8 speed to 11 speed
 

I'm upgrading from a sora 8 speed to 105 11 speed. My question is, do I have to by a whole new wheel or could I just buy an 11 speed compatable hub? And of course the 105 groupset. Thank you!

Here's a picture of my bike BTW

Your 8spd wheel won't accept ANY 11spd parts.

Assuming it is cheaper to have an LBS disassemble the wheel and rebuild it with the new hub .... Vuelta Corsa Lites (11-speed compatible) cost about $215-$250 depending if you wait for a sale, and weigh in at 1570 grams/pair. How much would it cost to buy a hub and have a shop essentially build yo a wheel, and then ... would it be a better wheel than the Vuelta?

I doubt it if it is the stock wheel from a Sora-equipped bike.

But the answer I guess is no, you don't have to buy spokes and rim, just the rear hub.

Edit---in light of Mr Dopolina's comment---you will need spokes, because the dish is different for 8- and 11-speed. Just go buy the Corsa Lites, you won't regret it (I hope. I haven't.)

You could buy an 11 speed hub and relace your rim but are the current wheels worth it. What do you have now for wheels?

What he said
 

What [MENTION=423651]Maelochs[/MENTION] said. If $220 is too much get some of the 11 speed compatible sealed bearing wheel sets from the UK for $100 less but they weight in at 1750 grams.

another option

Edco Monoblock 11 Speed Cassette - Shimano/ SRAM | TotalCycling.com

you will need the lock ring also. I have been thinking about salvaging some old 404s.

Unless you really want to keep you old wheels, a new set of wheels will be the best way to go.

N+1, Retail for individual parts* is expensive. Time for a new bike,
with the latest bells & whistles

*1)Brifters, Hub/wheel, Cassette, chain, etc.

I am kind of leaning toward this too. New groupset and wheelset? Minimum cost $550. Unlikely that the frame is high end anyway if it came with Sora. I'd keep that bike, put the $550 toward the cost of a new 11-speed with 5800's. You could probably do it for $1100, maybe year-end clear-outs.

Bunch of enablers we are.:lol:

On the off chance it is a Mavic wheel, it could be one of the rare exceptions. Mavic has for a long time made freehubs that are ~2mm longer than a standard 8/9/10 speed freehub. That just happens to be about the same adjustment in length that Shimano and SRAM made going to 11 speed. My 2004 Mavic Cosmos wheels now sport an 11 speed 105 cassette after running 8 speed on them for years and all I had to do was remove the spacer.

Depending on one's finances, the upgrade to 105 can still make a lot of sense. An extra $550 isn't just pocket change for most people. If the OP tries hard enough, he can likely find an 11 speed rear wheel for ~$100 and possibly still get a $310 105 group from Ribble (not sure if it is still that cheap these days). Even better, if he can find a 'friend' who can build wheels or learn himself, he can get an 11 speed rear hub for $40 (that'll actually buy a front/rear pair of Tiagra hubs with 11 speed compatible freehub) and some Sapim spokes from danscomp.com and build the rear wheel himself, he can be out the door on his 105 bike for under $400.

I certainly recognize that most of us here don't have limitless financial resources, but this still seems like it's a lot more work than it has to be.

Going your way would cost the OP $410 plus some searching online for used 11-speed wheels. Getting a new bike, let's say for $1100, and then selling his Sora-equipped, which might be worth $400-500, depending on brand/model, age, condition, he'd still only have to spend $200-300 extra out of pocket for a brand new 11-speed bike.

This, of course, is contingent on him doing is own wrenching. If he had to pay a shop to do the conversion, add another 100-150, and getting that new bikes seems like a no-brainer.

For the rear wheel, this would work: Shimano RS11 Road Rear Wheel | Chain Reaction Cycles

Yes, I did gloss over the part about having to get the groupset installed. However, he could sell the Sora group and recover most of that cost in that manner.

The good news for the OP is that we've hashed out all the options for him and he can now make a fairly informed decision :thumb:

What'd I say?...bunch of enablers!

Ok, so the bike I have is a 2015 Fuji Sportif 3.0 LE. I bought it about 2 months ago for $400. The bike had only been used for about a month. The guy said he was just getting into the sport and loved it so he bought himeself an $8,000 bike and he showed it to me, it was nice. So yeah the bike is pretty much new. So, I bought it because I was just getting in to the sport as well. I then realized trying to climb some mountains was pretty hard compared to using my friends 11 speed.

So now I'm planning on buying the Shimano 105 Groupset. But for now I just want to buy the 105 crankset because I broke the stock one. I will be buying the rest of the set next month. To install everything will only cost me like $30 from my bike shop. I want to avoid buying wheels for now because I want to get good ones. I'll probably spend about $1000 on them. But not until beginning of next year.

From what I'm understanding is that I just need to buy the rear hub which I will be getting with the 105 groupset. To verify I might have to buy spokes, right? And someone mentioned removing a spacer so the 11 speed hub can fit, right?

THANKS a ton everyone!!! You guys reply really quick. I'll keep you posted with what happens. I will also ask the mechanic when I take it to install the crankset

This has nothing to do with being 11 speed and everything to do with gear ratios. What crank and cassette are on your current bike?

It is far cheaper to buy the groupset complete than piecemeal. If you buy a crankset now, plan on buying another when you replace the rest of the components.

That said, you may find that your current 8 speed chain does not play well with the 11 speed crankset. You could try using an 11 speed chain to solve that problem. But then you may find that your front derailleur doesn't shift properly. And you'll need the 105 left shifter to use an 11 speed front derailleur.

No, hubs are not sold with groupsets. You would need to buy the hub separately.

