Re: Shimano Sora group components compared to early 90's tourney

[Sheldon Brown]

A timid poster asked:

> Is the Shimano Sora group comparable to the old tourney components
> found on 80's and 90's road bikes?

No, Sora is quite a lot nicer.

> I realize that the Sora components are heavy as a boat anchor

Hyperbole.

> with
> steel chain rings etc. Are they durable and fairly low maintenance?

Steel chainrings are very much more durable than aluminum ones, and not
that much heavier.

I like the Sora stuff quite a lot, though I'd tend to upgrade to a
Tiagra or Deore rear derailer.

The Soras are my favorite Shimano brifters, I'd use them myself if they
came in a 9-speed version. Since they don't, I use Campagnolo instead.

Sheldon "Sora, Sora, Sora" Brown
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Faith is believing what you know ain't so. --Mark Twain |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

 

[Callistus Valerius]

"Sheldon Brown" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> A timid poster asked:
>
> > Is the Shimano Sora group comparable to the old tourney components
> > found on 80's and 90's road bikes?
>
> No, Sora is quite a lot nicer.
>
> > I realize that the Sora components are heavy as a boat anchor
>
> Hyperbole.
>
> > with
> > steel chain rings etc. Are they durable and fairly low maintenance?
>
> Steel chainrings are very much more durable than aluminum ones, and not
> that much heavier.
>
> I like the Sora stuff quite a lot, though I'd tend to upgrade to a
> Tiagra or Deore rear derailer.
>
> The Soras are my favorite Shimano brifters, I'd use them myself if they
> came in a 9-speed version. Since they don't, I use Campagnolo instead.
>
> Sheldon "Sora, Sora, Sora" Brown

I have a Sora with 17,000+ miles on it, and like it very much. The only
part replaced so far was the rear der. I replaced it with a 105 rear der,
and it works great.

 

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article <[email protected]>,
Sheldon Brown <[email protected]> wrote:

> A timid poster asked:
>
> > Is the Shimano Sora group comparable to the old tourney components
> > found on 80's and 90's road bikes?

> I like the Sora stuff quite a lot, though I'd tend to upgrade to a
> Tiagra or Deore rear derailer.

What do you see as the weakness of the Sora part there?

> The Soras are my favorite Shimano brifters, I'd use them myself if they
> came in a 9-speed version. Since they don't, I use Campagnolo instead.

I'm building up a Shimagnolo race bike myself, with the Approved
Combination of Shimano cassettes, cranks, BB, and front derailer mated
to Veloce shifters and a rear derailer which is...from Campagnolo
(wheels are boutique stuff with a Shimano-compatible freehub body). The
ostensible reasons for running Veloce are rebuildability and
surprisingly light weight (almost any Ergo brifter is lighter than even
a Dura-Ace STI unit), but the emotional reason is that I really like the
aesthetics and kinesthetics of Campy's shifters. Also, I got a smoking
deal on the shifters.

My current racing bike has a Sora right-hand brifter, so I have some
experience with the thing. One consideration for racers is that the Sora
button is virtually impossible to operate from the drops. The Campy
shift button of a similar design is operable with one's thumb while in
the drops (Shimano's non-Sora brifters are shiftable from the drops due
to their different arrangement).

Back to the aesthetics, the current Campy shifters all seem decidedly
more purposeful than the Shimano stuff. Shimano's current road offerings
seem to be moving towards a "fake-future" style, which is nice when it
follows function (as with the funky Hollowtech II cranks) but which
looks out of place on the shifters. The STI cable routing is also quite
fussy, though it must be said that I have sometimes used the shifter
cables as a convenient thing to rest my hands on while riding in a
pseudo-TT position.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.