I have a question about what would be best to do in my situation: I have a Giant Defy 2 with 9 speed Sora with Tiagra RD. The frame is aluminum with carbon fork and seatpost, and it rides quite nicely. I enjoy the bike very much and find it quite comfortable.

What I don't like is the brifters. They have this thumb trigger for up shifting and the brake levers are used for down shifting. The throws are really long on the brake shifters, and I hate having to pull my right hand off the drops to upshift. I was thinking there are a couple of things I could do;

1. Sell my trike (which I was doing anyway) and use the proceeds from that to replace the sora triple (fsa omega cranks) with an entire SRAM rival group (brifters, cranks, rd, cassette, fd, brakes)

2. The bike shop I bought it from said I should upgrade the frame to carbon first (recommending me a defy advanced). he said the owner may cut me a break if he accepts my bike as a trade, but there's no guarantee that will happen. I don't really like this idea since I already really like my bike, and don't like to be so 'disposable' about it, since I only got it in April and I only have 1k miles on it. Also, finances wont really allow trading up to a bike as expensive as a full carbon defy.

3. Get some 9 speed brifters elsewhere? I don't really know how well this would work. I would love 10 speed rear, but it's not a huge issue.

What do you guys suggest? Are there some other things I may have missed?

Sorry for the wall of text.

If you like your bike right now, then there's no need to get a new bike. If you want better components, I think you'll be very happy going from Sora to Rival. Keeping the rest of your current bike will keep the comfort level the same and avoid any hassle with trying to get the fit the same on a new bike.

Thanks Urbanknight! I had a very similar feeling myself. I have spent so much time on this bike, it feels like a part of me when I'm riding. Having to change from my present bike to something else just would take so much adjustment....

BTW, your hair in your avatar is what my wife likes to laugh at in the mornings when I get back from my rides with mine like that.

The Tiagra brifters don't have the funny thumb tab and will work with your Tiagra rear (and your Sora front). That will probably be the simplest/cheapest thing to do. (New brifters aren't cheap but they are cheaper than replacing everything.)

Is ebay the only place to find something like that? it seems like anything under Ultegra and online retailers don't carry it.

bah, let me just google that for myself. Duh! $200-$250 to change the worst part of my otherwise great bike is not too bad.

In your guys' estimation, what's the difference between Tiagra and Rival? ( I bet that's been asked a lot)

I'm in the same situation. I have a 2009 Synpase 7 with Sora/Tiagra. After test-riding some other bikes (including carbon), I've decided I like how my alloy 7 rides. I just bought an ultegra group and am getting ready to have it installed. As soon as I get it changed over, I'll let you know if there's any difference. Of course, I hear Rival will be a bit lighter, but I really do like the ultegra stuff. And right now, the 6600 stuff is at a great price. Good luck!

I've found new tiagra brifters for $200 through amazon (lol) which seems pretty inexpensive to fix the worst part of my bike. I dunno if I want to just hold off and put Rival on it though once my trike sells. I'm hoping to get $1K for it, so that should put me in the ballpark. I hate having to make decisions :-(

I would upgrade to full Sram Rival.

Then you can easily upgrade the frame in the future and your components are already at that level.

There is no reason to upgrade your frameset if you are happy with the ride quality, handeling, weight.

the cheap option is just to buy a right tigra or 105 brifter for a nine speed. you can probably buy one under 70bucks. you could get a 10speed and add a 10 speed casstte. your RD should work with the 10speed casstte as would the chain if its in good condition.

full rival will probably cost atleast 400bucks. its up to you if thats worthwild.

i had sora shifters, 8 speed, on my road bike. i hated trying to shift in the drops. i would either have one hand in drops, the other on the hoods to shift or i would completly flex my wrist inwards to downshift. i went with rival/dura ace mix, costed about 350bucks, and put sora on commutte bike.

How are you getting costs this low?

#3, but go 10 speed. You don't need anything else to go 10 speed except a new cassette and chain, and of course, the brifters. You don't need a full groupo replacement, and you should be able to find good deals on 10 speed brifters right now, as the season is winding up and the online shops are getting rid of '09 stuff in preparation for the '10 stuff coming out in a couple months.

I'd go with Triple Ultegra myself. It'll work with all your current setup; just change the chain and cassette to 10 speed.

Get rival from Psimet, never bought from him but alot of other people have. Might have to buy some rival for my bike around Xmas.

I should add that if you go rival, then you need to replace both derailleurs, your crank, and your chain and cassette. Rival doesn't have a triple groupo, so you need a double crankset. The triple front won't work well with a double, the shimano rear derailleur is not compatible with SRAM, and of course the chain and cassette need to be changed to go to 10 speed.

$180 for new shifters on one hand to get you to Ultegra 10 speed. $200 shifters + $75 RD + $45 FD + $120 crankset on the other to switch to Rival. Seems like a no-brainer to me.