Reid Granite upgrade??

[Hastingd]

Hi all,

I bought my Reid Granite in Feb to replace my heavy MTB. I like the granite, but am thinking I should have held out and paid more for something higher spec'd.

The biggest gripes I have are the mess of cables at the front end (purely cosmetic), the shifting between the front 34/50, but more annoying is the 8 speed Claris cassette. The jump between each cog (goes from 11 - 32) is significant, and the shifting is not as smooth as I would like.

The way I see it I have three options. (1) I try and replace the 8 speed cassette with a higher spec 8 speed - any thoughts on where I could get 105 or Tiagra that would be smoother and have a lower range, perhaps 12 - 25? I don't do a lot of climbing so can't see a need for the 32. (2) I reconfigure the rear cassette to a 9 or 10 speed, which would also involve replacing the shifter, cables, bar tape, etc. I don't like the sound if this. (3) I upgrade to something like the new Reid Vantage Endurance 2.0, which includes 105 drivetrain. If this was around in Feb I probably would have spent the extra $300 and got it.

Other than that, I have had to retention all cables twice due to stretching (I think this is normal??) and have replaced the tyres, as they were very prone to punctures.

Thanks,
Darren.

[Duck!]

The easiest (and cheapest!) thing you can do is change the cassette to a tighter range; it'll still be a Claris/Sora unit though, Tiagra was never 8-sp. and 105 hasn't been 8-sp. for about 20 years. The issue you have with the shifting isn't the quality of the cassette, it's simply the fact that a wide-range cassette with relatively few gears dictates larger jumps between each ratio, and a tighter cassette will smooth that out. Likewise the 34/50 on the front, it's a relatively big jump and isn't going to be the smoothest, even with higher spec bits.

Upgrading to 9 or 10-sp. is a relatively easy process as you can use the same derailleurs and crank, just need new chain, cassette and shifters, but it's not a particularly cheap exercise.

[Hastingd]

Thanks Duck. I'll try swapping to a tighter cassette and leave the 34/50 as is for now and see how I go.
Cheers,
Darren.