Originally Posted by m0b00st .
I keep getting told that you will not notice a performance difference between the 105 and Ultegra groups, but that the biggest difference would be the weight savings. So do you want your pocket to be lighter, or your bike. Skip the cheeseburger tomorrow and save yourself $400 in my opinion.
A. Let's go back to the original Cheeseburger reference. Eating cheeseburgers doesn't make you fat. Consuming an excessive amount of calories from any source and not expending a suitable amount of energy thereafter makes you fat. Italian women and their pasta diets can attest to this. Using the universal McD's cheeseburger as an example - 300KCal - you're not going to get a "healthy" diet but you ain't gonna become a porker from eating it. Even eating a "Royale with Cheese" (Jules/Vincent) you'd only be looking at 510KCal.
B. Yes it does, especially when there's a spell checker.
C. Experience speaks on my part of this one. There's a reason I went from a 1st Cat racing weight of 140 to 145lbs to almost 230lbs in the course of 5 years off the bike. During this time not only did I partake of a burger or two but met lots of people during work, social, college and other activities who did what I did - ate crud like this between meals, not as part of the regular three main meals of the day. This wasn't just in one little town either - I've worked in a fair number of cities in the US, England and Germany. Walk past a McD's at various times during mid morning, mid afternoon or after 8pm and you'll see that it ain't exactly an empty place but you may find it a little emptier around 5 or 6pm. I wonder why... Again, personal experience with this...
... there's also a reason why I'm closer to my racing weight now than I was a few years ago - no mid afternoon McMunchies is a big reason. No mid morning ones either - despite the fact that some coworkers are on a mid morning road trip to BKs.
D. No, your original statement was "skip the cheeseburger tomorrow and save yourself $400" insinuating that you'd be lighter as you'd skip the cheeseburger, which I disproved up above and that the only real benefit between Ultegra and 105 is the weight savings, which I'd disproved in a prior post. The biggest benefit, which most miss, to the new Ultegra group over the 105 is the easily adjustable reach on the brake levers which for some can translate to a big improvement in hand comfort and and improvement in brake/gear change performance when you're knackered, especially with ergo bars. I can speak with experience on this one as I have Dura Ace 7900 on my bike. The ergonomics, when the levers are adjusted, are just awesome.
The weight aspect - if you race in the hills lots then you may appreciate that every last gram helps. It's not an opinion, its a measurable fact and if it's the difference between hanging on by the skin of your teeth or 15ft off the back at the top and unable to get back on during the descent then that ~1lb that the more expensive bike may have as an advantage might just be worth it.
You said that
"I keep getting told"... so it would seem that you have no personal experience on that. My experience with the new Shimano kit includes 200 mile rides in the Sierras bazzing down 8,000ft mountain passes after 15 hours (and 20,000ft of climbing) in the saddle, freezing cold, tired and having left my lunch on the pavement many hours earlier. The ergo aspect, while seemingly somewhat insignificant on paper, becomes huge at times like that. In fact, if you have any descent that's very steep and technical then that upgrade alone is a "deal winner" without the fact that the Ultegra calipers are probably a bit more effective. I say probably because I haven't ridden the new Ultegra kit.
You also chimed in with "do you want your wallet to be lighter
or the bike" which is a little odd, as you'd already said the more expensive bike would be lighter - so it's not a "or" situation as both conditions would be met with the Ultegra equipped bike.
Some people just like having good kit because it's better, either cosmetically, functionally or both. Some just want the best of the best because they can afford it. Thankfully we're in a sport where many are in a position to ride bikes that are as good as the Pros ride but lighter. When one is in a position to purchase a complete bike it's always a good option to get the best you can just about afford because the groupsets and finishing kits are very heavily discounted.
