure what your cadence is but Shimano's 11sp 11-28 cassette isn't very good if you like close spacing, it doesn't have the 16t like SRAM to bridge 15t and 17t. SRAM is tight for 7 cogs, and wider for the other 4. Shimano is tight for 5 cogs, and more evenly spaced for 6 cogs.

here:

Art's Cyclery Blog » Shimano Road Components ? Where to Spend Your Money

Funny because upgrading from the 105 RD is probably the only component listed there that will actually make you faster (by a watt)

Cadence is 85-100 usually, and I do like tight spacing. The thing that I worried about with the compact big ring is that for the same speed, it would put me on one cog smaller, and as cogs get smaller, the jump between them gets bigger, so if you're still 2 teeth between each cog, it would be icky.

Now that I compare a 6800 cassette to mine, I see that it actually doesn't give me any more usable gears. It just adds the stupid 11 and another one near the bottom. I'd need to drop a buck fifty on a DA cassette to swap the 11 for something I'd use.

Maybe what I really need is the 50/34 with something like an 11-23 or 25. My current low gear (39x27) gives me 38.1 gear inches. A 34x23 would be a little taller at 39, so I'd probably be looking at an 11-25 which gives me 35.9. Then at least I'd have a 16t. But maybe with a 50t big ring, I wouldn't even be on that cog much.

What a pain in the rear this all is, but I'm glad I asked, because it's better than getting something I don't like. I think I probably need to go ride something with a compact to see how I like it.

The 12-25 is a really tight cassette if you're willing to give up 50x11. Available down to 105 level too. I think Shimano is actually phasing out 11-23 with their second generation 11 speed.

12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19--21--23--25

Just an FYI in case you haven't checked. Ribble has the 6800 group for $486.79 Shimano Ultegra 6800 11 Speed Double Groupset - Components - Ribble Cycles that's about $80 less than Merlin has it listed. I emailed Ribble recently and asked about not having an option for a press-fit BB and they said if I contacted them they would sub a press-fit for the BSA.

Oh, that one would be perfect! I have no desire to lug around an 11t cog that I'll never use.

Good info. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do that or piece together something.