There's a 2013 Specialized Tricross near me, new, in 61 cm for $999. I've been mulling one of these as an urban bike I can put a loaded-up rack and 32 mm tires on and bang it around... it has the disc brakes but has Sora shifters. Excuse me- just for Bdop, brifters.

I'm not hung up on the groupset for this bike. I have 6800 Ultegra on my sport bike so I'm livin' large. But I don't want junk. Is 2013 Sora junk? Any idea how it compares to 2006-ish Tiagra?

Brand new? I don't think you'll notice too much a difference from your Ultegra (don't care who laughs). The previous owner of my 06 Sora equipped bike didn't take care of it and after I replaced the rear derailleur with an almost new one I wasn't able to feel much of a difference between it and a brand new 13 Ultegra Di2 bike (LBS owner was extremely cool enough to let me joyride knowing I'm broke as hell lol) though I rode it pretty easy and just around the block. The Di2's speed was a fraction of a second quicker but I didn't notice a difference in precision. This is just RD, FD was quite a noticeable difference.

13 Sora is supposed to perform like previous year's 105 but don't quote me on that.

Have the 2013 Sora on my road bike. Good experience so far.

The only thing about sora that bothers me is that thumb shifter, it's so out of place.
if it's the new sora where they have removed it, then i wouldn't hesitate.

The new Sora don't have thumb shifters.

No, it is actually quite good (I have it on my commuter).

Sora shifters (8-speed) on one of my road bikes. 18,000 miles and still rolling. No problems.

I've never understood the obsession with groupsets. I've had a Tiagra/ MTB mix, 105, and Ultegra, and honestly, the Tiagra has given me the least amount of trouble. For whatever reason, it's the only bike I've had where I can be in any combination of gears, and the front derailed never rubs. Maybe if you're racing, and worried about the extra weight (it's not enough to worry about in my mind), but they all work just fine. Now, I did have some problems with the front DR on SRAM Apex. I say put your money into a better frame and wheels before worrying about that, but that's just me.

+1

I have Sora and it works fine, I've never tried anything better, but the only issue I have is moving from the middle chain ring to the large one on the FD. It takes a few seconds. It might just be an adjustment that's needed on my bike, but in general it works well enough.

I would pay extra just to get the cables out of my face.

What do you mean?

its ok. long term it seems to work fine, i notice it being more finicky at tune up time.

I'm currently running the latest 2013 9 speed Sora shifters (with 9 spd 105) so I can only vouch for those. Overall they're not horrible. The rear shifts fine; shifting (double) on the front is slow. Levers are pretty chunky looking, but are comfortable when on the hoods. There's also the external cabling - although bothers some it doesn't bother me too much. Run about 50 grams heavier than the new Ultegra levers.

I'm about to upgrade my group over to Ultegra 6800 - waiting for deliveries, so I'm curious myself how much better the 6800 levers are gonna be.

I test rode one of the 2013 sora's, and while it shifted ok, the quality was definitely noticeable compared to my 6700. The lever felt flimsy, would get stuck, and would sometime not work.

I've only heard good thing snout the newer Sora.
Once they removed the wacky thumb shifter, all the negative backlash disappeared like those thumb thingys.

Thanks guys. As I suspected- perfectly serviceable.

I have a bike 10sp (4600) Tiagra and think it shifts every bit as good as 5700/6700 105 and Ultegra. I test rode a bike with 2013 9sp Sora as wasn't impressed at all with the shift quality. I also rented a bike with the old thumb shifter Sora and was equally unimpressed. It really comes down to what your expectations are.

BTW, why is the thumb shifter brilliant on Campagnolo but awful on Sora ?

I believe it's roughly like the old (4600) Tiagra, or maybe with more plastic. Works just fine by all accounts.

I'd pay more to get rid of the big heavy rigid steel fork.

He means the shifter cables which are not routed around the handle bars and instead come out of the side of the shifters. Some people don't like them but they don't bother me. You have step up to 105's for the hidden shifter cables.

OP, I have to mention, my road bike has a compact setup with a big drop between the large and small chainrings. Shifting up with the brake lever is fairly smooth, but shifting down to the small (with the thumb lever) is anything but. Sort of feels like the darn thing will break while applying pressure before it shifts with a not so cool clonk sound. The thumb lever feels cheesy. But it does work.

On the rear gears, cool beans.

You can never judge a shifter by a test ride. Most bike shops can't be bothered to tune the low end bikes properly.

I'm running 2013 sora on my first and only (so far) road bike. I have nothing else to compare it to but it gets the job done. I find shifting the rear to be quite fun but I often wonder how much smoother and quicker shifting must be on ultegra or dura ace. I'm going to have to test ride to find out. I would hate to spend big bucks on marginal improvements.

This shop actually does a pretty good job tuning their bikes. The bike I test rode with Sora lists for $1800.