Claris Upgrade

Simontuck wrote:

My allez came with Claris. I upgraded the rear der to sora for pennies. (you can use 9spd der with 8spd levers no probs but not the other way around!!) The shifting is noticeably better. I then changed the front mech for pennies as it was black and goes better than the grey of the Claris. Doesn't make much difference in shifting. As for shifting, my TCR has the new 105 group and it's sometimes hard to tell if it shifted or not!! The claris/ sora is actually better for commuting IMO as it has a gear display so I know what gear I'm in- useful for when you stop suddenly and avoids the knee strain of trying to move off in 50-11!! The shifting of the claris/ sora in 8 spd is fine, but a little mechanical, but with only 8 gears thats not such a big deal as you won't be shifting so much if that makes sense, because of the wider ratios. I find I change much more with the closer ratios of 11 spd.

Good to know. TBH with what I'm used to on my bike now anything will be an improvement

I honestly don't think the extra £100 is worth it from what I've read on here & online.

Simon E wrote:

Claris has been around for over 2 years and doesn't have thumbshifters, as vonhelmet has said, it works just like the 9 speed and higher groupsets. Claris & Sora are as reliable as you could ever find.

I'd save the £100 and spend it on something worthwhile.

Cheers mate, pretty certain I can find something else to spend the spare £100 on

vonhelmet wrote:

There is no new and old Claris. There is 2300 with thumb shifters, and there is Claris (2400) with proper STI dual control levers. 2300 shifters have one silver lever that does braking and shifting and a little knob sticking out of the inside of the shifter. Claris has two levers, like every other shimano groupset.

These days the groupset to avoid like the plague is 7 speed tourney, which is the only one with thumb shifters.

From what I can see there's the silver(ish) brake lever itself & then a black bit that sticks out at the bottom of the lever itself so it doesn't look like thumb shifters to me.

Google throws up all sorts of options about pics of thumb shifters!

Otis Bragg wrote:

I've used 2300 on my Allez since I got it well over 3 years ago. Just like most other comments above it has hardly skipped a beat. I do occasionally consider upgrading to 105 but can't really justify it since my current setup works fine. Even the thumb shifters (which you won't have to worry about with Claris) mean I have to learn to anticipate my gearing when getting into the drops but since I'm not racing this isn't an issue either.

One thing you should think about as well is the cost of repair or replacement of parts after an accident. Thanks to an eejit being unable to clip in and stopping right in front of me on the road rather than just pulling over to the side, I came off my bike and damaged the rear mech hanger and STI lever. It didn't cost that much to repair but it was just one of those out of the blue costs I would happily have done without. It might be worth finding out if replacement parts for Sora cost more than for 2300/ Claris and if so how much more, should the groupset get damaged? Maybe that is something to factor in as well (and another reason I personally haven't upgraded).

Never really thought about costs to service/repair TBH but it is something to consider I guess. I would've thought the more expensive groupset would be the more expensive to put right but maybe it doesn't work that way? Hopefully won't happen but you never know I suppose.

I'm guessing that as it's a new bike it should have the newer Claris that won't have the thumb shifters but I'll need to ask the question. No idea what they look like anyway

vonhelmet wrote:

I moved from 2300 to Claris 2400 and it's miles better having the proper dual control levers. A move to Sora 3500 would get you some weight saving and an extra gear, but probably not that much in terms of finesse and certainly very little in terms of actual benefit when riding. If it was my £100 I'd be looking at upgrading the wheels.

I do want to try & upgrade other bits if possible but smooth as possible shifting is pretty important which is why I was asking.

£100 will get me some other goodies if I don't have to spend it on the Sora. If it really isn't that noticeable in everyday riding Claris could do me just fine. It seems to get decent reviews anyway but I'd rather get hear from people who've actually used it over a period of time.

gmac101 wrote:

I have 2300 STI levers with the thumb shifters and how annoying you'll find them depends on your cycling. They mean that you can't move the rear dérailleur up and the front down from the drops. If instant changes from the drops are important to you they will drive you mad. I commute on my bike and spend most of the time on the hoods it's not much of a problem. When I get down on the drops it's on longish straights and I know what gear I want before I start.

I do mostly the same as you so don't use the drops much.

From what I've read online the thumb shifters aren't very popular.

That's what I'd rather spend it on if I'm honest

If Claris is on a par or even slightly worse than Sora I'd rather spend the money elsewhere but if we're talking a big difference it's a no brainer for me.

Good to hear everyones opinions though.

From what I can see the Claris has dual control levers & not the thumb shifters although I'm not 100% sure what the thumb shifters look like?

Are they really that bad?