Need to replace a few bits on my road bike – was going to be the usual chain, cassette and chainring switch, but going to need to be a crankset and probably brake calipers too and a bb. So its quickly adding up probably about £300

Is it worth spending a bit more and upgrading the whole groupset instead? It would i guess be another £300 or so. Would i notice an improvement or am i just being lured in by prospect of hidden cables 😀 Unfortunately the pull ratios between 5600/6600 and 5700/6600 have changed so it doesnt make sense to upgrade bit by bit.

You can get a full 105 5700 groupset for under £400 so I’d go with that rather than spending £300 on replacing worn out parts on your current 105 5600. The latest 105 has hidden cables if that’s an important consideration for you.

In my experience there’s no little noticeable difference in performance between the lasest versions of 105 and Ultregra. I guess it’d cost you another £200 to get new ultegra rather than 105 and your paying for a bit of weight saving and the aesthetics rather than any performance gaiin in terms of shifting, etc.

Not a lot of difference between 105 and Ultegra that you would notice in using on a well maintained drivetrain.
Its differnet colour and a bit lighter if thats what you are really after though.

Might just be me being picky, but I’ve never tried a hidden-cable roadbike that didn’t feel like it had dirty worn cables. My 5600 might be flappy and a wee bit unsightly but it does shift lovely because of all those big curves, pointed in the direction they want to go.

but going to need to be a crankset and probably brake calipers too

Why?

I’d stick another 105 casset and chain, maybe chainrings if needed, and new inner and outer cables everywhere. If that’s more than £100 you’re shopping in the wrong places.

New ultegra (probably) this year anyway following DA last year.

Agreed! My 7800 still outshifts and 7900 I’ve tried. They tried too hard to get the cables under the bars, compromised the routing.

Thanks for the advice going to stick with 5600. Wouldnt want to spend extra money for worse shifting performance.

Why?

Crank came loose and now it wont go back on as the splines are chewed up. 🙁