kdub212

I'm looking for some imput on this one. I have a Scott Addict with front and back Ultegra, my bike shop suggested I add a Dura Ace derailleur to the rear. Will I really see that much improvement in bike performance just by adding a Dura Ace rear derailleur and keeping Ultegra up front, or am I just wasting money?

MegaTom

No, you will not notice any improvement with a Dura-Ace rear derailleur over a a new Ultegra one. That is ridiculous. Find a new, honest bike shop.

UCIMBZ

The general answer to any upgrade is always a yes. But you need to keep at it.

LowCel 

Just wasting money.

Jed19

Yep, that is a ridiculous proposition from your bike shop. Are they by chance gonna sell you the Dura-Ace RD?

mpath

Do it if it's a steal, ie. the LBS has an extra RD laying around from someone else's upgrade. But like the others have said, you'll hardly notice any improvement, other than a bit of the bling factor.

BarracksSi

You can make a DA derailleur shift worse than Tourney if you adjust it badly. Like mpath said, go ahead and do it if it's real cheap, but otherwise, find a different shop.

I have 7800 shifters and 6600 derailleurs, and although it's nice, it's not worlds better than the all-105 setup I had on an earlier bike (dare I say, it's hard to tell any difference at all).

NWS Alpine

Rear mech is the one thing that really doesn't change much at each group level. You are only paying for weight decrease and sometimes ceramic bearings that are "better".

banerjek

Wasting money. There will be zero improvement in performance. You will save a few grams of weight on the bike and in your wallet.

The only way to noticeably improve your shifting once you have everything properly adjusted is to switch to electronic shifting. That is insanely good.

DropDeadFred

Is your old one giving u issues?

jmio

My first bike was an aluminum bike with full dura ace, I upgraded to a full carbon bike with 105, I thought to myself, oh man I'm gonna have to spend another 1800 for dura ace to make it as good as my bike. 3 weeks later and 800 miles the only difference is a few grams. They r so close in performance it's not funny

jmio

Meaning my 105 will stay till it dies, the. I will upgrade to dura ace

NWS Alpine

As of 105 5700 the only difference is weight. There are some parts stiffer than others but 90% you won't notice a difference. It's all good stuff.

caloso

FWIW, I had a CX bike that was cobbled together with a mishmash of Shimano groups: DA shifters, Ultegra BB and hubs, 105 RD, and a RSX (!) FD. Worked like a charm.

Save your money: you'll just be saving a few grams, mostly from your wallet.

Nuggetross

so much bike shop hate. there could be a few reasons that a rear derailleur would help in shifting performance. most notably, the springs will be stronger on the da rd. why is that important? isn't ultegra just fine?

i'll give you an example of a bike that refuses to shift well out of the box with ultegra: a specialized venge. i'm not sure how the cabling is setup with an addict, but the ultegra rd springs are not strong enough to get perfectly smooth shifting. don't take for granted that everything will just work perfectly out of the box with whatever parts bike companies choose to put on them.

specialized is aware of the issue and refers people to buy alternative oem parts from shimano. since every good bike mechanic will notice this problem, all of the springs are currently sold out.

again, while the op didn't say exactly why the rd was recommended, we don't currently know. but don't just think that a bike shop is trying to gauge you. if you actually have a mechanic who knows wtf is going on, they will be a giant help.

thechemist

Incorrect, you will gain some durability and shave some weight anything else is trying to justify money wasted. Just keep the derailed adjusted as the cables loosen overtime.

kdub212

humm, it sounds like skipping the upgrade (?) and using the money to save up for a new set of race wheels may be the better option. Thanks for the imput.

ctimrun2012

I rode Ultegra for about 5 years before buying a new bike with Dura Ace. I can't agree with those who say that the only difference is weight. Dura Ace shifts more quickly, smoothly, and solidly. Ultegra performs well, never had any issues, but Dura Ace is noticeably better, especially during climbs. I've never combined comps from different groups, so I can't speak to whether or not a rear derailleur will be better without a Dura Ace shifter, but I suppose it is possible. You should do what I did...and go to Ui2....AMAZING!

tagaproject6

Rode Ultegra for 5 years, then bought a new bike with 5 years worth of R&D Dura Ace...think about that for a bit. (If I read that correctly, you bought a new bike with a 5 year newer Dura-Ace)?Have you compared a 5 year old Ultegra against another 5 year old Dura-Ace (meaning same year model designations)?

qqy

As a person who just went to a DA rear mech from a Tiagra mech, there is a big difference. Compared to my Ultegra mech, there is a slight but noticeable difference. It runs more quietly and shifts slightly more smoothly. I suspect it will last much longer too, thanks in big part to the ceramic bearings. The fit and finish on each bit of a DA part is superb, and it operates with noticeably less effort in the shifter. However, mechanically it is practically identical to anything 105 or better as long as it's configured correctly. Whether it's worth the $$ is up to your wallet.

StanSeven

7900 should be cheaper now with 9000 on the way. Ask your LBS what the price is and compare online. If you get a good price, I would do it

alpha_bravo

And there is the likely motivation for the LBS... Clear out the 7900 stock for new 11 speed 9000.

I'm with the others, learn to tune your derailleur yourself and there's no difference between Ultegra and Dura-Ace performance wise.

patentcad

Correct.

Unless you go all the way to Di2, then you're really wasting money, but Di2 is the shiznit. Ferraris are wasting money too, but the customers are all happy.

patentcad

Correct.

Correcter. In fact I've had 7900 mechanical, Ultegra 6700 mechanical and Di2, among the mechanical groups Shimano offers, Ultegra shifts better. DA braking performance is marginally superior.

Nachoman

A few years ago, I was regularly riding DA, Ultegra and 105. DA was superior, with crisper, cleaner shifts. But I'm pretty sure an average cyclist wouldn't notice the difference. I did. But I'm super finicky.