Price Paid:  $0.00

Favorite Ride:
fast street and also mountain witth MTB

Summary:
105 is still a fine thing if you don´t wanna get to high in pricing. i bought a used KTM racing bike 2 years ago and the 105 still works very fine.I didnt have to sort my balls from streets. In china they have only Tiagra..but i didnt know it. now i heard some bad about it.. so i should bring in everything from my home..where my nice bikes are waiting for me

Price Paid:  $0.00

Favorite Ride:
Fast Ride

Summary:
You get what you pay for...

Strengths:
Not Many!

Weaknesses:
Too Many!

Price Paid:  $0.00 at Champaign Cycle Co.

Favorite Ride:
30MPH. Till I Can't pedal anymore. :)

Bike Setup:
Trek 1200, all 105, Bonty wherever it came stock, Matrix Aurora wheels, upgrades in random places

Summary:
I bought this as an upgrade from my Giant MTB with Alivio... surprise surprise this was alot faster. but jeez guys, dont get tiagra. i got it, started roadbiking, and soon biking wasnt a means of commuting - i got hooked. next thing you know i've chucked over money to go 105, and im cursing myself for the tiagra. It's horrid. Front derailleur doesnt even pretend to shift under stress... actually it doesnt shift even when you're pedaling with zero resistance; if i was shifting into the second chainring, it would go straight from the third to off the bottom, scraping against the bottom bracket and all. jeez. like, this doesnt happen at 30mph. this happens at 14. when im wearing blue jeans and a hoody (so you know i cant be going fast). DONT get Tiagra. Get 105.

Strengths:
Good enough to get you hooked. Contrary to what other people say, i've had zip problems with the shifters, ridden 105/Ultegra shifters, not ne different other than one minor difference that doesnt affect riding, (hard to explain), only noticed a diff w/ Campy or DA shifters.

Weaknesses:
Shifts like crap, flexes, heavy, slow, needs adjustment every 50 miles... or less (no joke)

Similar Products Used:
105 9, Ultegra 9, Ultegra 10, DA 9, DA 10, Campy Centaur, Veloce, Record (all 10), and Shimano/SRAM MTB stuff... oh and RSX

Price Paid:  $0.00 at Local Bike Ship

Favorite Ride:
Kentucky rolling hills

Bike Setup:
Trek 1200
Shimano R540 wheels
Ultegra group

Summary:
When I first bought my road bike, I was not sure how seriously I would get into the sport. Because of this, there was now way I could swallow 2000 plus for the Ultegra bike the LBS recommended. This being said, the cycling bug bite me, and now I train at levels for which the tiagra group is unsuited. I second others observations that shifting while appling much force, hill climbing or sprinting, is a no no. This shift will be hard and feels disconcerting.
Review by Component:
Rear Derailler
For all other situations other than the above hills and sprints, the rear derialler performed very well. This is the star of the group. Too bad that on many mixed group bikes in this price range, they upgrade the rear derailler to 105 and leave Tiagra every where else.
Front Derailler
The front derailler, was not so great, and from the start needed weekly adjustments in cable tension. This I believe is due to a very high strength spring. The cables simply could not maintain the tension needed to uses the large chain ring without chain rub. Not a terrible flaw, but somewhat of an annoyance to check on so often.
Crankset
The crankset seems also mediocre. It has a heavy sluggish feel when pedalling hard and under my weight, 170, it flexes noticably. For any speed over 25mph, I am applying sufficient force to create chain rub against the front derailler guides. I have tried my best to remove this by adjusting the angle of the front derailler to accomodate it, but have never been successful. Durability seems to be good as it has gone 3000 miles this year with only normail where. The steel chain rings are developing some rust spots even though the bike is kept well lubed and indoors.
Shifters:
Ahh, the shifters. So nice to get true STI shifting for cheap, but these are the limiters of the group. The rear shifter just when out on me. One years worth of use is simple not acceptable!

Strengths:
Rear Derailler! My local mechanic, who has seem me in his shop to adjust the front derailler too many times. The price. If I were just buying my first bike again, I would probably still buy a tiagra bike. I know that everyone else will tell you to fork out the money for a better system upfront, which is cheaper but only if you leave the recreational category. Everything that the LBS told me came true, it can't be raced, and it won't last as long. But how are you supposed to know that you will want to race or want to put 150 miles a week on your bike with your first bike. This is an excellent system for a first bike, much superior to sora, and unless you become an adrenaline junky your first year, should serve you long enough to decide what type of cyclist your are going to be. Having 600 dollars sitting in the closet is better than 2000. So unless you are so positive that you are going to be riding even day, in all conditions, dont be afraid a bike with this group.

