Thoughts on Specialized Dolce – Sora vs Tiagra

[vvill]

@dbb 111007 wrote:

Posting for a friend.

She is deciding between

Specialized Dolce Sport EQ $1050 Shimano Sora

Specialized Dolce Elite EQ $1250 Shimano Tiagra

Here is the comparison:
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/womens-road/compare/#/1268-15Dolce-15DOLCEDolceEliteC2EQ/1268-15Dolce-15DOLCEDolceSportC2EQ/

Does this assembled group think the upgrade from Sora to Tiagra is worth the $200 upcharge?

The frames are labeled as different classes of aluminium, so I would say “yes”. Assuming she rides the bike a good number of miles over it’s lifetime.

Also with 9 speed vs 10 speed, 10 speed will have a little more resale value (but not that much given 11 speed is the norm now).

Personally I think the better paint scheme is worth at least $50! (Not a fan of white bikes.)

Not sure I want a seat bag that gives you mini wedgies though.

[DismalScientist]

What is she planning to do with the bike? You can get a full carbon bike with 105s for less:
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/fuji/fuji_sl1.htm
(small sizes only) It probably wouldn’t make a good commuter, but then again neither would the Specializeds.

[americancyclo]

@vvill 111013 wrote:

The frames are labeled as different classes of aluminium, so I would say “yes”. Assuming she rides the bike a good number of miles over it’s lifetime.

Also with 9 speed vs 10 speed, 10 speed will have a little more resale value (but not that much given 11 speed is the norm now).

Personally I think the better paint scheme is worth at least $50! (Not a fan of white bikes.)

Not sure I want a seat bag that gives you mini wedgies though.

plus Zertz!

[dkel]

@DismalScientist 111015 wrote:

What is she planning to do with the bike? You can get a full carbon bike with 105s for less:
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/fuji/fuji_sl1.htm

Bikesdirect looks like a great resource! How come you’ve never mentioned it before? :rolleyes:

[Crickey7]

I’m running Tiagra on my new Specialized, at least till it wears out. I’ve been quite happy with it. Crisp, accurate shifts, 10 speeds and it’s holding up so far with around 2 k miles. I’d go for the upgrade.

[Drewdane]

Option 3: a bike from a company that isn’t run by jerks in thrall to their legal department. :p

[ebubar]

I ride 9 speed sora. Got 3000+ miles last year before a car took out my frame. Replacement bike has Sora as well and they work fine for me!

[dkel]

@Crickey7 111054 wrote:

I’m running Tiagra on my new Specialized, at least till it wears out. I’ve been quite happy with it. Crisp, accurate shifts, 10 speeds and it’s holding up so far with around 2 k miles. I’d go for the upgrade.

This, but almost 4000 miles on mine.

[Jason B]

One of the people I work with purchased a bike from BikesDirect and asked another teacher and I to put it together for her. True, it did have 105’s, and on paper it did look great. Unfortunately, I was surprised how cheap every other part other than the 105 group was. The wheels were absolutley awful, and we had to send them back for they had two cracks in the rims, and were way out of tru. The crank was not 105, and it was pretty close to the cheapest crank i had ever seen. The bars, tubes and stem appeared to be made out of iron. The bike weighed a ton. In all honesty, this is the only bike I have ever come in contact with from BikeDirect and it may have been just a bad one. But i also have to think that a number of people who purchase their bikes may be swayed by the group and the frame material and may not realize all the other ways they are cutting corners to offer such cheap bikes. After finishing the bike, we both agreed it was the worst new bikes we worked on.
I am not saying they are all bad bikes, but really do your research with them and look at all the components. Also, have an experienced person look it over before you ride, for there was no way she would have noticed the cracked rims.
BTW, to their credit, they replaced the rims pretty quickly,,,,,,with another set of awful wheels.

[Greenbelt]

I don’t know where this discussion started but I’ll thrown in a meaningless anecdote. The 3×9 Tiagra on my commuter/tourer is now getting close to 30k miles on it, mostly on a pretty dirty all-weather commute and under the ownership of a rider who maybe sprays it off once a month. Still shifts click click click after all that time.

Bike is on its 2nd pair of wheels, probably 5th chain, 2nd set of brakes, probably 3rd set of brake rotors. But the stock derailleur shifts on.

