rushhour944

is it worth spending the money on the shimano 5700 (10 speed) or the shimano 5800 (11 speed)?

basically using bike for daily riding with the occasional 50+ mile bike rides.

and where is a good website to buy groupsets?

dtrain

You might have to wait just a bit longer to get 5800. The UK sites have great pricing on groups (Ribble, Merlin, etc.)

loimpact

One other thing to consider because I didn't is that the 11spd stuff (while growing in popularity) is still ahead of the curve slightly. What that means is that you'll pay a little bit more for all of the 11spd parts & stuff.

Consider an 8 or 9 spd chain for $7 or $8 from KMC & easily attainable from a multitude of places.

However, an 11spd chain is about $30 cheapest & while you can get it at plenty of places, the price shopping becomes more difficult.

I know there are other improvements (trickle down stuff) that's supposed to make the x800 series stuff better but if you never experience it & (for example) the 5700 stuff feels plenty good to you, then is it really "better"?

(Just some food for thought)

Dunbar

I own 5700 but if your rear wheel is 11sp compatible I'd get 5800. You're basically getting 6800 shift quality for ~$200 less than Ultegra. IMO there's really no reason to go with 5700 at this point cost-wise unless your real wheel costs too much to upgrade.

BTW, once 5800 chains hit the market I bet you can score them for under $25 from Ribble, PBK etc. Cassettes last long enough (12-14k miles) that the $20-30 price difference for 11sp shouldn't be significant.

mlander

What do you currently have? If you're running Dura Ace, I'd say keep what you got.

hueyhoolihan

for the purposes you state, i would get the 10 speed, but only because you gave me two choices! i would actually save even more money and get the Shimano Tiagra group.

vwchad

Depends on what you have now. If you have a worn out 9 speed group and are in need of numerous replacement parts, then I'd say go for 5800. The price is actually close to what 5700 has been on the UK sites. Of course that means you'd have to have 11spd compatible wheels. That being said, I wouldn't turn down a really good deal on 5700 simply because it is "only" 10spd. Personally, I think 5700 is a great group and I suspect 5800 will be as well. I don't think there is really a wrong answer to your question and it ultimately depends on what you've got now and what it would take to go to 11spd.

dtrain

I'll give a +1 for Tiagra 4600 as a third choice given your stated purpose. Go 5700 if you can't stand exposed shift cables, but are stuck with 10-speed wheels. Wait another month for 5800 if your wheels are 11-speed ready and you are willing to invest a touch more. I'm also curious what you are running/riding now?

redlude97

Can you provide any info about your current setup? if nothing is wrong I wouldn't necessarily upgrade to either unless you have a specific reason

Smokehouse

5700 is a really good system...I've been running it for 1.5 years and 1000's of miles, its been very reliable. By nature, I'm a "new tech" kind of guy, but if you can get a deal on the outgoing 5700...I'd go with it. You can also buy 6700 components on the cheap now too...chains, cassettes, etc...all can be found on the cheap right now.

Axiom

Seems like the price gap between 5800 and 6800 are so little that it's almost pushing people to just purchase Ultegra.

hueyhoolihan

don't think they don't know that.

Dunbar

If that's true I'm sure it will settle down once 5800 has been out for a few months. By Christmas last year there were some scorching deals to be had on 6800 (~$600 shipped from PBK.)

seymour1910

It's still at about $660 from Ribble now. I think it's a great deal for the group still. The one thing that keeps me from doing it is the fact that I don't want to buy new wheels. My current wheels (Boyd) don't even have 2k miles on them yet. I am seriously thinking about getting the 6800, keeping my wheels and buying the 11 speed conversion kit from Boyd 11 speed conversion kits - Boyd Cycling

rushhour944

i have a shimano sport lx set up currently. but the shifters are two mismatched shifters i got from the person i bought it from. its not bad but the chainrings are too close in teeth count that shifting between them doesnt feel a whole lot different.

the rear wheel though.. im not sure if it will accommodate the shimano 105 setup but i started another thread on a good set of wheels that would be compatible with the 105 11 speed.

dtrain

Huh? LX sounds like a mtn group (maybe 'cross if just the RD).

Could you post a pic? The compatibility of the rear wheel might not be your only issue here.

Long Tom

I have 10-sp 105 on my city/rain bike. Works great!

11-sp really shines if you are an obsessive climber (I am) because of the available cassette. Maybe there's a 10-sp cassette that goes up to 32 tooth; if so, ignore that.

seymour1910

There is, a friend of mine is running a 5700 group right now with a compact crank and long cage RD. She has a 32 on the back. Where we live, I doubt she will ever need 34/32 as it is pretty flat. I would imagine being in the mountains to need a 34/32.

loimpact

Depends on ability. I'm compact (50/34) and 11-25 on my SS EVO 6800. I usually never need beyond 34/21 for most hills & 34/23 gets me up all but the steepest stuff. I've used 34/25 before but usually kick back to 34/21. If I were to move to the mountains tomorrow, I'd still go 11-28 cassette before I jumped to long cage.

Still......I have a triple (48/38/28) on my hybrid w/ 11-32 and did use 28/28 once to nurse home a 66 mile ride w/ 3 miles of torturous climbing at the end.


I, too, wonder where this will end up. Honestly, if there's that much trickle down (and from what I've read, beyond just 11spd, they're incorporating all of the Dura Ace 11spd stuff into both 5800 & 6800 similarly) then what will the difference really be??? A few grams??

Only reason I went w/ 6800 version of my bike instead of waiting for the 5800 to come is that it also garnered more carbon components (steerer, seatpost, cranks, etc) and slightly improved other bits (wheels, hubs, etc.) with a price mistake netting me a smokin' deal. Otherwise, if 5800 version had been out by now, I'd have let price be my guide.

rushhour944

ill probably go to my bike shop and test out the different gear setups to see which one i like better. because it seems like its just personal preference from here. but what are some good websites other than ribble, merlin, universal cycling, nashbar that are good for buying groupsets/ bike parts?

JamesInSJ

I window-shop deals like this all the time...perhaps way too much. Ribble has an awesome deal on a complete 5800 groupset starting 8/6. For about $175 more you can get the 6800, but only do that if you have a great frame and wheelset already that you're going to keep for years. And remember that only the newer-manufactured wheelsets have 11-speed compatible cassette carriers. It's getting harder to get an excellent deal on 10-speed groupsets because all the new bikes are going to 11-speed, and retailers no longer have excess supplies of 10-speed components, so they're just servicing the replacement market now and not the upgrade market.

As for other stores, ProBikeKit and Wiggle are pretty good UK sources with excellent prices. But I think Ribble usually beats most for components, especially when you buy an entire groupset.

gsa103

The same as its always been. A few grams, more durable hardware, easier to adjust, tighter tolerances. It was like that with 6700/5700, 6600/5600, etc....

loimpact

I guess that makes sense. I just think they're making for less and less of a difference.

And after this where do we go? Can they really do a 12 speed?

Pretty soon the chains will have to be made of carbon fiber themselves just to keep strength with tin can thickness.