What's new

An exercise in futility - the cheapest 10 speed upgrade

eimaiosatanas

Speeding Up
Dec 17, 2011
267
8
...part of the Noob chronicles...

I've got the bug. And I need the 105 shifters. And 10 gears. But money is super limited. And my current bike is 8 speed (defy 3, shimano 2300 components). :eek:

So, after your initial reactions (possibly a collective facepalm), I came to the following plan. What I want to ask is, is even it possible?

parts to collect:
1) 105 shifters
2) rear derailleur *
3) 10 speed casette *
3) 10 speed chain
4) Front crank chainrings ONLY*
Parts marked with an asterisk will be from the 10spd tiagra/105 series.

I feel that this is the bare minimum to get and then I'll have a 10speed set for a total of ~35.000 whereas with a full 105 set I'll easily be looking at double this price. Is this going to work, especially only changing the chainrings of the front crank? Should I go for it? Will the installation be tricky?

Thanks for any insight! :warau:
 
...part of the Noob chronicles...
I've got the bug. And I need the 105 shifters. And 10 gears.:eek:
:
Why do you "need" the upgrade? I think the best up grade you can give your bike is a stronger lighter motor. Cost is minimal and it'll allow you to save more to upgrade a complete bike, best value for money. Go for a ride on your current set up and ask yourself is spending half the cost of your bike going to make that much of a difference to your ride?

Yes you can do it but do you have the tools? Did you budget labor costs or cost of buying specialty tools?

I wouldn't if I were you but it's your money.
 
Why do you "need" the upgrade? I think the best up grade you can give your bike is a stronger lighter motor. Cost is minimal and it'll allow you to save more to upgrade a complete bike, best value for money. Go for a ride on your current set up and ask yourself is spending half the cost of your bike going to make that much of a difference to your ride?

Yes you can do it but do you have the tools? Did you budget labor costs or cost of buying specialty tools?

I wouldn't if I were you but it's your money.

Ditto!

and if you really want to upgrade something, go for better wheels!:cool:
 
Why do you "need" the upgrade? I think the best up grade you can give your bike is a stronger lighter motor. Cost is minimal and it'll allow you to save more to upgrade a complete bike, best value for money. Go for a ride on your current set up and ask yourself is spending half the cost of your bike going to make that much of a difference to your ride?

Very much agree with this. Once you start the upgrade process you will never stop. Just continue to buy new things, then eventually you'll get to the point where you just need a new frame. And there you go, you could have just bought a brand new bike, without all the hassle, mechanic fees, postal fees etc.

Bike Snob covered it best in relation to fixies. It's just as relevant though for roadies.
 
True, but on the other hand, there is a whole world of incredible gear out there for the taking.
 
I just backgraded to 2x5. 10 is 9 more than 1 , which I'm pretty used to. And 10 less than I was riding before, but not really missing. I think 2x7 or 8 would be convenient. If I was hardcore racing, then I'd go with 2x11 or 12. Being able to have super tight ratio without changing front rings would be great under competition situations.
 
Why do you "need" the upgrade? I think the best up grade you can give your bike is a stronger lighter motor. Cost is minimal and it'll allow you to save more to upgrade a complete bike, best value for money. Go for a ride on your current set up and ask yourself is spending half the cost of your bike going to make that much of a difference to your ride?

Yes you can do it but do you have the tools? Did you budget labor costs or cost of buying specialty tools?

I wouldn't if I were you but it's your money.

kiwisimon, the core of your argument is an undisputed truth :eek:. The "motor" right now can still have huge amounts of noob gain. Come April, I hope to be able to push myself and do things that I thought impossible and so much admire reading in stories of this forum.

Now, why it is a "need". It's not a real need. It is though what I hope to be a meaningful upgrade. First of all, I just... hate the cables and the tiny lever that sticks out of the brifters. I do ride on the hoods a considerable amount of time and these things just... annoy the hell out of me! I can't seem to be able to position my thumb exactly where I like it, ending up being uncomfortable and annoying. Since the cheapest shifters that don't have the cables poking out is the 105, I just have to use these.

Secondly, the new tiagra cassettes go up to 30/12 for the rear and 50/34 on the front. There are some severe slopes around here just begging to be ridden, but with my current set up (and motor :( ) is next to impossible to challenge, but knowing that I could go as low as 34/30 if needed is a huge improvement over what I can do now.

The bike is the tool. Tool + motor define what is possible. But if the tool is a pleasure to use, this gives more incentive to try harder and even makes the ride more pleasurable. As an example, imagine picking up a cheap guitar and start playing. You can still become a virtuoso, but as soon as you pick up a good guitar, you'll find yourself amazed at how such a guitar just ... sings. Does your bidding, no questions asked.

That's what I'm hoping to accomplish. I want to make the bike "sing" for me :D
 
That's what I'm hoping to accomplish. I want to make the bike "sing" for me :D

Sounds like you're sold on the idea. What size frame are you riding? Might be cheaper to sell the defy and buy another second hand bike that has the specs you need.
 
Sounds like you're sold on the idea. What size frame are you riding? Might be cheaper to sell the defy and buy another second hand bike that has the specs you need.

aaahh... yeah, that's a prospect I didn't quite investigate. Will consider that and see if something worthy comes along. I ride an M size bike btw.
 
Haha.well, for what it's worth,Im also a fan of cheap Chicago Music axes like Harmonys , Silvertones and Kay's. Sometimes less is more.

GSAstuto, your signature is killing me! :eek:uch::warau:
 
So much for hindsight

You're killing me! If only something like this was available when I bought the bike back in December...

Yeah, I wish I had been a member of this club before I bought my first bike. The information and advice that I have gotten from threads, since becoming a member in February, have been priceless.

I went from riding this - https://tokyocycle.com/gallery/memb...weaked-the-seat-height-2c-feels-great-21.html.

Then, through upgrades of the seatpost, then wheels, the frame, handle bars, brakes, etc. I now ride this - https://tokyocycle.com/gallery/member-galleries/p6292-breaking-in-the-new-ride-along-arakawa.html.

In hindsight, it would have been great to have purchase a bike like this 4 months ago, but I am happy with my investment and still feel that I have room for a gear upgrade:)
 
Yeah, I wish I had been a member of this club before I bought my first bike. The information and advice that I have gotten from threads, since becoming a member in February, have been priceless.

I went from riding this - https://tokyocycle.com/gallery/memb...weaked-the-seat-height-2c-feels-great-21.html.

Then, through upgrades of the seatpost, then wheels, the frame, handle bars, brakes, etc. I now ride this - https://tokyocycle.com/gallery/member-galleries/p6292-breaking-in-the-new-ride-along-arakawa.html.

In hindsight, it would have been great to have purchase a bike like this 4 months ago, but I am happy with my investment and still feel that I have room for a gear upgrade:)

That's a nice bike :) I hope further down the road to do the upgrade to the 105/tiagra bastard mix I'm thinking, and then feel it was worth it, just like you
feel with your bike. Cheers!
 
I have been thinking of making the switch to 10 speeds, as well. In my search for a reasonably priced upgrade, I have found an 8 pc 105 set for less than 50,000 yen. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EVSYQI/ref=pe_139600_23169780_pe_vfe_dt7

After converting currency from JPY to USD, the price is about 41,291 yen.

I hope that this helps.
Kevin

You could get 5700 105 for 50,000 and I think there`s 10% off that at present. 5600 is even cheaper 33,000.
http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Road+Parts/Transmission/Groupsets+-+Road+Bike/list.htm
NB: Not used Merlin. And need to check free shipping limits.
 
Back
Top Bottom