Upgrading Deraileurs, Shifters & Cassettes

[mvp]

I'm totally new to road biking, im just wondering how hard/easy it is to upgrade the cassette, shifters and deraileurs? Can I upgrade each of those compoenents individually or do i have to match them all and buy them together?

 

[PeterF]

I'm totally new to road biking, im just wondering how hard/easy it is to upgrade the cassette, shifters and deraileurs? Can I upgrade each of those compoenents individually or do i have to match them all and buy them together?

It depends what you have. If you stay with the same company, swapping out is easy enough, just make sure it's 9 speed for 9 speed or 10 for 10. The top three groups for Campy (Record, Chorus, Centaur) and Shimano (Dura Ace, Ultegra and 105) are funtionally the same. and interchangeable. I have a bike that's a combo Record, Chorus and Centaur.

 

[mvp]

It depends what you have. If you stay with the same company, swapping out is easy enough, just make sure it's 9 speed for 9 speed or 10 for 10. The top three groups for Campy (Record, Chorus, Centaur) and Shimano (Dura Ace, Ultegra and 105) are funtionally the same.

Okay, well i have shimano Sora 8 sp casssette & rear derail, sora shifters & sora front derail with 3 sp crank.

can i upgrade certain individual components? Ie. if i want to improve the quality of shifting, or get more gears, what length will i have to go through to replace components?

 

[PeterF]

Okay, well i have shimano Sora 8 sp casssette & rear derail, sora shifters & sora front derail with 3 sp crank.

can i upgrade certain individual components? Ie. if i want to improve the quality of shifting, or get more gears, what length will i have to go through to replace components?

All three at once (cassette, shifters and rear der) if you want to go with 9 or 10 speed. The crank should be ok, although the 9 and 10 speeds use a narrower chain. I had an older 8 speed set up and bought a 9-speed upgrade kit. It was a good deal and right now there's still plenty of Shimano 9 speed out there at discounted prices.

 

[Retro Grouch]

It was a good deal and right now there's still plenty of Shimano 9 speed out there at discounted prices.

Actually, that's kind of an interesting point. With Dura Ace, Ultegra and 105 now at 10-speed, how much longer are the upper level brifters going to be easily available? I recently bought a pair of Ultegra 9-speed brifters just to keep as spares.

 

[capwater]

Hold the phone.... First you need to answer a couple of pre-screening questions. 1) what frame are you trying to upgrade and 2) why do you want to upgrade? The .02 is that upgrading major groups doesn't usually make sence because a new bike often is going to be cheaper and also the frame may not be in the ame class as the upgrades. Any upgrade to DA is a waste of cash anyway. As others have mentioned, staying in the same sped category allows piecemeal upgrading. The best bang for your buck is wheels because you can move them between frames very easily. Remember a $1000 car stereo in a '74 Pinto means you're still driving a '74 Pinto.

 

[mvp]

All three at once (cassette, shifters and rear der) if you want to go with 9 or 10 speed. The crank should be ok, although the 9 and 10 speeds use a narrower chain. I had an older 8 speed set up and bought a 9-speed upgrade kit. It was a good deal and right now there's still plenty of Shimano 9 speed out there at discounted prices.

What parts did you get as part of the 9-speed upgrade kit? What kit did you get? How much?

I think I may go down this path...

 

[mvp]

Hold the phone.... First you need to answer a couple of pre-screening questions. 1) what frame are you trying to upgrade and 2) why do you want to upgrade?

I'm upgrading a GIANT 06' OCR3 frame. I'm not sure if I want to upgrade YET, because i'm having some issues with shifting on my larger chainring, the chain keeps coming off, but I heard this can be fixed with a proper tune up anyway. However I did notice some people say that the SORA quality is '****' so i'm thinking maybe I should upgrade, I only recently purchased the bike, it's still under warranty, but I just wanted to investigate whether I could buy the parts cheap on eBay or something and upgrade because i am aware they are expensive to buy brand new.