Tiagra shifter > 105?

[Mike!]

I'm going to be testing some bikes this week with a view to buying

I was wondering if I got a bike with Tiagra 10 speed whether or not I could swap the shifters out for 105 to gain the neater cable runs?

I have the budget to get a bike with full 105 but that will leave me nothing for pedals, shoes etc etc

Thanks!

 

[Hacienda71]

You could the shifters and mech are compatible.
Alternatives are to look at bikes with Sram or Campag which have the neater cable runs at a similar price point. I have Apex on one of my bikes and it is nice. I have Tiagra on another bike and would have no hesitation in recommending Sram. You need to be sure you are ok with double tap shifting though.

 

[Moodyman]

The answer is yes, but if it was me, I'd rather get 105 now and buy the shoes and other bits later.

The 105 equipped bike will cost you a little more, but no where near what you'd have to pay yourself for the shifters later.

Bike companies buy gear in bulk, so it costs them a lot less for parts than it will cost you to buy one set.

 

[amaferanga]

No reason why it can't be done and the cost of the 105 upgrade after selling the 'as new' Tiagra shifters won't really be much at all.

 

[Mike!]

Thanks for the replies, i will be testing a good variety (including SRAM) but what seems to be a premium of £200-£250 to upgrade from Tiagra is quite a jump but i do like the "tidy cockpit look".

Test rides will reveal any other differences i guess

 

[MattHB]

I'd like some 105 (or better) on the felt. I wanted the decent frame with the intention of upgrading groupset later. Tiagra is perfectly sufficient though so I might not bother.

 

[PK99]

I'm going to be testing some bikes this week with a view to buying

I was wondering if I got a bike with Tiagra 10 speed whether or not I could swap the shifters out for 105 to gain the neater cable runs?

I have the budget to get a bike with full 105 but that will leave me nothing for pedals, shoes etc etc

Thanks!

Have a word with the shop. My LBS would happily swap out any component at very reasonable cost.

 

[smokeysmoo]

Have a word with the shop. My LBS would happily swap out any component at very reasonable cost.

This is how I upgraded the wheels on my CAAD. I basically traded the brand new stock wheels for my Mavics, and the shop swopped them over so when I collected it the bike was exactly how I wanted it, (at that moment anyway) .
I couldn't have afforded to buy the SL's outright on top of the bike cost, but by doing it this way the price walk between the two wheelsets was minimal, especially when factored into the cost of the bike anyway

 

[cyberknight]

The benefit of external cables is that your cable line is a lot better so the shifting can be a bit crisper, i remember C+ reviewing the new tiagra and raving about it so if you can live with external cables i would save your money and go for cheaper option .

You could the shifters and mech are compatible.
Alternatives are to look at bikes with Sram or Campag which have the neater cable runs at a similar price point. I have Apex on one of my bikes and it is nice. I have Tiagra on another bike and would have no hesitation in recommending Sram. You need to be sure you are ok with double tap shifting though.

I will have to stop agreeing with Hacienda
SRAM apex groupset is cheaper than 105 but they reckon its the same weight and offers similar levels of shifting whilst you can get 10 speed campag really cheap .I also run sram and once you get used to it i actually prefer it to shimano shifters for the feel of the shift and the comfort of the hood shape.

 

[Hacienda71]

The benefit of external cables is that your cable line is a lot better so the shifting can be a bit crisper, i remember C+ reviewing the new tiagra and raving about it so if you can live with external cables i would save your money and go for cheaper option .

I will have to stop agreeing with Hacienda
SRAM apex groupset is cheaper than 105 but they reckon its the same weight and offers similar levels of shifting whilst you can get 10 speed campag really cheap .I also run sram and once you get used to it i actually prefer it to shimano shifters for the feel of the shift and the comfort of the hood shape.

lol

 

[Mike!]

Well it maybe that i'm happy with Tiagra as it is, who knows. After all my Sirrus has external cables on the bars...lol

 

[MacB]

I've just fitted some 105 10 speed STIs, will be taping up the bars later today. So no info on how they perform but they were a lot more faff to setup than my previous 9 speed Tiagras. I was particularly unimpressed with the amount of peeling back/forward of the rubber hoods is required. It's also not as straightforward to tweak the position.

I bought them at a very good price, cheaper than I could get Tiagra, but it was never about having hidden cables. If there had been two options available, hidden/external, I'd have gone with the external. But then I've always found the sweeping external cable look aesthetically pleasing.

Once the position and hood peeling was all sorted, actually cabling and indexing was easy.

 

[Kestevan]

Cool - Bargains ahoy.... MacB has bought some 105 STI's. On currrent form, that should mean they'll be appearing on the "For Sale" forum round about next Tuesday.....

 

[Cubist]

Cool - Bargains ahoy.... MacB has bought some 105 STI's. On currrent form, that should mean they'll be appearing on the "For Sale" forum round about next Tuesday.....

 

[MacB]

Oh man, you folks can be cruel