Sora or Claris, Beginner Road Build
 

Hey all. Accepting all opinions: I'm building out a "first" road bike for my 16 year old son. He likes biking and has a basic entry road bike with the old lever gears. But he isn't gung-ho about it. His interest is growing, though. I obtained a like-new Fuji aluminum frame with carbon fork for $110. I'm blown away by how nice it's made and how light it is. I now have to fit a groupset to it. I had been planning on a Sora groupo. We live in a desert with no hills. Essentially all flat. I run a 105 on my bike and find that I never use more than 4 gears. But the 105 is super smooth and the brakes are great (rim.) I can get the Sora for about $430 new and complete. But I just found a new Claris set for all-in at $275. I don;'t want to be cheap and can afford the Sora, but I like to watch my pennies. With this info, will the Claris be fine for his uses; allow him to do all the things he may want to do? He's not going to race. I just want a solid ride for him to get into. Or should I just jump for the Sora right now? I have it on one of my bikes and it's a nice set-up. One thing I found are opinions that the Claris rim brakes are actually a bit better than the Sora brakes. So that's a plus in the "safety" department (if accurate.) Thanks for your input everyone!

My oldest, now 19, has had a Claris rim brake road bike for 4 years now. In the first 3 years she rode it over 5000mi, did 7 or 8 centuries thru those years, and trained for an Ironman with it. The drivetrain is perfectly fine, its dead simple to set up and maintain. The only downside is its heavier and uses some steel where higher levels use aluminum or composite. Basically, there is some spot rusting on bolts or a couple sections of the derailleurs. It doesnt impact reliability or performance at all.

We have a bike with Sora- its fine. Same things- dead easy to maintain and is heavier than more expensive groups.
We also have a road bike with older 105 9 speed and one with older Tiagra 9 speed- the Sora bike shifts just as fine and has lasted years without issue.


I would use any of the groups for a kid that isnt racing and not think twice. Whichever you buy, just get some quality cables and housing plus quality brake pads. Those things can be felt.

Personally, I would go with whichever is cheapest since there's a good chance he will want to upgrade if he really gets into it, and probably won't care if he doesn't really get into it.

Thanks guys. I'm reminded of something I read online. The poster said something like, "today's cheap groupsets are better than the sets that the pros were using in the Tour de France 20 years ago." In that regard, I saw a really decent looking used Ultegra set on sale at Ebay for less than $200. But it's over 20 years old! Looks good though. So, I'm thinking the Claris is the way to go, especially since he probably won't be using more than a few gears on our totally flat roads. The only challenge I didn't consider is that I got him nice used Dura Ace rims. A bit older, but in great shape. The rear has a 10 speed hub. New Claris has an 8 speed cassette. I'm assuming it will work. Any advice in that regard will be appreciated.

If you look hard enough I am positive you could find 105 rim brake for less than 500.00. Hell I bought one last year new for 650.00 and that was before 105 Di2 was released.

Aside from the bargain 105 group above, yeah 8,9 and 10speed freehubs are all the same length.

A few years ago, some Dura Ace wheels had alloy freehubs with deeper splines. If your wheels are those, 8 and 9 speed cassettes won't fit

I’d argue to actually throw in the extra bit for 105, rather than the other direction. $450 for Sora seems high, and as bampilot points out, 105 can be had for under $500. The benefits:
- if he’s into it, he’ll have no reason aside from vanity to upgrade
- You’ll have a bike with parts that are completely cross-compatible. Need a wheel or any drivetrain component? Borrow it from the other bike, no worries about 8, 9, 11 speeds and chains

I think one of the upsides of Claris over anything higher up the chain is that fewer cables are hidden, which makes maintenance just a little easier.

Another benefit - resale value will be higher.

If you have to get the STIs separately, then get Microshift STIs. You won't have to whack the brake lever to shift ever again.

The Duraace freehub/wheelset with the unusual splines were in the 78?? series. The body has taller splines and was only compatible with some 10 speed cassettes. Easy to ID, it had a 'step' in the spline as below:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ce947de859.jpg
Other DA Hyperglide splined cassettes should all be 8/9 speed compatible.

The R2000 & R3000 series of components are very similar in many ways, many of the parts are the same. No way to really know if the build/material quality is different.

For the shifters, they both have under the bartape cable routing for both brake & shift housing.

You mentioned brake differences, they are identical.

Of course he/you will do fine with whatever you choose. I was recently in LA and rented a bike with 8 speed Claris drivetrain. It was a pleasant surprise to ride, the shifting and responsiveness was quite good.

Seems like you could get a 105 grouspet for the price you want to pay. That's what I would do. Long term wise, it's better. Groupset of the people for the win.

And there's the rub. Going up from 105 to Ultegra means nearly double the outlay (by part, I haven't priced group sets); and the same is true from Ultegra to DuraAce.

Going down from 105 to Tiagra, down to Sora and Claris... you don't get that big of a gap. Truth be told, Claris and Sora are really designed for manufacturers to realize savings at-scale. They're not bad components, by any means - but by the time an individual tries to buy a groupset from an LBS or even an online store, the costs of warehousing, labor just to pack the pieces, shipping, not to mention an reasonable profit margin - will quickly eat into the savings, as those costs are going to be pretty much the same, regardless of the groupset level.

Both are reliable, but I think Sora shifts noticeably nicer. I'd go with Sora.

For the OP the issue with using 105 that is 11 speed is that the cassette that is included would probably be the standard 11 speed version, and would need a 11 speed compatible freehub/wheelset. He says that he has wheels already that are 10 speed.

So, a compatible cassette would need to be added, or a freehub body swapped. Duraace freehubs/wheelset are usually not easy/cheap to do a freehub body swap on, if even possible.

I think so too. I had one of each for awhile and buying the Sora bike made me feel like I'd found the best bike in the world. But the Claris bike was certainly a decent bike and I put a ton of miles on it with no issues.

Too much focus on groupset is a newbie tell. Treeing up the wrong bark.

The last bike I had for a kid with claris I could never get it to stay shifting well for any length of time, really have no good feelings towards the set. When I checked yesterday ribble.com had 7000 series 11 speed really cheap for the shifters, front der and brakes, sub in the non-series 510 crankset. Get an 11-34 11sp mtb cassette to fit your 10sp wheels and you'll have to find a rear der but the shifters, crank, brakes and der were only a little over 200.

True. I've never understood the need for a complete matching groupset. Some things have to match, but not all. I'd check the Bay/CL/local FB market place first and see what I could get there. A lot of people are unloading slightly used components/groups there because of upgradeitis.

It does. Sora is an upgrade from Claris in the entry level range.

Call me OCD if you want, but I would never own a bike that's not fully built with the same groupset components just like I wouldn't use 2 different tires. I'm not saying it's better, I'm just saying I prefer having matching components.

The OP needs a shifting setup for a frame and asked if there is a noticeable difference that makes the higher price worthwhile.
Thats hardly too much focus or a newbie tell. It's just someone who doesn't have experience with entry level stuff asking how different tow options are.

With respect to the statement "modern entry level > vintage top level", it makes some intuitive sense but all my bikes are still on SRAM 10 speed and I've never felt compelled to replace them with modern Claris or Sora. I've always built my frames up with lightly used parts because that's what I can afford, but I do get that there's a certain sense of satisfaction building a frame up with all new components. Before I converted to SRAM 10 speed I've ridden Shimano Tiagra and Ultegra. The only time I rode a Sora was on a rental about 14 years ago and it was just fine.