Bicycle Build

A year after building my beautiful, custom Waterford I'm....uh...building another. The Waterford, oddly shaped tho it may be, fits me perfectly, so I'm building a second one with S&S couplers for travel (optimism: the economy will improve). No more ill-fitting rentals for me.

Since the bike is for travel (think TSA and baggage handlers) and will only see 500-1000 miles per year, I pulled back some on the components--Veloce, not Chorus; no carbon. The wheels are the same as her big sister's--don't skimp on the wheels, y'all say.

But, my conundrum....the build quote is for Shimano 105 cranks. Should I spring to take the crank to Ultegra? My rule of thumb that I've learned over the years here is "don't skimp on the rolling parts". My logic says that includes the crank, bottom bracket and pedals, not just the wheels. Is my logic flawed and the 105 cranks are fine or should I spring the $100 and go with Ultegra? Opinions?

I've had the same dilemma between choosing ultegra and 105 brakes for my winter bike, and my lbs convinced me that performance was the same between both, just the finish was different. I bet for what you need, 105 is the way to go.

I've never had anything Ultegra level, I can't spin fast enough to justify it. In all honesty, I can't feel any difference in my full 105 Felt 70 and my mixed bag home build with Sugino cranks. I would spend on the BB, but the cranks (unless very heavy) aren't going to make that much difference. On a touring bike where you set your own pace I would think 105 would be fine, I've done several centuries (solo as well as group) on mine.

I, personally, think 105 will do just fine for a bike that's only going to see 500 to 1000 miles of touring (not racing, right?) a year. Have you looked at the specs for each to determine what the difference between the two cranks actually is?

I'm confused though. You mention Campy Veloce and Chorus in the same post. Are you building this bike up with Shimano or Campy or a mixture of both?

My LBS prefers the Shimano cranks over the Campy triple crank (Campy's down to one). We talked about using FSA on my original Waterford, but, sigh, I simple had to go with silver so we put on Ultegra.

From a visual appeal, the Shimano cranks are lovely with their smooth lines; the LBS really felt strongly on the Shimano over the Campy triple; and, well, the egalitarian in me kinda likes the fact that my bike is not polarized--it is neither Campy nor Shimano--it is both!

When I looked at the specs, they read the same. Shimano didn't list weight, but I found a site that said the 105 is actually lighter, but that the Ultegra is better material and stiffer. If I was tooling up and down the MUP, I'd say that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the 105 and Ultegra crank, but on vacation we climb mountains. Under load is crank stiffness noticeable to a plodder when you've dropped to the lowest gear and are at 50-60RPMs? So, no racing, but climbing.

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Originally Posted by Thorn

My LBS prefers the Shimano cranks over the Campy triple crank (Campy's down to one). We talked about using FSA on my original Waterford, but, sigh, I simple had to go with silver so we put on Ultegra.

From a visual appeal, the Shimano cranks are lovely with their smooth lines; the LBS really felt strongly on the Shimano over the Campy triple; and, well, the egalitarian in me kinda likes the fact that my bike is not polarized--it is neither Campy nor Shimano--it is both!

When I looked at the specs, they read the same. Shimano didn't list weight, but I found a site that said the 105 is actually lighter, but that the Ultegra is better material and stiffer. If I was tooling up and down the MUP, I'd say that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the 105 and Ultegra crank, but on vacation we climb mountains. Under load is crank stiffness noticeable to a plodder when you've dropped to the lowest gear and are at 50-60RPMs? So, no racing, but climbing.

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I have the Campy Comp triple, i.e., the one that Campy is down to. I'm curious as to why your LBS prefers the Shimano crank over it. I like it; it was a big improvement over the Sugino crank that came standard on my Bianchi. However, and this is a big however, for me, the Q-factor is too wide and it's not the right crank for me. I'm about to begin my own custom build project, and the crank will likely be a difficult choice. I'm going with Campy compact, I think, unless my LBS sells me on a different triple.

If climbing is an issue, then I'd go with an Ultegra. How much difference in price is it?

The price difference is around $100 and right now the quote is smaller than budget (woohoo!), but there are also a bunch of S&S gadgets not in the quote (e.g., spacers, TSA-friendly net, etc). So I have some room for trade offs, but not a lot.

I never was really told their reasoning on the Campy triple--it seemed to be a "bang for the buck" issue in the original quote. And, when we started talking Shimano the geeky feeling of my bike not be religious swayed me so that I never really asked. Sorry--not much help. Given how I beat the poor guy up over every other component, now that I think about it, I gave in pretty quick on the crank.

I thought this build was going to be easier, but I think I'll still be playing 20 questions with the shop. Poor guys...they really earn their money.

Won't you save a LOT of money if you just buy a gruppo, even if some of the components might not be your first choice?

I have Ultegra for my Luna and 105 for my Bike Friday (my travel bike). I can't tell a difference. However, I am not willing to go below the 105 level.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Won't you save a LOT of money if you just buy a gruppo, even if some of the components might not be your first choice?

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You know, that's what I had always read, but no quote from this guy is ever a gruppo. Yet his quote prices are competitive. I think that if I were to go with a double, then the Campy gruppo would be cheaper, but the minute you go triple on Campy, you break the group.

The other thing is that the LBS dude is a good scavenger. When I built up a Surly Pacer as a winter bike, I had a tight price range. He managed to build up a $1500 bike for $1000 by watching computer sales on the parts. My Pacer is a much, much nicer bike than I thought I'd get.

I found this bike shop on a recommendation from Waterford. While run by a bunch of youngin's, it has a old-school flare. Sure, you can by the bike off the floor, but don't let that stop your dreams.

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I think that if I were to go with a double, then the Campy gruppo would be cheaper, but the minute you go triple on Campy, you break the group.

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Yep. If you want a triple Campy setup, you have to pay for the components individually, which in our case meant that the bike shops didn't even want to do it. (I think it's hard for them to even make a profit on Campy these days without making it unreachably expensive.) We wound up going NOS for my new bike for this reason (plus we had some unused parts lying around anyway). I was able to buy my wheels locally but everything else I bought on eBay.

My understanding is that chorus and ultegra level components give you the biggest bang for the buck, in terms of quality, performance and weight vs price. You pay a lot to get a little more w record and durace, but then I think you lose a lot ore for the price savings when you go down to ultegra, at least that's what the fellow that built by custom crank set told me (and he is a biomechanicist for the cycling stars).

Given that you are springing for another custom bike, I would guess the diff in price between 105 and ultegra is a small percentage of the total bill on this bike. If it were me I'd go ultegra all the way, or for you if you really like campy shifters ultegra/chorus. I think you'll enjoy it more, especially in the mountains. If you wanted to save $ you could have had your present bike retrofitted with s/s couplers. I did that and was very pleased with the result (bilenky did it for me).

If you're concerned about price, you might also consider not getting a set of wheels for the new bike, but instead just using the ones you have on your other Waterford. Since you won't be riding the new bike most of the time, there's no reason that you need a dedicated set of wheels for it.

Just a thought on something you didn't ask any advice on! :p