Upgrades 105 to Ultegra

[cyclotaur]

The sticky-outy cabled shifters actually perform quite a bit better than the hidden cabled models. Just something to consider.

Aesthetics aside, and they are subjective, I agree with this. The shifting on my 10 yo 9-spTiagra equiped roadie is sharper, smoother than on my 2 yo 105 equiped CAADX. Current Tiagra is (functionally) very nice, and probably has some functional design flow-down from 7800 DA by now as well..... ?

Current Tiagra shifters are to a large structural extent actually 7800 DA!

Slightly off-topic...Apart from weight, how would you rate current Tiagra shifters vs. current 105 or Ultegra? ... and vs current DA (mech) for that matter?

[TMjpn]

Slightly off-topic...Apart from weight, how would you rate current Tiagra shifters vs. current 105 or Ultegra? ... and vs current DA (mech) for that matter?

Just built up a commuter roadie with a tiagra 4600 group, and have bikes with 5700, 6700 and 7900.

There are noticable changes in the shift performance of 6700 compared to the 105 and tiagra - in that it feels more slick at the chainring when you really want to grab the bigger cog. As for the the action in the levers - the tiagra is very much the same as 105 5600. There is a noticable lower resistance in the lever swing than all 3 other bikes. The rear mech shifting under load is quick, with a firm clunk to let you know its engaged - and it does work quite well when your slowing up a hill begging for an easier gear. It's not as swift as ultegra when bumping up gears tho, but within modest range of it.

I'd say tiagra 4600 is on par with 5600, I just find the front mech a bit frustrating but that may be a tuning issue on my part.

DA7900 has the edge in all but the smoothness at the lever departments - it feels the same as ultegra - but shifting under any load it's pretty much always reliable to grab the gear in a snap.

[m@]

1, buy 105 - 5700 brakes and shifters. ($296) – this option would fulfil all my requirements except bling factor!

IMO 5700 shifters would be a significant downgrade from 5600 - shift action is terrible by comparison.

[shipper]

1, buy 105 - 5700 brakes and shifters. ($296) – this option would fulfil all my requirements except bling factor!

IMO 5700 shifters would be a significant downgrade from 5600 - shift action is terrible by comparison.

I'm satisfied with my shifter performance right now (5600) and have ridden a bike with 6700 shifters (which I thought were at least 'as good' as mine) without the visual clutter. I understand the ease of shift might be more to do with cable routing and the tightness of bends under the bar tape than anything else. I'm prepared to be corrected on that, after all my sample size is very low

if I'm determined to go 5700 or 6700 shifters Is there a significant reason to go with the Ultegra over the 105? I can't really see a difference apart from the weight and the carbon blade with 'ultegra' written on it (not sure if thats an extra $100 worth...unless you tell me it is!)

[warthog1]

I've got 6700 ultegra shifters on a 6600 ultegra groupset. I like them better than the 6600 as the lever throw when shifting is noticeably shorter.
Brakes aren't quite as good due to a different cable pull ratio between calipers and levers. Still fine though.
I would say just get 6700 levers and leave the rest. It's nice to get rid of the messy cables too.

[Marty Moose]

Complete 6700 group in the for sale section now