montage said:
Rezillo said:
Thought I would do an update as I'm really grateful for this being spotted, so thanks, Montage. I was looking for a cheap way of upgrading the Tiagra groupset on my winter bike. One motivating factor was that I hadn't realised how much the crankset flexed until I started using a turbo trainer this year and could easily spot it - I had put it down to the frame when on the road.
First, the triple ultegra sl chainset worked fine as a swap with Tiagra. It came with the BB as well. It does need a 10 speed chain as on the middle ring/outer gear there was some very slight rub (on some small raised areas of the big ring) with my 9 speed chain. A quick google confirmed a 10 speed chain should fix this and it did.
I then started looking at what else I could change as it became apparent there's a lot of cheap ultegra sl stuff around at the moment. I bought a rear mech for £45 and a set of brakes for £60 from CRC.
This has given me a substantial part of the groupset for under £200. I've retained the Tiagra cassette and shifters - the shifters aren't hugely different in operation from the Ultegra ones on my main bike and it's a lot of money to gain an extra cog. The only thing left I might change later would be the front mech. However, the Tiagra one works fine and it seems a lot of money for something where even the cosmetic difference is trivial. I'll probably give in at some point, though.
Has it been worth it? Depends on your point of view as there was nothing actually wrong with what it replaced. The bike is both different and better with a smoother and more direct feel to pedalling but no leap in speed; not that I was expecting that. It just feels slicker to ride and also very quiet; I hadn't realised just how many small tick and ting sounds were coming from the Tiagra cranks.
I'm happy with that but the main benefit is that at some point, I can upgrade the frame and put some matching quality gear on it without spending a fortune.
John