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Tektro brakes and FSA crank as good as Ultegra or Dura Ace

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Tektro brakes and FSA crank as good as Ultegra or Dura Ace

Old 07-08-19, 06:42 AM
  #26  
Kimmo 
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I just wish Shimano would go back to clear anodizing and organic forms without arbitrary styling wank in them, at least on Dura-Ace...

I have a bike that's mostly 7700, but with 7800 cranks and a 7400 rear brake, and it pretty much matches. 9000 7900 broke that.

Style is timeless, fashion dates.

Last edited by Kimmo; 07-08-19 at 05:18 PM.
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Old 07-08-19, 06:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Kimmo
I just wish Shimano would go back to clear anodizing and organic forms without arbitrary styling wank in them, at least on Dura-Ace...

I have a bike that's mostly 7700, but with 7800 cranks and a 7400 rear brake, and it pretty much matches. 9000 broke that.

Style is timeless, fashion dates.
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Old 07-08-19, 10:27 AM
  #28  
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re: FSA vs. Shimano. Please pardon my ignorance as I'm just getting into cycling after a 30 year absence.

I just bought a Cannondale Supersix Evo Disc Ultegra Di2 2018 on clearance (new). It comes with, according to Cannondale's site "Cannondale Si, BB30a, w/ FSA Rings, 52/36". It's been tuned by my LBS. The back shifts like a dream. The front shifts well most of the time, but on rare occasions it does hiccup and fail to catch. Not regular enough for me to think it's an alignment problem, just rare enough to be annoying for a the cost of the bike.

So if I'm reading this thread correctly, it seems most agree that Shimano's Ultegra crank is superior to FSA and would reduce this issue? If so then I'm thinking of buying the FC-R8000.

Since I'm a shorter rider (5'7" with 30" inseam) I'm thinking of also going to a more compact 50/34 (which matches what I have on my Trek FX S6) and maybe a shorter crankarm length of 170mm or 165mm (based on my height/inseam and some web research).

Thoughts and advice welcome!
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Old 07-08-19, 10:40 AM
  #29  
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Curious to hear answers to the above from those more learned than I. My theory would be that the front shifting issue is more about derailleur adjustment.
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Old 07-08-19, 10:51 AM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by MSchott
Curious to hear answers to the above from those more learned than I. My theory would be that the front shifting issue is more about derailleur adjustment.
I would be too, and I'm going in to my LBS soon to talk about it. Like I said, it works well the vast majority of the time (like 97% if I had to guess though that's not a scientific number). If shifting problems occurred more frequently, or if there were noise coming out of the front derailleur, I'd be more suspicious that it's a setup/adjustment issue. It shifts smoothly like 29/30 times. But that 30th time...grrr. And yes, I like in the coastal part of L.A. where no roads are flat, so yes I do shift the fronts a lot.

And it's a Di2 so theoretically once it's dialed in it should be good to go (again, theoretically).
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Old 07-08-19, 10:54 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by MSchott
Curious to hear answers to the above from those more learned than I. My theory would be that the front shifting issue is more about derailleur adjustment.
Well he said he just got the bike and there is going to be that initial cable stretch...I'm guessing just a cable tension adjustment which can be done by the barrel adjusters usually.
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Old 07-08-19, 11:00 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by MyTi
Well he said he just got the bike and there is going to be that initial cable stretch...I'm guessing just a cable tension adjustment which can be done by the barrel adjusters usually.
It's electronic, there is no cable stretch.
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Old 07-08-19, 11:02 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by MyTi
Well he said he just got the bike and there is going to be that initial cable stretch...I'm guessing just a cable tension adjustment which can be done by the barrel adjusters usually.
According to the videos I've seen online (like this one from GCN:
at the 3 minute mark) there is no microadjust for the front derailleur on a Di2 (unlike the RD). I've checked alignment, clearance and limit screws per their recommendation and everything check out. I'll mention it to my LBS to see if they have other thoughts.
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Old 07-08-19, 11:05 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by Kimmo
I just wish Shimano would go back to clear anodizing and organic forms without arbitrary styling wank in them, at least on Dura-Ace...

I have a bike that's mostly 7700, but with 7800 cranks and a 7400 rear brake, and it pretty much matches. 9000 broke that.

Style is timeless, fashion dates.
I went to 7800 from Nuovo Record and thought the crank was butt ugly, but it has grown on me since. Agree the newer stuff is cheesy looking.
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Old 07-08-19, 11:20 AM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by MoAlpha
I went to 7800 from Nuovo Record and thought the crank was butt ugly, but it has grown on me since. Agree the newer stuff is cheesy looking.
7800 cranks are beautiful, but 7900 looks terrible. 9000 cranks have grown on me, but the 9100 crankset is rather blah.

