Upgrading from Sora. How much can I mix and match?

[Liamsles]

Hi All,

This is a bit of a newbie question but here goes.

I have a Scott Speedster S50 that, at the start of summer, recently became my "winter bike". As Autumn and Winter are close approaching I was wondering about upgrading some components on it.

At the moment it is full Shimano Sora and as it's a 2012 model it has the very annoying thumb shifters on the hoods.Therefore I was thinking on upgrading the shifters to Tiagra or 105 so I can also have a 10 speed cassette as well.

This got me thinking along with upgrading the shifters I will have to upgrade the rear mech and chain as well as cassette.

Could I leave the Sora crankset (chainrings etc) when upgrading all this or will the chain be incompatible with it?

Cheeeers.

Liamsles

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

It'll be fine

 

[bikingdad90]

Why not consider doing what I have done...

Stick with the front mech and then buy some Microshift shifters (r8/r9/arsis) from Aliexpress and shop around on auction sites for a 105 rd-5500 series rear derauiller providing it is 8 speed. If you are after a 9 speed than 5600 or 10 speed is 5700 series I think:

Those two changes should deliver value for money as they are good, reliable and.cheap to replace if for whatever reason you manage to crash in the bad weather because you just had to cycle in ice/snow/wet etc.

 

[Drago]

A 10 speed Shimano road works fine and indexes perfectly on an 8 cog cassette, so no worries if you fancy a bling 105 mech on your current cassette.

 

[Big_Dave]

If you want 10 speed shifters Tiagra or 105, 10 speed cassette and a 10 speed chain (10 speed chain is narrower) is needed, the sora mechs/chainwheels should work fine, you will have to alter the limit screws slightly on the mechs, The 105 mech is far better quality and worth paying the extra for, and as Drago says, the 105 10 speed rear mech runs perfect on 8 speed.
My 10 speeds both run Tiagra 9 speed chainwheels and 9 speed front mechs,which i previously ran 8 speed on. i didn't see the point of spending megabucks on a 10 speed chainwheel

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i wanted to upgrade from a standard double to a triple, and it was cheaper to buy a complete new groupset than just the bits that really needed to change...

ribble are good for groupsets and you might find them in the sale around this time of year...