gears for woman's tourer

[rich p]

Not sure if this should be in Know How or Touring and Exp but I'll try here first.
My wife is having a new tourer built and so we have to choose which gears to have. Given that she wants Shimano I'm not sure whether she'd be better off with Sora or Tiagra or Ultegra. Tiagra and Ultegra just a price difference and presumably quality?
Sora because I wonder whether the thumb operation makes it easier for a small handed person.
Any views would be welcome.

This is the bike more or less -
http://villiers-velo.co.uk/Villiers-Velo/main.htm

 

[gavintc]

Small hands are better served with Campag
I would propose getting Veloce. But, if she is determined to get Shimano, I would get 105 as a quality mid range system.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Agree. Tiagra's eight speed, right?

 

[Smokin Joe]

Tiagra is nine speed, Sora eight.

On triple touring setup either would be good enough, if you're not cycling competitively you don't need the close ratios of ten-speed.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

I bow to your experience.

 

[TheDoctor]

No reason not to use Sora STIs with better mechs

 

[rich p]

No reason not to use Sora STIs with better mechs

Good thinking, Doc.

 

[P.H]

Sora goes 9 speed for 2008, if that's what you want.
It's also advertised as having reach adjusting shims for small hands, so could be useful.
Shimano Sora

 

[ash68]

I have sora 8 speed on my winter bike and touring bike.I Like the thumb shift lever as I usually ride on the hoods. I've done around 10,000 miles on my winter bike and the sti's have been faultless in that time. I've just renewed the inner cables and had no reason to complain about the reliability. I use 105 sti's on my summer bike and they feel a little lighter to operate, but other than that they all do the same job, at the end of the day it's down to personal preference.

 

[Paulus]

Sora shifters have an adjusting screw at the front of the levers to adjust the reach which can be useful for smaller hnds.

 

[twowheelsgood]

The shifters are only one part of the equation, I wouldn't recommend any shimano or campag road/race crankset for touring 52 or 50 is simply too high to be useful, especially for a woman. You should be looking at a 48/38/28 triple or thereabouts. Look at shimano LX or nexave or you could re-ring.