Dura Ace R9150 vs. Ultegra R8050 —Is DA Worth It?

Triathlon Forum
1

I am planning an electronic upgrade to my time trial bike, and it looks like the only part differences between an Ultegra and Dura Ace kit just 3 parts: brake lever shifters, front derailleur, and rear derailleur. The rest of the parts all appear to be common to both sets. The total cost difference for these three is $500, based on best available internet prices I have found.

So, my question is: is there much value that might justify Dura Ace for some (or all) of these three? For example, are there intangible differences for any of these three, such as sounds better, shifts faster, feels better, etc. about Dura Ace that you might say “yeah, that part is worth the extra cash.”

Here’s the quick comparison. At a glance, it seems like $500 buys 80g weight savings. Unless there is some serious magic with the DA, as much as I like DA, I cannot make any sense of it.
Brake Shifters – $180 more – 14g lighterFront Derailleur – $125 more – 28g lighterRear Derailleur – $195 more – 38g lighter

2

No.

3

no…

on a non-TT maybe because I really prefer DA levers over Ultegra.

4

The dura ace will run longer with more precision.
If you ride far or intend to keep it for a while it will simply work better for longer.
Materials and coatings.

5

It depends but only if you will feel inferior and judged lesser for having Ultegra or you just want a bike with all the best shit you can buy on it like I do. Performance will be exactly the same.

6

absolutely not.

7

We fount that the rear derailleur has a little less play in it, which results in a slightly better shift, but Ultegra is still awesome!

8

Crankset is also different. I gotta admit, having just had this debate with myself for the last 2 months while building a road bike…I went with dura ace. I should have bought Ultegra. I planned to buy Ultegra. At the last second I was seduced by the luscious looks of the all black dura ace group going on a matte black frame. Ultegra 8050 is sick.

9

I would think crankset and brake calipers would be the biggest difference… weight saving and stiffness/performance. I’d opt for DA with those 2 components.

10

I think the DA crankset and chainrings are supposed to shift a little better as well. Just something I’ve heard, no experience with it myself.

11

No. Shift quality is the same.

12

Building a new bike with similar decisions.
I had the previous version Ultegra Di2 on my SC, has worked flawless.

For my new build, I’m using my existing di2 brake/shift levers (ST-6871) and existing aero extension shifters (SW-R671). I see no value in ‘upgrading’ those.
Purchasing the new Ultegra R8050 front and rear derailleurs, and likely the Dura Ace R9100 cranks for the simple reason I love how they look. And likely putting absolute black chainrings on it. Optimized chain from Primier. Oh, also buying the new version of the internal cylinder battery which I believe adds bluetooth connection and the syncro thing if you want it (I don’t).

Cheers

13

Thank you everyone for the posts. This truly helped a ton. I love DA, and was leaning strongly in that direction. But long ago, I think there was a much difference DA and Shimano’s penultimate tier. I was wondering if there was some magic beyond 14g, but it doesn’t seem to be. I will be following the fiscally responsible Ultegra path.

I agree that there is value in the brakes and crankset for DA. I put DA brakes on my road bike. (I happen to have a SRAM Red crankset on my tri bike that I prefer over either Shimano crank. I may put a DA crank on my road bike.)

I am leaning toward the Ultegra FD and brake shifters. I am contemplating DA RD, since the RD gets all of the action. I am also considering the old two-button Ultegra brake shifters to do a hybrid synchro setup like Kiley’s.

My last bit is to just order it all now…

And, I will probably use the cash savings to put SRAM eTap on my road bike, rather than just upgrade its old 105 mechanical with the Ultegra mechanical from my tri bike.

14

Any suggestions for shops to find the best price on the Ultegra setup? I don’t need crankset, just the shifters, RD and FD, and connectors and junction boxes to make it work…

15

Any suggestions for shops to find the best price on the Ultegra setup?
I have not found anyone with a great price on a TT upgrade kit as a package. Everything I have found so far was for a road bike upgrade kit. So, I just googled each part and found the best online bike store for each. The top contenders were Bikeinn.com, Probikekit, and Ribble. I plan to contact a few of them (including Wiggle, Jenson USA, and Competitive Cyclist) to see if they can make up a discounted package for me. Also, I plan to contact MyBikeShop.com as well to see what they can do (I already have a relationship with MyBikeShop through other recent purchases).