Giant Defy 3 - is it worth upgrading?

stas

I have a Giant Defy 3 2010 for almost two years now. This is my first road bike. I think, for my level of cycling (3000km a year) it is a decent enough bike - good for commute, ok for sportives.

While trying to get a better ride out of the bike I've upgraded a few things like wheels (aksiums), pedals (keo), saddle and a shorter stem after fitting the bike.

Now I'm thinking I'm not very excited by Sora anymore. The chain rubs on the large ring, the shifting isn't perfect. Tried to tweak it myself, but can't get it to work perfectly.

So the question is: what do I do next? Tweak Sora in the shop and get on with it? Get a better group set (105?)? Or forget about it altogether, and buy a better bike when I outgrow the Defy (if ever)?

Thanks

Crow92

Honestly just bring it to the shop to get the gears fixed, could easily just be a limit screw, cable tension or front derailleur position (or bent chainring...)

Keep your money and save up for a better bike or if you need to do something momentarily cheaper why not get a carbon frame and transfer the parts over from the defy, then at your leisure consider upgrading the parts maybe.

mp31

stas wrote: »

I have a Giant Defy 3 2010 for almost two years now. This is my first road bike. I think, for my level of cycling (3000km a year) it is a decent enough bike - good for commute, ok for sportives.

While trying to get a better ride out of the bike I've upgraded a few things like wheels (aksiums), pedals (keo), saddle and a shorter stem after fitting the bike.

Now I'm thinking I'm not very excited by Sora anymore. The chain rubs on the large ring, the shifting isn't perfect. Tried to tweak it myself, but can't get it to work perfectly.

So the question is: what do I do next? Tweak Sora in the shop and get on with it? Get a better group set (105?)? Or forget about it altogether, and buy a better bike when I outgrow the Defy (if ever)?

Thanks

Off topic slightly but what difference did the Aksiums make over the standard wheels? I'm thinking of doing something similar but also considering Mavic Equipes.

stas

mp31 wrote: »

Off topic slightly but what difference did the Aksiums make over the standard wheels? I'm thinking of doing something similar but also considering Mavic Equipes.

They look WAAAAY better :P

Not sure, mate, they are supposed to be stiffer and have a bit of an air pull, but I'm not sure if I felt that much of a difference which I could tell from just feeling awesome with the new wheels.

MungoMan

Sora is a good mechanically reliable groupset. I had sora for 10 years, never let me down, and the shifting is very accurate when properly adjusted.
Sure, it's only one or two steps up from entry level, and it weighs a few 100 grams more than something cool, but it's still a good mass produced groupset.

The only downsides with Sora is you cant shift to a higher gear when riding in the drops, and the weight.

I ride far more than 3000k per year on bike thats not quite as good as yours.

I'd say you should upgrade if it makes you feel better about your bike, but not because it will make much difference to your riding experience.

stas

Thanks MungoMan. You are right. I absolutely love my bike and can't see how I can swap it for something else. I'll get the Sora fixed.

CptMackey

I was in the exact same situation as you in feb. I saved and bought a new bike with 105 in the front and ultegra in the back. The difference in shifting was massive for me.
I did go from an 8speed sora to a 10 speed ultegra in the back tho.

I also have askiums which were on the trek befor I changed it. They now have a 10speed hub on em for the winter. Really good wheel

stas

CptMackey wrote: »

The difference in shifting was massive for me.

That's the exact same words someone said to me about the Aksiums (apart from "shifting" :P). They are lovely, but maybe I'm not that much of an expert (yet?) to actually feel a lot of difference tbh.

Are you cycling a lot? Any races? I'm trying to understand when the groupset is going to become important and make a big difference.

CptMackey

I'm not racing but the group that I cycle with get up to mischief so it has def helped. Way better for shifting on the drops as you get ready for a sprint. I was going to upgrade but just bought the new bike.

Buy a new shiny bike

Oh ya I'm cycling about 200k a week. Get out when ever I can. Work every second weekend