Hello all, I've got a trek 1.2 which is aluminum with carbon fork, it comes with sora "thumb" shifters". I am thinking to upgrade, specially because of the shifters. I'd like to use Sram double tap instead, so should upgrade a whole bike to carbon or something? but all I can spend is like 2000$. Or, should I just upgrade group set to force/rival or a mix between them? thanks in advance!

You could just swap the shifters for Tiagra 9 speed, assuming you're happy with the rest of the bike.

I was thinking of doing the same thing on my 2004 Allex. I currently have Sora shifters.

Only potential issues are that its a Triple with an 8 speed cassette. Is going to a Tiagra shifter even make sense for an older bike?

You could just ride your bike instead of worry about your bike, and upgrade things when they break.

Replace or upgrade parts as they break or wear out. Or you could just follow the old adage "don't buy upgrades, ride upgrades". If you have 2K in the budget, sell your old bike and add it to your budget to buy a better bike with the group you want.

check out Amazon for the ST500 shifters. THey are 8 spd triple shifters that use the paddles instead of the thumbshifters.

THey are about $175

For all the "don't buy until something breaks"---if you have something on your bike that you simply don't like--but it works fine---why wouldn't you change it?

I changed out a perfectly fine working 2200 component group to an ultegra group. I like the ultegra group much more. I ride more because of it.

The question was asked...and there is no absolute answer. There are, however, plenty of opinions and personal choices on how they would handle the particular situation. Anything can be rationalized. Yours just happen to be "I simply don't like it...I want to change it...ergo, I ride more". That is your rationale...no one could tell you you are wrong. It also goes the other way. You cannot tell others they are wrong in their rationale.

Guys I believe my Sora is 9 speed, hope I stand correct.

Well, count them and let us know.

The bike you requested for $2k:
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...01&scname=Road
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...01&scname=Road

I'm sure every company makes something similar.

If you like the bike, aside from the shifters, I'd say just buy a SRAM group. You can reuse your brakes. I'm not sure, but you might be able to buy 10 speed chain rings for your crank and reuse that (or just upgrade).

Depending on what group level you go to, and how good of a price you get, it could be anywhere from $500 and up. It'll probably cost less than the bike I quoted, even if you went Red.


Your existing bike might be repurposed for a different sort of riding. Could be a rainy day bike, or a bike that's nice in regular clothing, the one you pull the kiddie trailer with, etc.

Thanks for talking the time helping me! Those are interesting bikes, If I was to buy one of those bikes I would try to get 2600$ for Rival. It seems that both do not come as full Rivals (I mean cranksets and other detailed stuff). Also I am living in Kuwait, is it possible to get a bike shipped here? it seems that shipping will cost a fortune alone.

Huh? No bicycle shops in Kuwait? If you are going to have them shipped, you may want to contact shops in EU. Chain Reaction Cycles and ProBikeKit are the prominent ones.

There are shops in Kuwait, trek and cannondale are all I know. I bought my trek 1.2 for 1000+ dollars while it is like 800$ in USA.. a bit over priced, but the good thing is they would take care about warranty.. and you can pay for your bike in portions of minimum of 100$ a month till bike cost is covered. Trek is very expensive, you get aluminum part and low components just for the sake of a good frames, don't you think? and I'm sure there are companies that makes frames as good as Trek's for lower cost.

The OBVIOUS choice for 95% of the people here!
CAAD9-4
Synapse Carbon 4

Trek 2.3

Not saying to buy new or upgrade.....just giving you links.

If you change to a 9 speed Tiagra just get a 9 speed casette at the same time. It will only tack on about $40 to the total price. your deraileurs will work fine, may just need a couple of small adjustments but nothing major.

Thanks. I had thought about doing that as well. Might as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone

Depending on the age of the Sora, it could be 8 or 9. I had a 9 speed, and I found a killer deal on Tiagra shifters. I like them better, but they weren't an absolute necessity for the bike. I just wanted something with paddles and a little better ergonomics (tiagra levers are offset to the outsides, making RD downshifts and FD upshifts easier).

I had a 08 Giant OCR 2, and it had 9 speed sora shifters that were not thumb shifters (Sora STI 3400 i believe), so you could probably hunt one of those down and use those.
However, if I were you, I would wait while until Cannondale comes out with the 2011 line (November?), as the Supersix 105 looks amazing. It will be slightly more than $2000, but if you sell your bike, you can easily cover the extra few hundred dollars. I think the rival version will be another few hundred more.

If you wanted to buy new now ... I would go with a CAAD9 4. I was looking for one in 54cm but my LBS only has a 56 red and Cannondale only has black 56 left (24 of them if I remember correctly from when the LBS guys went to check online...wtf?)
I had to settle for the CAAD9 5. I got it for $1100, a great price for a great ALU frame (lighter than low-end carbon) and 105. The 9 4 has rival. The 9 4 was going for $1500, so it should be well within your budget, and even better if you can find a local retailer to help you with fit and maintenance if need be. You could also wait until november (or whenever cannondale releases the 2011 bikes) and get a larger discount on an old bike.

Ugh! luckily we got a Canondale dealer here in Kuwait! but for some reason I don't like how their bikes look, I wonder if he will have the newest models.. the dealer doesn't seem active :/