Brifters decision
 

If it were you.....would you get new Ultegra SL 6600 brifters or year old D/A 7800 / 7801 brifters? I keep going round and round on this decision. They are for the beater bike but it would be nice to have a rolling parts bike in case something on the good bike breaks. On the other hand since they are not serviceable age is a concern....
Please no "Should have gotten Campy" comments.

I would go with the year old DA shifters.

DA ftw.

I was in the same conundrum with my 2nd bike as well. I was going to go used but ended up getting brand new for almost the same price (PBK).

Whichever looks nicer because the trickle down effect means they are basically the same. If it were me I would go with the DA.

New Ultegra. Unless the used DA shifters were used by yourself, or someone you trust.

pbk has '08 DA brifters for like 210. It's a steal.

I have used dura-ace shifters on my bike. When I got them (as part of a complete bike) they looked like they'd been through hell and back. They had been obviously crashed and ridden and not maintained for at least two years.

I shot some thin lube into the shifters, and now they work perfectly. I put ~4k miles and a crash or two into them myself and they refuse to quit.

Long story short - DA

It is about $50.00 more than the deal I am trying to work. I am on a super tight budget on this build.

dura-ace

OR

neither...get SRAM

Yea.....That should shift the Ultegra Rear deraileur just dandy. We are discussing brifters only.

Ultegra, no risk, no unknowns.

New stuff is better to buy than used stuff.

The performance is close enough to let the warranty of the new gear pull them ahead.

That has been my thoughts as well. The new Ultegra's I am looking are SL's so they do close the gap on the D/A a bit more. $150.00 shipped new in box.

Pretty much.

It's either that, or Campy. ;)

I'd give you $150 if you could tell the difference, blind, between Ultegra, SL and DA.

You need a lot more than $150 (like experience of riding a bike) if you can't tell the difference between well-used DA and new Ultegra / SL / DA, blind or not.

The new Ultegra SL's are on the way....thanks everyone for the input