9-Speed Older 105 vs. 10-Speed Newer 105

[VeloVT]

Starfish,
I have the following:
1) 27sp (triple/9sp) 105 on my cx bike
2) 27sp Ultegra on my current (soon to be sold) road bike
3) 20 sp (double/10sp) Ultegra ( & Ultegra SL cranks) on my new, as yet unfitted/road-tested roadie

I think you will notice the difference between 105 and Ultegra more in weight than in shifting quality. I find the rear shifting between my 9sp Ultegra and 9sp 105 to be pretty comparable. It's funny, given that everyone says that rear der. is more important than front, but I have noticed much more difference in shifting quality between my 105 triple and my Ultegra triple IN THE FRONT than in the rear. The Ultegra seems to be easier to tune properly and holds a tune indefinitely, whereas I've had much more difficulty with bad shifting on my 105 triple. This is not a shifting technique issue; it's not **just** dropping the chain shifting into the granny (I actually never use the 28t granny on my cx bike and am seriously considering switching to a compact crank for that reason), it's just harder to get into tune -- they'll adjust it, and it still hesitates and takes to forever to shift from big ring to middle ring, for instance, and once they've finally got it it seems to go out of tune faster. I don't have an equivalent problem with my Ultegra triple (which, adjusted properly, doesn't drop the chain shifting into the granny either).

However, I don't know if you can make a fair comparison between my two bikes. First off, both have Shimano front derailleurs, but neither has Shimano cranks (Sugino on the cx, FSA on the old roadbike), and my shop guys tell me the tolerances between non-proprietary cranks and Shimano der's are not perfectly calibrated, and probably differ between manufacturers. Furthermore, not sure what impact this could have, but I have an 11-23 rear cluster on the Ultegra bike and an 11/32 on the Bianchi (105 cx bike). This makes a significant difference in chain length/chain angle, which must affect shifting somehow...

I think you should think about this in terms of whether, if you buy 105, you will eventually want to upgrade. If you think you will be happy with 105 for as long as you have the bike, by all means get it and save some $$$. If you view it as a temporary compromise, and think that you'll eventually be upgrading piece by piece, you should seriously consider buying Ultegra or DA when you purchase the bike, because it will be cheaper.