Poll: Upgrade or replace?

Shadowduck

Greetings, Peeps!

I'm currently pootling about mainly on an old Claud Butler Regent tourer-ish type thing, which I bought off e-bay for £100 and ended up preferring to the (significantly more expensive) hybrid which is supposedly my main bike. When I say "old", I'm not sure of her age* but she's old enough to have a lugged 531 frame, downtube shifters, Weinmann brakes, 6 speed cassette and "Handbuilt In England" on the seatstays!

I should soon be in a position to buy something new for around the £700 mark and have been looking at a Dawes Audax Supreme as the nearest thing I can find to a modern version of my darling old Elsie. In an advance fit of buyer's remorse, I now find myself wondering how much difference I'll notice... It'll be nice to have STI shifting and 105 kit, but I could probably upgrade Elsie to that spec with a little effort and a fair bit less cash than buying the Dawes. Ultimately, I suppose it comes down to whether the Dawes' tig-welded 631 frame will be superior to the Claud Butler's lugged 531.

So what d'you think? Is it worth just buying the Dawes, or do I upgrade the old girl?

*A gentleman never asks, and a lady never tells.

meagain

"whether the Dawes' tig-welded 631 frame will be superior to the Claud Butler's lugged 531"

Almost certainly lighter! Better? Not necessarily more "comfortable".

Tough call, personally I THINK I'd go the upgrade route (buy a 2nd hand bike with stuff you want on it, strip it and sell on the frame - seeing as it doesn't matter what size the bought frame is, can often get a very small or a very large quite cheap because of limited market!).

feel

I have a reynolds 531 British Eagle touristique and a £900 alu/carbon road bike and the old steel frame bike is really comfortable and the quality of the lugged frame to my mind is outstanding. About 5 years ago i removed the shifters and upgraded to STIs and it was surprisingly easy to do. I daresay in a few years time i will want another bike, but if one had to be sold it won't be the Eagle

In its time 531 steel was the top material and supposedly reynolds still produce it occasionally for people who still prefer it.

Upgrade 8)

Shadowduck

Ooooh, hadn't thought of a donor bike... Have to give that some thought.

Consensus seems to be that Elsie stays! I've already told her and she seemed quite pleased - hopefully she might stop making that unnerving clunking noise now.

In the hunt for a third path, I may have found a solution to the dilemma - keep Elsie and buy a new bike, just not the Dawes.

The Surosa Audax is around the same price as the Dawes but a tadge bit sportier and looks very nice! That way, with some gradual upgrades to Elsie, I end up with an ally framed "sporty" bike and my classic steel framed tourer. Surosa are my LBS so if I'd be giving them a bit of support too, plus I can get sized in the shop and have a test ride.

I love it when a plan comes together...

fossyant

How about getting the old bike re-painted, and fitted with better components....all depends upon how attached to the bike you are.

I like both my road bikes, so a 'repaint' is on the cards for my 653 training bike !

richardast

I've got a recent aluminium/carbon Felt road bike with 105 kit, which I love.

For my daily commute/winter riding, I recently bought a 25 year old steel framed Raleigh 501 bike which was nothing very special.
Having put on new indexed downtube shifters, Aksium wheels (needed to spread the rear dropouts), saddle, derailleurs and cassette it's like a new bike.

The alu bike is much faster and racier, but the steel bike is no slouch and is so comfortable in comparison. It's true when people say there's nothing quite like the feel of steel.
I quite like the downtube shifters too and I don't feel the need to upgrade them (i'm not planning to race it).

Shadowduck

fossyant wrote:

How about getting the old bike re-painted, and fitted with better components....all depends upon how attached to the bike you are.

The original paint is still in pretty good condition - bit of rust on the dropouts and a few scratches but generally not too bad at all.

richardast wrote:

I quite like the downtube shifters too and I don't feel the need to upgrade them (i'm not planning to race it).

The downtube shifters bother me a lot more than I expected! I used them in my youth without any problems but I've since got used to the luxury of being able to brake and change gear at the same time (or at least without taking my hand off the bars). Unfortunately, upgrading to STI would probably mean upgrading from 6 speed, which would presumably mean new wheels and I'd end up paying a lot more for the upgrades than I did for the bike! Might still be worth it, but not easy to explain to my Darling Wifey.

Another option I'm considering is to pull all the gearchange gubbins off, buy a couple of cogs and a spacer and try her as a singlespeed. She has horizontal(ish) dropouts which I believe are the main requirement, and I could easily convert her back if I don't like it without being down too much money! It'd be a lot cheaper than all the upgrades and having never ridden SS I'm a little curious to see what all the fuss is about?