Zen, it cost about $430 to do the necessary stuff. Cranks, derailleurs, shifters, cassette, chain. I still had my old 105 brakes and levers which are in primo good shape but I got a set of short reach tektro levers cuz I liked the ergos better. I never liked the pointy Shimano ones and now I can reach the brakes from the drops! My wheels are ancient but the 600 hubs are sooooo smooth and fast, I can't see getting rid of them.

Mad, the reason I chose SRAM is because my hubby had just built a bike from the frame up with the same basic setup and, well.....monkey see, monkey do. I have ridden all three and I like the SRAM and Campy better than the Shimano, for no particular reason. As for being worried about switching to a compact, we just switched our tandem over from a triple and so far so good. We live in a valley so everything is up and with 10 in the rear, we have just as many gear options without all the extra shifts. I considered a triple during the upgrade but looked at the numbers and went compact. No complaints, wouldn't change a thing. (unless I in the lottery)

Good luck on your upgrades!

Brenda