Top end groupsets for non-racers

[Frankie13]

Buy whatever makes you happy! For me personally I like the engineering part of cycling as well and it gives me lots of pleasure to stop for coffee on a Sunday afternoon and admire my beautiful build up bike with the best components money can buy!
"I do not drink or smoke and only live ones and can't take anything with me"!
I don't give a ...... what other people think I spent my hard earned money on.

[srshaw]

I have DA9000 and don't race, I also also own lots of other 'luxury' products. How many times would someone be asked whether they are a diver wearing a rolex submariner. I'll spend my money on what I like and not worry too much about what others think.

In any case I would think most none pro racers would probably avoid top level kit in case of crashes, but as I said I don't race so I don't know.

[sawyer]

Buy whatever makes you happy! For me personally I like the engineering part of cycling as well and it gives me lots of pleasure to stop for coffee on a Sunday afternoon and admire my beautiful build up bike with the best components money can buy!
"I do not drink or smoke and only live ones and can't take anything with me"!
I don't give a ...... what other people think I spent my hard earned money on.

+1 LoL ... though I do drink

As others have said, if most of your riding is "training" then WTF not enjoy what precious little time you get for your favourite hobby?

The price differential in the big scheme of things, amortised over the years a groupset lasts, is miniscule.

Say Athena vs Record, you'd be talking about saving £5-£10 per month ...

[rossjm11]

I mean, I race and use Record 11. I think that you should buy what you want to buy. If you ride your bike a lot, you will benefit from better shifting, lighter components, and badass points.

End of they day, you do you and don;t worry about it

[too crusty]

2015 Campy Super Record 11spd mechanical.

[Ozrider]

Find new friends who understand your passion.

[shotgun]

It's like asking a guy in a Ferrari if he takes his car to the track and races. If people can afford their passions, so be it.

[g32ecs]

I race but don't think I deserve every bit of gear I have except for the nice bibs I spoil myself on.

I ride Ultegra on my main race bike and Rival on my spare bike. I've raced with the Rival more fyi. It doesn't make a difference while racing. As long as it shifts.

I think what's more important is your gearing and how to execute shifts in a race. Imagine being overgeared on a climb and undergeared on a sprint.

And yes, buy what you want. Screw the Debbie Downers.

[dadoflam08]

Maybe guys who race use more functional groupsets because they don't have the time to take away from training to earn enough to buy a top end groupset. Conversely those who work enough to buy the top stuff don't have enough time to train to become good enough to race - another first world quandry

I'm assuming that the guy criticising the OP is only noticing your kit because he is too slow and always riding behind - I think he's just trying to find a way to slow you down.

I have Campy on all my bikes (SR+SR+SR+Athena+C Record+NR+NR+Gran Sport) - I may not race but I only use the top stuff - there's no way I'm going to waste precious riding time using low tier kit like Shimano and SRAM (I was going to use another smilie emoticon at this point but one per post is enough)

[superdx]

Who cares if you race on it or not? I know people who have DA everything, several sets of Corima/Rolf/Lightweight wheels and top end framesets including Cervelo RCA and BMC Impecs. Their bikes cost more than most cars. And they do race, but are they any good at it? Not even close. Coming in "top 100" out of 300 is not the greatest achievement in a Cat5 race. So should they not run DA and sell off their Corimas and use 105s and RS11 wheels instead?

Participating in a race doesn't make you anymore deserving of a groupset, or any other component on your bike. Buy it because you can, it works better, and you get enjoyment from it.

[Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez]

Being a good wrench and taking care of the bike is the most important, but I would mention that you would get slightly more durability from a higher end groupset/drivetrain, which means once it is adjusted it requires less maintenance, which is always a good point whether you race or just ride for leisure.

Havind had Ultegra and Dura Ace drivetrain and components (pedals), I can tell you Ultegra makes 95% as good as DA but will wear faster or develop a bit of play here and there.
For example, 6600 Ultegra pedals were using a softer aluminium compared to 7800 DA and I had to throw them after one season because the body got chewed and the bearings/spindle developed a bit of play, while the 7800 pedals were good for 3 harder seasons.

[wingguy]

I honestly can't stand when people say shit like that about "you don't need this or that". It's some sort of insecurity on their part.

that makes no sense. if i was building a weight weenie vanity build, i'd go lighweight everything. But for something for day to day usage 105 5800 is all anyone is ever going to need. you genuinely don't need anything more!

It does make sense - because talking about 'need' at all is irrelevant. Why did you decide that 105 is the point where you don't 'need' more? You don't need 105. You don't need gears. Heck, you don't need a bike, you just want one. That's the only criteria - not do you need it, but do you want it?

[kgt]

+1

[Bigger Gear]

It is a pointless argument, but when I was racing I almost always rode Chorus or Ultegra, or a mix of Record/Chorus or DA/Ultegra. For example in the 9spd Shimano era I hated the Ultegra shifters, so I used DA shifters and cranks and Ultegra everywhere else. Ditto for my Campy era, often had Record cranks but Chorus everywhere else. Probably the only years I ever raced with a bike running full top of the line group was when I was on an elite team and it was provided to me. But I remember racing against guys who were buying all their own kit and racing full Record or DA.

Now that I'm a retired racer and can afford whatever I want to ride it is pretty much top-shelf except on my rain bike, which gets a mix of Ultegra/DA 10spd.

[superdx]

I honestly can't stand when people say shit like that about "you don't need this or that". It's some sort of insecurity on their part.

that makes no sense. if i was building a weight weenie vanity build, i'd go lighweight everything. But for something for day to day usage 105 5800 is all anyone is ever going to need. you genuinely don't need anything more!

It does make sense - because talking about 'need' at all is irrelevant. Why did you decide that 105 is the point where you don't 'need' more? You don't need 105. You don't need gears. Heck, you don't need a bike, you just want one. That's the only criteria - not do you need it, but do you want it?

+1