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Why are all the current mid-price offerings using Claris and Tiagra? I thought 105 was the bog standard?
105 is the bog standard of high end 11 speed groupset (105, Ultegra and Dura Ace share near identical design and function), the newer Tiagra 4700 is already a lots better than the old 105, so the Tiagra is now the mid-range groupset to go for.
The new Sora, again is a massive improvement over the old one, so again it's a better value, hell the Claris is better than the old Sora too, however despite sharing similar design to the older externally routed 105/Ultegra/etc. it felt a lots slopper and plasticky.
My recommendation is to look for a bike he like with the newer Tiagra groupset, functionally similar to the 11 speed brethren, but with 10 speed (much cheaper to service and last longer).
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edscoble
Why are all the current mid-price offerings using Claris and Tiagra? I thought 105 was the bog standard?
Is 105 now too 'cool' for basic road frames?
Dad really needs a new training bike, the (old) 54cm Caad9 is killing his back, and the 56cm Specialized Roubaix (Ultegra + nice-wheel) setup is supposed to be dry/race only. Needs to be neutral geo, alu at a minimum, ie similar geo to the Roubaix or have lots of steerer for stacking, he can't ride aggressive geo any more.
Struggling to find a fair priced setup, that looks worth the money. I refuse to suggest paying over a grand for a bike that isn't even 105. Older models is totally okay.
Ideally new, rather than used, preferably 11 but 10 speed is more than fine. We could swap out the old setup, but the frame-only price needs to be worth me doing all the hard work.
He's a bit old school; he knows Cannondale, Specialized, Shimano. He doesn't like scary words like SRAM or DT SWISS (as I found out on the wheel search).