Caber Guy

Well it was fun while it lasted. I cut through some woods between the trail and picked up a large branch in my rear derailer, snapped the arm right off. What a crazy coincidence, I was JUST thinking about replacing the whole drive set anyway! It’s never shifted particularly well, I’ve already worn out a cassette and inner chain ring and it doesn’t like to stay in any gear for more than two minutes...

HowMuch money am I looking at, is it even worth upgrading the drive train? And what kind would work? I know It’s an entry-level aluminum frame, but I love the heck out of my comfy green machine.

mstateglfr 

Just buy a new RD and have the bike's shifting properly set up.
I've set up and worked on a handful of Claris drivetrains and its a simple setup.

If you want a new drivetrain, cool, its always fun to get new stuff.
Nobody knows how much money it'll cost because we don't know your budget or what sort of drivetrain you want.
- spend $300 or 1500?
- 2x or 1x?
- Cable disc or Hydraulic disc?
- Shimano, SRAM, or Microshift?

scubaman

+1 for this advice. Pretty much any modern OEM Shimano drive train can shift well - if it isn't, it needs adjustment, so I suggest investing in that.

shelbyfv

Yep, the component level makes a lot of sense for that sort of use. Just fix it so it works correctly.

Craptacular8

There is a question/answer section on Salsa's page for the Claris equipped Journeyman. Several others looking to do the same...upgrade their claris Journeyman. I would say $300 on the low side. The wheels are 8/9/10 speed, but will work with one specific shimano 11 speed cassette. It's frequently not the most cost effective to upgrade drivetrains....but I've done it several times. You have room to do a bit of piece meal upgrade. If you were staying with cable actuated brakes, you can go standard 105 shifters, for example, then down the road upgrade the brakes to TRP Hyrds, which are hydraulic, that work with cable actuated shifters/brake levers. I've really liked them, and they aren't an expensive upgrade. Otherwise, just replace the rear derailleur, and wait until you've worn out the other components.

dwmckee

Rear Claris derailleur is a cheap and easy fix. But Claris is pretty mediocre I agree but the upgrade to 9 speed is a huge jump up in quality and not crazy expensive. Your front crank & derailleur will still work with a 9 speed drivetrain. And with 9 speed you can mix and match all Shimano road and MTB components, as long as you do not put a short cage derailleur on a 36 tooth cassette. Lots of 9 speed components out there to choose among and even lightly used Ultegra STI shifters can be found. If you do the work yourself the parts (shifters, cassette, rear derailleur, cables) probably will cost around $225, especially if you find a nice used 9 speed Deore long cage rear derailleur. If you stay happy with it then upgrade the brakes later to TRP Spyre or especially TRP Hy/RD (my favorite for cable). The upgrade will also provide an easy opportunity to go with a lower geared cassette if you are interested in that. I would not go much further than that on a Journeyman, but I do feel it is a worthwhile upgrade form Claris. You will find that the 9 speed drivetrain has much nicer steps between gears and has a more refined shift action than the rather choppy Claris group which really just belongs on very inexpensive entry level bikes.

zen_

I would just fix the Claris drivetrain, as upgrading to a 9 or 10 2x setup is a marginal gain, and it's probably not worth it to throw down $1K+ on a GRX setup.

This might be one instance where a Sensah SRX Pro setup might make sense if you want to do something different and roll the dice a bit...the whole setup cost $230, and doesn't seem horrible.