my new bike?

[laura*]

I would be concerned about laura*'s comment about the parts -- if they put lower grade ones that those promised, I'd be upset. It can be a mistake (when I bought mine, they put the wrong pedals, but swapped them right away after checking the original order).

ETA: Re the components, if they upgraded the shifters and rear derailleur to 105 and downgraded the front derailleur and cranks, perhaps it is fair deal? I'd look up the values and I'm sure others here can provide some guidance on fairness...

I checked the tech docs for the FC-R453 cranks. They are 9 speed cranks! (And older technology Tiagra level.) This leads to the question of how many speeds is the bike: 9 speed or 10 speed? (27 total or 30 total.) The R453 cranks may or may not work properly with a 10 speed chain.

For usability, it doesn't really matter if the bike is 9 speed or 10 speed. However, today I'd be afraid of getting a new build 9 speed bike. About the time that the brifters wear out, you might not be able to get new ones! You might be forced to buy an entire new groupset of whatever is current production at that time.

(A while back there was a woman here with a lovely older 7 speed Terry bicycle with worn out components. Shimano no longer sells 7 speed brifters nor 7 speed road bike cassettes. I think she found some used brifters, but otherwise it could turned into a full bike rebuild.)

If the bike was built as a 9 speed, then the brifters are already obsolete. Tiagra is just now moving to 10 speed - thus 9 speed Tiagra is the old generation. And 9 speed 105 is two generations old.

Laura, Please read these posts on our website - Bike Touring News regarding bike fit and bike size.

Antaresia is the one with the new bike...