Shimano 105 vs ultegra

[CSpeedster]

What do you guys/gals think of a shinamo102 3speed front derailer? I'm a casual rider but will be useing this to get around to work/school, I have many hills around here.

(could not find any reviews on the 102's)

 

[ebow3d]

What do you guys/gals think of a shinamo102 3speed front derailer? I'm a casual rider but will be useing this to get around to work/school, I have many hills around here.

(could not find any reviews on the 102's)

Sure you're not talking about 105?

 

[sogood]

Its an interesting point. Colin Chapman once said that the perfect racing car should break down exactly on the finish line. Anything more than that is inefficient. Makes sense.

Not exactly. It's plain dangerous to play close to the failure point, especially for structural and major running gears where the rider may be injured by their failure. Disposable water bottle may better use that philosophy.

 

[ebow3d]

Not exactly. It's plain dangerous to play close to the failure point, especially for structural and major running gears where the rider may be injured by their failure. Disposable water bottle may better use that philosophy.

It was a hypothetical statement. Nobody is able to design a car, bike or any racing machine quite that acurately. However, the principle remains true. Racing components are not designed to be overly durable, but rather efficient. Shimano wouldn't care much if their Dura Ace equipment can do 100 000km without wear - it is racing equipment after all. Just like Colin Chapman's Lotus cars were very good racing machines, yet not known for their durability.

 

[rdk]

Shimano wouldn't care much if their Dura Ace equipment can do 100 000km without wear - it is racing equipment after all.

I disagree
99% of DA sales are to non-professional riders.
99% of racing car sales are to professional racing car drivers.
Big difference.

 

[OoAmericanGirl]

I have have a mix of the two groups (it's how my bike came). The bike rides fine, and I guess if I did have an abundance of cash I'd upgrade to full ultegra, but I don't see the need. I don't think that beetter components are really going to improve your riding all that much.

 

[Bikelyst]

I disagree
99% of DA sales are to non-professional riders.
99% of racing car sales are to professional racing car drivers.
Big difference.

Please tell me if those are actual numbers, or just numbers to make a point.

 

[CSpeedster]

Those are just to make the point of where most sales of each catagory go.

 

[ebow3d]

I disagree
99% of DA sales are to non-professional riders.
99% of racing car sales are to professional racing car drivers.
Big difference.

Good point. It would be interesting to know what the design brief is for these engineers.

Also, since so much of Dura Ace sales are to non-professionals, is there anything available to the top class pros? Surely, with the kind of money available to those teams, they could well do with some purpose made and designed equipment, like F1 teams. One of the important things Lance Armstrong did, was to streamline the development of his bikes.

Does anyone know anything about this?

 

[mikem]

I have a mix as well, DA shifters and derails, Ultegra cassette/chain, R700 compact crank. Works great for me and I think the only real benefit of D/A over Ultegra is the shifters which is why I went this route.

 

[pistole]

105 , 10 speed , is very very good.

.

but nonetheless , (as the bloke posted about 99% of DA sales going to non-racers ... ) , I have a complete DA groupset waiting to go onto a new frame.

Will report.

cheers.
.

 

[LBCBJ]

It is exactly this kind of categorisation that has no basis in true difference in function. Lance would have won on Tiagra.
It only makes a psychological difference.

So true...so true

 

[hd reynolds]

So true...so true

Same thing can be said for the new Trek frames not responsible for putting Contador in the winning position or Levi in 3rd. It is the rider responsible for their achievements... the rest are just tools.

 

[Tech72]

I disagree
99% of DA sales are to non-professional riders.
99% of racing car sales are to professional racing car drivers.
Big difference.

Absolutely true. Top end bicycle and auto racing gear are designed and intended for a different market/clientele. Totally not comparable. I can go out and purchase the same equipment that is ridden on the ProTour. I can definitely not go out and buy what is used on the F1 circuit. Regardless of D-A or Record status as a "pro racing" groupset, the main market and customer base is the average weekend warrior with a high disposable income.

 

[kdelong]

I have tried all three of Shimano's top components and all are equally impressive to me. There have been many, many changes since I have raced so I cannot comment on how they perform in events, but as a recreational cyclist, 105 is fine for me.

I do have one bike that has 1979 vintage Dura Ace equipment on it and this is marginally better than what you could pick up on a Wally World bike. it looks much better though. It makes me wonder though, why all of the top Shimano components of this group were labeled Dura Ace except for the rear derailer which was labeled Crane?

I also really liked the look and feel of the Shimano 600EX group which later became Ultegra. IMHO they performed as well as todays 105 and looked a lot better.