Originally Posted by
ArgoMan
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.
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:
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.