Fantasy Question– Specialized Allez Sora Di2 or Mechanical 105

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Good morning,

Although generally a luddite I do like Di2 but one clear issue with it is that it is only available on Ultegra or Dura-Ace so it is hard to justify for many riders.

So I was wondering how many here would buy or recommend Sora Di2 if it was available on a bike like the Allez in preference to the same bike with Mechanical 105 at the same price?

Bikes like the Allez are often bought by new riders trying triathlons or time trialling for the first time, and in these cases being in the right gear and going as fast as possible is the objective.

One of the big benefits of Di2 is that it makes short term gear changes easy, on a typical country lane without Di2 I often take a break of a few seconds as the road dips a bit and be slightly over geared on the subsequent rise.

With Di2 I just make the necessary gear change and breathe a bit harder as I get no rest.

Clearly Sora has less gears and weighs a bit more than 105, but I would tend to discount the weight aspect at this level of rider performance.

The number of gears does at first glance appear to be a bigger issue, but a 12/13/14/15/16/17/19/21/23 9 speed cassette with a 50t chain ring would in practice make the difference irrelevant.

By having a much lower entry point for Di2 getting riders to try it seems like a great way to get a whole new set of sales for both Shimano and the bike shop.

The only downside that I can see is that Shimano could be worried about warranty returns if Di2 could not be made as cheaply as I am suggesting. Currently the retail price difference seems to be a bit over £300 for Ultegra Di2 over Ultegra mechanical, however I am unclear how much of this is “just because we can” rather than a reflection in costs.

Bye

Ian
 
Location
Loch side.
What on earth is a short term gear change? Why can't a cable system make a quick change, only to change again a few seconds/minutes/hours/eons/epochs later at will? You are overthinking simple things. Go for a ride, drink a beer.
 

Shortandcrisp

Über Member
I’ve had Di2 on a previous bike. Apart from that slightly irritating whirring noise it made after every gear change, I never noticed any real world difference between it and run of the mill 105.
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
Bikes like the Allez are often bought by new riders trying triathlons or time trialling for the first time, and in these cases being in the right gear and going as fast as possible is the objective.

Can't comment about triathlons, but my experience with time trials is that the need to change gears is not that frequent. You tend to get up to cruising speed and stick in the same gear for long stretches. Most tt courses are designed to be as flat as possible.

Now road racing is all about acceleration and sprinting and if di2 did make a difference, it would be in this discipline.
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
One of the big benefits of Di2 is that it makes short term gear changes easy, on a typical country lane without Di2 I often take a break of a few seconds as the road dips a bit and be slightly over geared on the subsequent rise.

With Di2 I just make the necessary gear change and breathe a bit harder as I get no rest.

Ian
If you think that feature is worth the extra £300 go for the Di2.
 
Good morning,

The fantasy question came from a real world expedience, someone I know bought an Allez and understood that a 105 equipped Allez Elite was a "better bike" but didn't really feel the differences were that important.

She was aware of Di2 and does see that as a feature possibly worth paying for, but not at the price of going to Ultegra.

At the local triathlon she was offered the typical Di2 opinions of "Brilliant, its a world changer" and "Its an irrelevant toy for those with more money than sense", mostly by people who have never tried it. This was a local sprint triathlon where most bikes were road bikes with no or clip on tri bars, few disc wheels and a course that was surprisingly up and down.

So far the result seems to be that most here wouldn't recommend the imaginary Sora Di2 over mechanical 105.

If you think that feature is worth the extra £300 go for the Di2.
The question is hypothetical as Sora Di2 doesn't exist. :smile:

Bye

Ian
 

Slick

Guru
I know that it's a fantasy question, I reckon the truth is most would spend the cash on the bike if there wasn't anything else to spend it on. I personally just can't see the benefits of Di2, but that doesn't mean that I don't spend money to improve my bikes. I've just bought a new set of wheels for my cannonball to allow me to swap my group set to it from my genesis and invest in a full new disc group set for it. I would have been cheaper trying to pick up some of the bargains that get listed here from time to time but I want to make sure the bikes I ride are right for me. Sora di2 just doesn't do it for me at the moment anyway.
 
Location
Cheshire
I would go for the 105 personally but the concept of Di2 on cheaper groupsets is a good one that i could see happening. I do wonder if cheaper and cheaper eBikes may impact on lower end bikes like the Allez in the future? I have just converted a 2002 Allez into a hybrid (of sorts) :bicycle:
 
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