Almost certainly you will need new spokes. If you want to play around with calculating spoke lengths, you can download SpoCalc and try it. I'd have someone verify your inputs before ordering spokes, though. Or just let whomever is going to build your wheel do it all.

I should have kept my mouth shut :) The spacer I mentioned only applies if you currently have Mavic wheels. If your wheels don't say Mavic, ignore everything I said about the spacer.

A new groupset won't make hills any easier.

How did you break the current crankset?

12/25 50/34,

So this is what it looks like on Jenson. I tried ordering the crankset from probikekit because it was cheaper but I never received it so I canceled it. I got my money back.

Shimano Ultegra Polymer Shift Cable Set Ultegra OT-SP41 Derailleur, Black
$20.99

Shimano Ultegra BC-R680 Brake Cable Set Polymer-Coated Brake Cable Set Black
$19.99

Shimano 105 BR-5800 Road Brakes Black, Front and Rear Set
$55.99

Shimano 105 5800 11 Speed Hubs 36H 11-SPEED Rear Hub, Black
$49.99

Shimano 105 ST-5800 11 Speed Shifters Black, 2X11 Set
$169.99

Shimano FD-5800 105 2X11 SPD Front Der Black, Braze-On, 11 Speed
$24.99

Shimano 105 RD-5800 Rear Derailleur Black, GS Cage
$35.99

Shimano 105 CN-HG600 11 Speed Chain Silver, 11 Speed
$17.99

Shimano 105 CS-5800 11 Speed Cassette 11-28T, 11 Speed
$36.99

Shimano 105 FC-5800 11 SPD Crankset Black, 170mm, 52/36 Ring
$99.99

TOTAL: $532.90

It was a weird situation. I have a post about it. http://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...lp-please.html

Well, seems like you're set on spending on the upgrade. Are your current wheels 36 spoke ones? Because that's a 36H hub.

Also, if you say you were struggling with hills, why are you going for mid-compact rings instead of sticking to compact?

If you are planning to spend $1000 on new wheels, why are you worrying about saving a few pennies now? it doesn't make sense.

The cost to rebuild just a rear wheel won't be much cheaper than buying a cheap[er set of New 11-speed wheels .... and no matter what, you are planning to spend a grand on New wheels a couple months down the road anyway? i am no mathematician, but that doesn't add up.

Also ... you are brand new to cycling? Truly, is an extremely suspect statement. As joejack951 noted, the number of rear cogs has nothing to do with anything about climbing.

Your friedn with an 11-speed might have had a couple extra lower gears and could maybe be fractionally more efficient, but you probably both used maybe three cogs on the climb, and probably the same three cogs---the lowest three.

Maybe he had a larger lowest gear, but maybe not. You can get an (for example) 11-28 or 11-32 cassette in 8, 9, 10, and 11 speeds. Having extra gears doesn't mean more lower gears---it means more middle gears, which neither of you would be using on a climb.

If you think throwing an 11-speed group on the bike is going to make you faster or make you climb better ... send me the $1000 and I will send you some magic beans, or maybe a scroll with a magic spell on it, or a cycling voodoo doll. For $1500 I will send all three---you will be faster than Chris Froome on the climbs.

Also ... as joejack951 points out, buying a groupset as a whole is about half or less what it costs to buy it in pieces. Your 105 crankset will cost about half of what the full groupset (cassette, cranks, chainrings, brakes, both derailleurs, two brifters, chain, cables) will cost you.

The fact that you think hubs would be included makes me wonder where yuo have been shopping for groupsets. Most people here recommend Ribble or Merlin---UK retailers which offer excellent prices on full groupsets.

Also .. that frame is nowhere near special enough to justify throwing $1000 wheels on it. It seems to me that for what you are talking about spending ($1500 to $2000) you would be Much better off buying a whole new bike with a much better frame. Considering that you can get ridiculously good wheels for around $500, I'd say that you would be wasting a lot of money putting $1000 wheels on that Fuji.

My advice would be to think this project through before you start throwing money at it.

I don't even know. I'm new at all this. I'll ask the mechanic when I take it for the crankset. I'm only ordering the crankset today. Next month I'll get the rest. I chose those because the bike I dream of has those rings. LOL What do you think I should do. I do mostly plains. There's only a few mountains around here with about 5-8% incline and one with about 15% average. Also, my bike has a 170mm crankset. Would the 172.5 or 175 make any difference or should I just go for what I currently have?

LOL i'll take all 3 please. Well for now I just need the crankset so I can start riding again. Thanks for the advice!

For real. IMO, if money is burning a hole in your pocket, get some new accessories or kit, and work on your technique. I see this a lot. New riders with a couple of months under their belt decide they need the latest and greatest

I say this often. The pros, were using 7 and 8 speed into the mid 90s. Your 8 speed is as capable of climbing hills as anything Merckx , Indurain, Hinault or Lemond ever used when they were in their prime. Pretty sure if they could conquer Ventoux, Alpe d'Huez, and Tourmalet with 8 speed or less, it isn't slowing you down much.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano

If this helps any, I ride an 8 sp. Claris and did all the requisite research on making the jump from 8 sp to 11 with a 11/32 cassette. What I figured out was, the smart and pragmatic option is to simply buy the 11/32 8 sp. cassette and the new long cage derailleur. That's about a hundred bucks or less. I don't need a new crank so I'm not exactly in the same boat as you are, but a new compact crank for your current drive train isn't that much either. I did however change out my shifters about a year ago from the original thumb button type to the new claris sti type, so it didn't make much sense for me to change those again.

Yes, I'd stick with the crank arm length you had originally.

What l learned from some sage advice on this board, and from my own homework was pretty simple. It's not about the number of speeds, it's about the number of teeth on the cogs you have and how you use them.

I'm a million miles away from being a pro but I'm sure if I train hard I could do it! Thanks