Thursday, July 18, 2013

Groupset Straight Talk



The odd truth about bikes is they’re mostly the same.  There are only a few tube sets, only a few component manufacturers, only so many variations on design.  Most of what drives the price of a bike is perception.  You’ll often see bike ads touting their group sets as a price point, but what does that all mean?  There are so many variables, so many hierarchies.  So, presented below are what it would take for you to put together a full group set of the most common marquee brands, when culled entirely from Ebay “buy it now” options. 
                So, some words.  Don’t “buy it now” because you can almost always get it cheaper by bidding.  Also, I don’t think a full group is all that desirable and am much more likely to mix and match to my own tastes and value.  I looked for items that were ready to bolt onto your bike, and leaned to vintage, but group sets were not assembled from the same year or incarnation just simply what it would take to honestly say “full whatever” in a CL ad.  I priced Rear and Front* Deraillers, shifters and brake levers** (or brifters where applicable,) brakes and cranks.  When someone puts up an exorbitantly priced bike heavily promoting the group set subtract these figures to see what you’re really paying for the frame.  This represents a single day looking on ebay so of course prices will vary but I’ll bet not by much, shipping has been included.  And like I said, a SINGLE day on a whim on ebay so don’t ever let anyone say the word rare to you about any of this stuff.   *why there is such a thing as tiered front derailleurs I will never know when a cheapo microshift front mech works just as well as grand jubilee.  **again, what the hell?  Tektro makes my all time favorite most comfortable levers and they’re dirt cheap, sub $20 new.

Campy Chorus – Can be yours for $530.  The brifters wrack up the most at $185, cranks second at $150, rear derailler could be had for $80, brakes $70, and front $45.  A whole group set package was available for $600 including a bottom bracket. 

Super Record - $812.  $350 for the cranks (and you’ll kick yourself in a minute if you buy them), $165 brakes, $140 for rear, $80 front (seriously, madness) $40 levers, $37 shifters.  But a bargain $630 full group was available.

Nuovo Record - $384.  Oddly enough the brakes were the scale tippers at $110, $100 cranks, $60 rear, $45 levers, $35 front, $34 levers. You could either spend $700 on a full package with no cranks or $280 on one with no brakes or levers.

Athena - $357 $105 cranks, $80 brifters, $75 rear, $65 brakes, $32 front.  $1000 for a new in box group package.

Shimano.  There’s lots of trickery with shimano as people have a tendency to use names interchangeably for the group sets that evolved into other groups.  I only allowed parts that were branded as the group I’m looking for:

105- $195.  $47 cranks, $35 shifters, $35 rear, $33 brakes, $30 levers (golden arrow, no less), $15 front (like it should be.)

600- $206  $60 cranks, $48 brakes, $30 shifters (arabesque,) $30 rear, $22 levers, $16 front.  Package deal available for $299.

Dura Ace- $278   $71 cranks, $60 rear, $60 shifter, $50 brakes, $20 front, $17 lever.  Package deal for $485 for the impatient and imprudent.

Ultegra - $305  $150 brifters, $60 brakes, $40 rear, $35 cranks (sometimes it is cheaper to buy it now,) $20 front.  $220 package available minus the cranks. 

Like I said, perception.  Notice the wide price spray, especially the disparity between Campy and Shimano.  I know Shimano isn’t as crafty as Campy but for prices this lopsided you’d expect Shimano to amputate your foot and Campy to get you into Harvard.  And you can hook yourself up with Dura Ace which ranks higher than Ultegra for cheaper.

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