Components for commuting

[London Commuter]

My long-serving hybrid was stolen so I'm planning to get a road bike with the cyclescheme, which I'll use to commute (about 10K/day, every day) and will try to do some triathlons too. It's my first road bike and I'm not sure what components to go for.

I was looking at the Cannondale Caad8 Sora and Tiagra and at the Caad9 Tiagra. I see that the common advice is that the Tiagra is better for racing (and doesn't have the annoying thumb button to shift gears) but the Sora set is recommended if it's for commuting.

But the cycleschem means I can afford to go for the Tiagra - is there any reason that cheaper components (in this case Sora) stand up better to commuting than more expensive components? It seems the Caad9 may be spending more money than needed for commuting but will it not be worth it in terms of being more durable and smoother to ride?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

[bad boy]

If those are your choices the Caad9 Tiagra is a fantastic bike mate I would go for that. IMO Tiagra is a much better group set and would suite all your needs from what you explain.

 

[London Commuter]

Thanks! I think I'll go for it!

Can I just double check - you say the Tiagra is much better, but does this mean in terms of durability as well as performance? or just in terms of performance.

Also, is there any reason commuting puts more strain on a bike? I would have thought racing would put more strain as you're thrashing it out more but a lot of the advice I have seen people say commuting is hard on bikes and therefore not worth paying for really good quality parts that will just get run into the ground.

 

[Norm]

It depends on the commute and the type of racing. A 5km commute across London will probably be easier on a bike than an hour of psycho-cross racing. Your commute isn't that long so shouldn't be too hard on the bike.

However, if you were doing, say, 10 miles each way, that's 100 miles a week during which some bikes get little maintenance, infrequent cleaning, through stop-start traffic, braking for lights, accelerating to beat the motons across pot-holed city streets.

Compared to doing a 10 mile race, that could be harder on the bike.

 

[palinurus]

I've got a number of bikes with different, often mix'n'match, Shimano groupsets.

Some Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra..

Maybe it's just me but I find the stuff higher up in the range cleans up nicer and seems better in bad conditions (in particular the Sora front mech I use on one bike seems to "freeze" after a couple of wet rides and needs frequent attention)

I use Tiagra bits (except hubs- 105 there) on my 'cross bike- so far they have coped very well with the abuse and generally keep working even when covered with half a kilo of mud.

I'd probably go for Tiagra because of the levers. Plus it is expensive to upgrade groupsets later- much cheaper to buy them attached to a bike.

 

[TheDoctor]

I'd second the above - Sora front mechs don't seem to cope with wet weather at all well. My one has seized solid after being used in the wintery stuff.

 

[London Commuter]

Thanks so much for the advice, so helpful. I'm definitely going to go for the Tiagra bike, probably the Caad8. Happy cycling!