Essthreetee

I recently sold my Mikkelsen Road Special frame and fork. It was a beautiful bike, but for some reason I just couldn’t get comfortable on it (this may have all just been a bad timing coincidence with injuring my back and not knowing it until later....but that’s a different story).

So now fast forward to today. Being the Activities Director at my high school, homecoming is a week full of events...orchestrated by my group of kids and myself. That ended LAST NIGHT. So today, I decided to swap groups around.

I decided that my Merlin Titanium would get the SRAM carbon group that had been on the Mikkelsen, and my Schwinn Tempo would get the 105 10 speed group from the Merlin...the Sora 9 speed group that was on the Tempo will be put up for sale (or perhaps used to build up my old Bianchi frame...again).

Everything came off and went on flawlessly, even to the point of being able to reuse cables.

Now tomorrow I just need to make a trip to my LBS and pick up some bar wrap, then go for a ride.

All in all, a very nice Saturday for me, after a very nice week for school.

just wanted to share.

delbiker1 

Do the Sora brifters have thumb shifters? I bought a used bike to pull the Sora components and put on a different frame. I did not realize the brifters had thumb shifters and I am pretty sure I will not like that.

iab

Stay away from Campagnolo then.

Essthreetee

No. The set I have does not, however that are black also. Your set, I believe, probably has silver levers. I had a set of those and they worked great. Don’t be afraid of the thumb shifter, it works great and is very easy to adapt to...I would say, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.

nomadmax 

In my opinion, Campy was late to the game on Ergo but between STI and ErgoPower, the second mouse got the cheese

Post up those pics OP !

Essthreetee

i have ridden STI thumb shift, Campy Ergo, STI 2 lever, and SRAM Double Tap.
While the Campy was pretty, I found it uncomfortable and probably my least favorite to use.
The STI thumb shift was my first experience...I thought it was fine. Ugly, but it worked.
My favorite is a tie between the Ultegra STI and the SRAM Double Tap.

just my $.02. Your Results May Vary.

pics will come later today.

nomadmax 

Choices are what it's all about

I got hooked on Ergo Power when it came out because I was racing. I could shift to bigger gears while sprinting in the hooks; that allowed me to jump in a medium big gear, then shift up as RPM allowed. For me, it was like having modern gun vs a flintlock.

RobbieTunes

Any Sora 7/8/9 will have them, or so I thought until I read another post on this thread.
For riding the hoods, they are as good as anything. For riding the drops, not.

+1 on OP's "now we move the groups."
I do that more than I care to admit, but yesterday was a nice enough day, putting DA9000 on a Fiorini and then putting DA7700 on an '85 Merckx (pending a new BB).

I stopped adding frames in May, but with the change from 56cm to 54cm, I still have 5 to build and 4 to sell.

Essthreetee

RT...the Sora 3500 9 speed is dual lever.

and...someday, I would love to hangout with you...shoot the breeze, have some beers, go for a ride.

RobbieTunes

Likewise.

I had 9sp Sora shifters on an Ironman once, with the thumb button.. Getting ready for a triathlon, I unwrapped the bars, moved the shifters so I could use them in the drops. This forced me into the drops for the entire bike leg, which included several residential 90-deg turns.

The tactic/fit accidentally worked. It forced me to stay in the drops, kept me in the momentum flow, and kept positive control in the turns. I walked right past a lot of tribikes and PR'd for a bike leg.

A couple of years later, i tried it with Record Carbon on a Cinelli carbon rocket, twice as far on a tri leg, PR'd again, by 2 mph.

Sora still has a soft spot in my crusty heart.

Lascauxcaveman 

I put the 3x8 Sora (with the thumb levers) on the very tiny bike I built for my wife. I couldn't ride it very far, but using them made me wish I tried them on one of my bikes first. Certainly worked as well as the more upscale drifters I've used; the thumb action was ... interesting, at first but I got the hang of it.

Kobe 

You got an early start on the reconfigurations, I usually wait until boredom sets in around January or February. I wish my swaps went as easy as yours, there is always something I need to buy.

squirtdad

nice of group moves...... but did the football team win the homecoming game ?