What’s the difference?

Looking to go 10 speed cheaply, and Merlin are selling off 5600 105 kit cheaply. Or for about £100 more a full 5700 groupset.

What are the differences? Will I notice any?

I’ll be changing from 9spd Tiagra (which will be for sale v soon) if that makes any difference?

It’ll maKe you 10mph quicker mate! Na you’ll notice a big difference from your tiagra but not much between 56 and 57, not £100 difference anyways. 8)

It’ll maKe you 10mph quicker mate!

Pah, I was told 15! Don’t know if I’ll bother now… 😉

So what are the differences then? I can’t see any aside from the internal gear cable routing (is it worth it just to tidy the bars up a bit?)…

I think that’s pretty much it, a slightly betterer finish perhaps…..

OK next question…

What wheels that my (not exactly significant) lard arse won’t turn into a soggy mess after only 150 miles?

FWIW I think the shifting/shifters on new 105 feel a lot more solid and precise, but that might have just been my set up.

If you want really tough wheels that aren’t too heavy have a look at Roval Pavees. They look a little odd (massive flange(!)), but I haven’t ridden anything stronger, and I’m pretty hefty.

btw, 5700 (the new 105) is supposed to be a big step up in quality and durability. From what i hear, 5700 is worth it.

(Heard this from people i’ve ridden with and also from a couple of bike shops)

Still, i’m hoping to get 6700 in the next few weeks.

Mboy, if’n yer interested I am selling a brand new 105 STI 10spd shifter setup (internal gear cables), plus I also have brand new 105 rear derailleur and 10spd cassette…. All cheaper than online.

Ultegra 6700 is/was a huge improvement over the 6600. Crisper than crisp gear changes and the 6600 was about as good as it gets IMO. Brakes also seem a lot more powerful. Both my set-ups were done by a top LBS so no monkey wrenching from me involved.

If it were me I would stretch to the 5700 looks much cleaner – but its your money 😆

For brakes, prefer my 6600 brakes with 7800 STI to full 6700, they feel just a tiny bit sharper, but prefer the 6700 STI (which arn’t much different to the 5700’s) to the 7800 STI, keeping all the cable under the bar tape is a big +.

Wheels, there was a topic on this a few days ago, my personal preferance for factory wheels is Fulcrum, cheap, strong, and fairly light, for hand build, 6700 hubs on Open Pros would be nice.

cheers jimc101 for the link to the wheels topic, I was being slightly ironic when I said about my lard arse though… I’m about 78kg, or about 12st 4lb in old money. When I took the bike in because the factory wheels have gone all over the place in no time, and said to the guy “hey I’m not exactly a big powerful rider” he looked me up and down and kinda drew breath, before then his boss stepped in… 😕

Since have researched a lot of roadie kit tends to have an 80kg weight limit, which I’m dangerously close to, and being an MTBer I’m probably not smooth or easy on stuff for my weight!

Would love Open Pro’s on some nice hubs, everything has got so expensive though.

Digger90, drop me an email (in my profile) with some details of what you’re selling…

I swore I’d never use factory wheels, but purely due to cost have just replaced some knackered handbuilts with a cheap pair of Shimano RS30’s from Merlin.
They look awful, but seem to ride very well and have handled potholes and my 13 stone without issue in the week I’ve had them.

No idea about gears, I’m still using 8 speed which works just fine.