Originally Posted by
Branko D
Except the weight savings, the measurable (barely) benefits are in the bearing parts; a 105 rear derailleur has jockey wheels with bushings which are less efficient from the start and get worse with contamination, while Dura-ace run on sealed bearings. On the other hand, a cheap set of aftermarket Tacx ones are slightly better than both. Similarly, Dura-ace chains, Dura-ace bottom brackets and hubs (not a question raised, but). Bearing quality is a bigger performance gain than the few hundred grams of weight - but you don't need to pay for the full Dura-ace groupset to get that.
I couldn't actually detect a difference in shifting quality between R7000 105 and R9100 Dura-ace, both simply shift when you want them to, even under strain. For a cost / benefit perspective, 105 is ridicilously hard to beat, especially with a few cheap upgrades.
Perfect thanks! That's the way I was thinking, but didn't have any experience with Dura-Ace to know if there was perhaps a final significant step up to the top rung. But sounds like there isn't.
I think with any future builds I do with Shimano mechanical I will just stick with 105, with perhaps a few minor bearing upgrades as the originals wear like you mentioned (was already thinking of upgrading the jockey wheels on my 105 after 2 years use).
For Shimano electronic I would go with Ultegra as of course there is no 105 level (yet). Sram I would probably go with Rival for much the same reason. Campag I would go with Chorus.
But as per my other thread about 1x drivetrains, I'm now pretty sold on using Campag Ekar for this particular build.
The only reason I considered this bike build to be "money no object" was because I've never taken this approach to building a new bike before. I've always just hunted around in the end of season sales for a bargain and this time wanted to build something up without any real compromise. But that doesn't mean blinging it up on every single component just for the hell of it! For example, things like £1500 Ceramic Speed OSPWs don't interest me in the slightest as there is no real world benefit to me (or probably anyone else for that matter!). Some other things are more debatable like groupset choice.
I might start a new thread with my full bike build, but then again after this thread I might not!
Cheers,
Pete