Hopefully the next DA crankset looks better.
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Old 07-08-19, 12:19 PM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by CarloM
According to the videos I've seen online (like this one from GCN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5EEd7eRUFY at the 3 minute mark) there is no microadjust for the front derailleur on a Di2 (unlike the RD). I've checked alignment, clearance and limit screws per their recommendation and everything check out. I'll mention it to my LBS to see if they have other thoughts.
Ahhh Di2...never had the pleasure. Almost went that route until the whole battery issues and what not. And I don't know guess I'm a bit nostalgic and will stay mechanical and keep things simple I suppose.

Well you still need a chain. So can't be chain wear since it's a new bike...could be improper chain length however. Does it happen only on a specific gear? Since it happens only every so often only is it possible you are not in the optimal gear to make a shift? Are you pedaling fast enough...does it only happen when you change gears going say, up a hill? I'm sure there is some kind of calibration procedure for this Di2 RD gizmo as well but not sure. Any way good luck sucks that you have to deal with this on a nice new bike.

I'm using Ultegra 6500 shifters from 2005...probably the original set on my 2005 litespeed..and it has an Ultegra 6700 crank with a sram cassette. These are 14 year old shifters. Never misses a shift. I've tested a fully equipped bike with r8000 shifters. Shifts the same as my 6500 shifters lol.
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Old 07-08-19, 01:10 PM
  #37  
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Old 07-08-19, 01:33 PM
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My Tektro 539s work fine for the money and are a good budget option for frames designed for med reach brakes w larger tires BUT they stop nowhere near as good as my Ultegra 6800 brakes. I can think of a couple of instances where I had a ped or tow truck suddenly pull across my path when I wouldn't have been so lucky and stopped on a dime without incident had I been riding my Tektros.
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Old 07-08-19, 02:47 PM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by road292
What amazes me is that Shimano, with all its market dominance, doesn't require at least the major manufacturers (Trek, Cannondale, etc.) to use an entire, consistent groupset (perhaps minus the cassette) if they are going to put any Shimano components on a bike.
They did, years ago. The government got them on antitrust violations.
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Old 07-08-19, 04:20 PM
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Quick update, my LBS did a few adjustments on the FD and it seems to be much better. Still had them price out a new Ultegra crankset 50/34; 170mm with a new bottom bracket (required, different size than what is on the bike right now) and it came out to about $400 with installation (including they'd have to shorten the chain).

Does anyone have experiences they want to share about buying second-hand? Because the manager (who has been great to me during the whole purchase process including always giving me a discount on items even well after I've purchased the bike) also said if I was interested, he had some used SRAM carbon fiber cranks (he said he had them 8 months) for about $100 and I could pair them up with some SRAM chainrings and save money...but I've never bought used bike parts before. Only the CF cranks would be used, the chainrings would be new, and I wouldn't need a new BB since they use the same as what came with the bike.

Should I just stand pat with the all new Ultegra?
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Old 07-08-19, 05:18 PM
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If the bike works fine now, enjoy it and don't mess with it.
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Old 07-08-19, 11:44 PM
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Originally Posted by colnago62
They did, years ago. The government got them on antitrust violations.
Really? Because SRAM do exactly the same now.
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Old 07-09-19, 01:14 AM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by raisinberry777
Really? Because SRAM do exactly the same now.
https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2001/0305/148.html
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Old 07-10-19, 04:14 PM
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Originally Posted by MyTi
I found that an fsa crankset would be just as good function wise as an Ultegra or dura ace crankset
FSA rings aren't sculpted like Shimano (even 105) and don't shift as well to larger rings.

You may find this adequate or not - I was happy with my FSA 9/10 speed compatible carbon pro 50/34 compact double paired with a Campagnolo CT derailleur, but not the SLK/SLK-Light triples which are finicky to get quick shifts without occasionally dumping the chain off the big ring when using a Campagnolo 10 speed Record Triple derailleur going from a 39T middle to 50T large ring.

Last edited by Drew Eckhardt; 07-10-19 at 04:18 PM.
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Old 07-10-19, 04:16 PM
  #45  
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Also perhaps worthy of mention, AFAIK, Shimano and Praxis are the only two mfrs. offering forged rings (everyone else casts) so they tend to last a bit longer. Sometimes quite a bit longer.
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