Weaknesses:
Perhaps I was just an anomoly or taxed them to hard, but if my experience with the durability of the shifters is typical, that is a serious weakness. Paticularly since shifters make up such a large proportion a groups cost. The crank is only mediocre for fast riding.

Similar Products Used:
Only other Shimano MTB groups. This was my first road bike

Price Paid:  $800.00 at Jay's Pedal Power, P

Favorite Ride:
Wisahickon

Bike Setup:
2003 Redline Conquest
(stock except for....)
Ultegra drivetrain
Easton seatpost
Selle Italia saddle
Shimano STX Cantis w/custom wide yoke
King headset
Tektro top levers

Summary:
I puchased the Redline Conquest w/ Tiagra drivetrain primarily to reduce the wear and tear of a 15 mile daily commute on my 70's Zeuz with Triplex drivetrain so this was a 25 year upgrade. The Tiagra drivetrain with STI at first worked well. The STI was like using a new toy. Clickity click! However due to the mileage I log over various terrain and 4 season weather, this groupo soon showed it was being used ouside of it's intentions. Tiagra, from my experience, is perfect for riders who log less that 30 miles a week over flat land on nice sunny days. Under my commuting riding conditions it has shifted well for me except for in Winter slop, and steep hills. Adjustment was not needed and there was not any real problem with general performance during commuting until the miles piled up. Unfortunately for me, from the start, when this grouppo was strained by riding off road, climbing hills, or flat out hammering, it upshifted sluggishly and there were annoying gear slams while shifting. Skipping more than 1 gear, shifting uphill or while sprinting, and using offroad is a no-no with this groupo. Under these conditions it's poor at best. As for durability, a deraileur pulley broke after 4 months. It was replaced with another shimano. Then they both broke after 3 more months. I installed alloy sealed replacements and they have been fine. (I had the same problem with the shimano pulley in my Surly singulator.) Durability then was fine till about 3000 miles when the both derailleurs began to perform poorly reguardless of riding conditions. They required adjustments every 50 to 100 miles. (I guess the springs were shot?) I then installed in-line barrel adjusters to tweak shift imperfections on the fly, It worked well enough to hold me over while I saved for a replacement grouppo. I recently installed Ulterga, and so far, so good. None of the problems I encountered with the Tiagra grouppo have surfaced after 2000 miles. If I was using the Tiagra grouppo for JUST COMMUTING I'm positive I would rate it at least a 4 in performance, not 5 because of it's struggle with hills and occasional slop and a 5 on value because of STI, flight deck, it's compatibility with higher Shimano groupos, and it's price.

Strengths:
Great grouppo for the recreational cyclist that doesn't log serious miles or put a lot of strain on their bike. The finish is excellent, the grouppo looks like it should perform, but then again I clean and tune my bike after every ride so I can't tell you if it takes to neglect well like old Suntour stuff. The finish has also been able to withstand it's share of sticks and stones. The STI and Flight Deck feature on an entry level groupo at this price is great, I now like STI better that my barend shifters. Even if they are made of plastic, the shifters were durable enough to survive all my crashes and bails intact while I learned cyclocross dismounts and techniques, slid on ice or wet pavement, been bumped off by cars, or that one day, as a show off, I attemped a rocky decent meant only for mountain bikes, while I rode singletrack in Wissahickon with some friends. I can also now use the Tiagra shifters if my current shifters are damaged because of it's compatibility with Ulterga.

Weaknesses:
Tiagra doesn't like high miles, hard work, dirt, water, mud, or road grime . The derailleur pulleys are awful and should be replaced before they fail. Plastic shifters flex under strain which feels cheap and uncomforting.
This grouppo should have never come on a cyclocross bike! As my ability on this bike increased the limitations of this groupo were magnified. A hard core racer would kill his mechanic if he found this groupo installed on their bike. Ha Ha Ha. Not that I'm gonna race or anything, but if you push yourself and your bike don't do what I did. Do yourself a favor and spend the cash for better components up front. But then again this groupo was supposed to be only for commuting.

Similar Products Used:
This is my first shimano drive train on any of my bikes. This is also my first "modern" groupo. Everything else I ride is either single speed, SRAM(MTB), or vintage European friction shifters.