[Greenbelt]

@Jason B 111086 wrote:

One of the people I work with purchased a bike from BikesDirect and asked another teacher and I to put it together for her. True, it did have 105’s, and on paper it did look great. Unfortunately, I was surprised how cheap every other part other than the 105 group was. The wheels were absolutley awful, and we had to send them back for they had two cracks in the rims, and were way out of tru. The crank was not 105, and it was pretty close to the cheapest crank i had ever seen. The bars, tubes and stem appeared to be made out of iron. The bike weighed a ton. In all honesty, this is the only bike I have ever come in contact with from BikeDirect and it may have been just a bad one. But i also have to think that a number of people who purchase their bikes may be swayed by the group and the frame material and may not realize all the other ways they are cutting corners to offer such cheap bikes. After finishing the bike, we both agreed it was one of the worst new bikes we worked on.
I am not saying they are all bad bikes, but really do your research with them and look at all the components. Also, have an experienced person look it over before you ride, for there was no way she would have noticed the cracked rims.
BTW, to their credit, they replaced the rims pretty quickly,,,,,,with another set of awful wheels.

Yah, component groups are heavily advertised, but a good frame and decent wheelset combined with low-end components probably going to give a lot more enjoyment than a bad bike with Ultegra! My wife sees this a lot at the bike shop with Internet bikes that have great shifting components but otherwise have mediocre or weird frames that were never going to fit and suit the rider correctly and lots of breakable parts.

[DismalScientist]

@Jason B 111086 wrote:

One of the people I work with purchased a bike from BikesDirect and asked another teacher and I to put it together for her. True, it did have 105’s, and on paper it did look great. Unfortunately, I was surprised how cheap every other part other than the 105 group was. The wheels were absolutley awful, and we had to send them back for they had two cracks in the rims, and were way out of tru. The crank was not 105, and it was pretty close to the cheapest crank i had ever seen. The bars, tubes and stem appeared to be made out of iron. The bike weighed a ton. In all honesty, this is the only bike I have ever come in contact with from BikeDirect and it may have been just a bad one. But i also have to think that a number of people who purchase their bikes may be swayed by the group and the frame material and may not realize all the other ways they are cutting corners to offer such cheap bikes. After finishing the bike, we both agreed it was the worst new bikes we worked on.
I am not saying they are all bad bikes, but really do your research with them and look at all the components. Also, have an experienced person look it over before you ride, for there was no way she would have noticed the cracked rims.
BTW, to their credit, they replaced the rims pretty quickly,,,,,,with another set of awful wheels.

I’ve found this to be more of a problem with bikes from Nashbar, rather than BikesDirect. In any case, the website fully specs out the bikes. This would be more of an issue with the Motobecane, Windsor, and Mercier-branded bikes. The bike I post a link to was a 2011 Fuji that was presumably discounted because of its age.
I think that the difference between component groups is largely BS for the average riders, which is why I asked how the bike was going to be ridden. I have bikes with 40 year old derailleurs and they still work fine. If the bike is ridden casually, I would not pay extra for more cogs in the rear, as they just make replacement more expensive when they wear out.

[mstone]

Just on the face of the question with no other information I’d say no. For most riders the group doesn’t matter. But that’s a terrible answer. What kind of riding is the bike for? How experienced is the rider? Why are these two the choices? (It’s only a couple hundred more to go up the line, and a couple hundred less to go down. For a new rider I’d rather have the cheaper triple.) In theory the frame differences could affect the ride, or they could be unnoticeable. Has she ridden both?

[Crickey7]

If you have the means, you won’t regret spending more for the Tiagra.

I’m a believer in the principle that you should not buy the top or the bottom component group.

[mstone]

@Crickey7 111118 wrote:

I’m a believer in the principle that you should not buy the top or the bottom component group.

Agree, but sora isn’t exactly the bottom. It’s a well manufactured part from a respectable company and approximately in the middle of their line. The bottom of their index shifting road line is the A050, then the A070, then the 2200, then the 2300, then the claris, and only then the sora. Even the A050 works, and shifts, and can be a cost effective part for someone on a budget or perfectly fine for an occasional rider. (Cue jokes about the guy who spends ten grand on a bike for the garage.) Some people even prefer to not have shifting on the brakes. (Cue plugs for bar end and downtube shifters.) Modern sora is something that the pros would have killed for on the tour thirty years ago. It’ll shift reliably for many thousands of miles, doesn’t cost too much up front, and uses relatively inexpensive consumables. Bike forums tend to be awfully self-selected groups of people who love to get more bike stuff and trend very much away from the A050 end of the product line. And that’s all good if that’s your thing. But I think it’s really important to understand what the buyer is looking for in a bike and consider what makes sense for them rather than assuming what makes sense for a dedicated bike enthusiast. (And this forum isn’t as bad as some, where there would have already been a couple of replies from people stating that nobody should ever ride anything less than ultegra because everything else is basically painful.) The focus on group sets is because 1) it’s easy to distinguish product lines on a spec sheet 2) it’s easy to hit price points in the product line. Reality is that you’d have to do a really tremendously unusual amount of shifting before the shifters outweigh the tires, frame, saddle, and bars in determining how the bike works for you. I even hear that there are people who ride bikes without shifting!

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