2,000 km Ultegra or 20,000 km Dura Ace?

[milliedog]

I've just picked another bike to use for training - second hand Ultegra 6600 gear with about 2,000 km on the clock. Now I've had the thought that this stuff might actually be better to put on my race bike with 20,000 km old Dura Ace 7800. As far as I can tell there is not real difference in the operation of both, but I'm thinking maybe I'm better off retiring the DA shifters & rear derailleur to the trainer. I'm not concerned about the extra few grams weight penalty but am a bit of a bike snob.....

So what do you all think? Which will work better?

 

[baker3]

I'd get the ultegra.

 

[CdnRider]

I'd choose the Ultegra as well. More than capable and only has 2k on it. I doubt you'll notice much if any difference in mechanical performance. Does it seem a tad smoother than the DA?

 

[alienator]

Easy: the Ultegra. The performance difference between Dura Ace and Ultegra is small at best.

 

[dickg99]

Why not keep the 7800 RD and put on a new set of jockey wheels with ceramic bearings?

 

[dhk2]

Assume your question is whether you should move the newer Ultegra components to your race bike to gain reliability, ie reduce the chance of something failing without warning during a race. Unless you're having some issues with the DA group which need to be fixed, I'd say it's a total waste of time to swap components between your Ultegra bike and your race bike.
20,000 km isn't a lot of mileage for DA or Ultegra stuff, and the risk of failure of a lever or derailleur during a race should be very low. At 20,000 km, it's probably time to put new cables on, but other than that I wouldn't worry.

 

[milliedog]

Thanks for the replies so far - as expected there is no real consensus because there is no simple answer & probably won't make a difference either way. I do regularly replace cables & keep it all well maintained, so the DA gear still works really well.

I'll probably just leave it all as it as I can't really be bothered pulling apart two bikes at the moment.
(At least in the future I do break something, I know I've got spares.)