Is it more economical to buy a groupset in full or buy all the individual components and shop around for best price?

I think it depends – last time I wanted a full 5700 group, minus the brakes and it was cheaper to get a full group and sell on the calipers….. time before that I just wanted some transmission parts (minus cranks) and it worked out marginally cheaper to shop around for the parts than buy a group and split (including the hastle).

Rose are pretty cheap if they have all the cassette/rings/crank options you want, and I see Ribble are still doing 25% off groupsets at the mo.

it depends, if its SRAM its way cheaper going for a complete groupset, if its Shimano its probably cheaper going for seperates as more people stock them and you can pick and choose what you want to spend more on accordingly.

i bought my Sram Force groupset from Shiny Bikes in the sale but if you hunt around you can still get bargains. Planet X were doing some good deals recently. Shiny BIkes are doing Apex for <£400 and Rival for <£500 at the moment and they are nicer to use comapred to SHimano equivilents at that price.

Never look at Campag so i dont know what a good deal is!

you don’t always get all the options in a set. ie. double/ triple, compact/ standard, cassette ratios.

buying an extra cassette etc quickly adds up.

Leftfield idea, buy a complete bike off Rose and sell what you dont need?

Di2 ultegra on merlin £1500
Di2 ultegra, kysrium elite, ritchey WCS and a half decent frame on Rose £2000

Depends what you want really – if sticking to one system e.g. ultegra, 105 etc, probably cheaper and less hassle to buy as a set. Saying that, I built a bike last year with a mix of components and shopped around. Ended up with Record carbon ergos(ebay used), Centuar derailleurs /cassette, Veloce chainset and Shimano 5700? deep drop brakes for a similar price as a complete Veloce groupset.

It will defo be campag and i’m looking at Chorus throughout but i would consider things like a centaur front mech and maybe upgrade to record rear mech. I think the full group is the way to go assuming retailer has the spec (compact crank etc) i want

Leftfield idea, buy a complete bike off Rose and sell what you dont need?

Di2 ultegra on merlin £1500
Di2 ultegra, kysrium elite, ritchey WCS and a half decent frame on Rose £2000

On balance, I think I’d just keep the bike and save the hassle 🙂

Sounds like a right good deal that, though I for one am not yet convinced by Di2.

Di2 Ultegra on merlin is £999

Di2 Ultegra on merlin is £999

<Being Lazy>

Is that for a complete group or just electronic bits to ‘upgrade’ an existing cable-activated bike? Was going to wait for a 105 version and check the harness standard was now fixed, but……..

</Being Lazy>

full groupo

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/road-parts/transmission/groupsets-road-bike/shimano-ultegra-di2-groupset.html