im in the middle of updating a bike of mine from 8 to 9 speed but im finding sourcing 9 speed shifters to be a complete b!tch at least locally, and even used ones go for 200 bucks on craigslist....but, i can easily find bar end shifters in all sorts of configuations. ive never used them but they are the trusty choice of many folks. so whats better. a 9 speed bike with sora shifters or the same bike with ultegra or dura ace bar ends??

I wouldn't go with Sora brifters, unless they're the brand new ones, and I think those are 10-speed only. How much more does Tiagra cost?

Personally, I don't like bar end shifters. I've only had to rely on them here and there, and there's a good chance I'd get used to them if I rode them more regularly, instead of for a little while here and there, punctuated by enough time to forget. But I wasn't a fan of having to move my hands from whatever position was right at the time, to shift. My ex girlfriend loved her Cross Check, though, and wouldn't think about changing them.

Why not just go straight to 10? What's the advantage of stopping at 9? There are a lot more quality 10 speed parts out there now a days than there are 9 speed.

+1. The bulk of the cost is in the STI's. If you can find 10's for the same price or less - why not go that route? I bought 2 sets of 10-speed 105's last summer for under $75 each in Portland (used on C-List).

Brand new tiagra 9-speed parts are very easily purchased and significantly cheaper than anything 10 speed and will last significantly longer.

Your bike shop can order 9 speed Tiagra brifters from QBP and sell them to you for about $300.

cost is the most prohibitive measure at this point. i don't really want to upgrade my derailleurs or crankset after i just dropped 100 bucks on new chainrings. does anybody know if the spacing on an 8 speed triple vary so much that it would not work with 10 speed triple shifters?

I use bar ends on my commuter/cruiser bike. I like them but I wouldn't want to use them in a paceline.

If you switch to bar-ends you might need to get regular brake levers. Your old STI levers might work but they'll be ugly.

Bar ends are great all around and are very easy to get used to. If you can get them for cheap then I say go for it.

You won't have to upgrade any of those things to go to ten speed.

But I would recommend bar end or DT shifters for you. Work very well, very cheap.

lol 10 speed is cheaper than 9 speed if you shop right

STI shifters are perhaps the greatest innovation in road bicycles since pneumatic tires.

^ agree, STI shifters are more practical, you don't have to take you hands off the bars to shift like downtube shifters. They are more expensive but I like them.

Sora thumb shifters suck, anything else is better.

I always wonder about this. I mean, I prefer the paddles on my ultegra /105s too. But....

Why do I hear so many people hating on Sora thumb shifters but so much oooooing & awwwing over Campy stuff with the same thumb shifters????

Tiagra or better STI, for sure. No barends for me. But of course this is you, not me, so do what you want. However, I feel that you'll miss STI shifting if you get barends.

the answer is pretty simple...they're not the same

Is Campy thumb shifter easier to reach from the drops than the Sora thumb shifter?

Go with these: https://retroshift.com/ Pretty good solution. Friction shift STI's.

I acquired my first STI bike around 2005 (after 20 years as a cyclist). I don't think I can go back to downtube shifters now.
I am yet to try the Campy shifters but I heard good things about them. I tried SRAM, but double tap is not for me.

The Sora thumb shifters cannot be reached in the drops. That's why people moan and B**** about them.

That said, it's trivially easy to shift your hand to the tops, even if you're in a hard sprint and need to actually use that button - I've done it many times, and don't understand what all the fuss is about. I'm actually much more convinced it's because people are more than happy to justify their higher-end (105-DA) shifter purchases - when in reality, I'd bet that if Sora was the actual top of the line, people would be raving about how solid it was. Really, I've had no problems whatsoever with the shifters, even with fast competitive riding. You'd imagine that anyone who develops bike handling skills would find it trivially easy to rotate that hand to the top to push that button - it was never remotely hard, ever.

I just ordered a set of Campy Centaur 10s Ergpower shifters from Ribble in the UK. Price was around $150, which is way cheaper than I'd pay for 9s Shimano STI levers. I was a bar-end shifter holdout for many years, but I just finished converting all my bikes to Ergopower.

As many times as I've posted this, I should just make it my avatar.

That looks pretty good, but sold out?

Your wildest dreams will come true:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-microSHI...#ht_1798wt_952