Is this worth the upgrade?

andy83

Ok so my main road bike has done around 8000 miles since i bought it, 6000 this year alone. I have recently replaced the brakes, wheels, cassette and bb

however wanted to replace the headset, cranks, shifters and deraillers. I was going to do this mid august but is this too late considering the roads will be getting worse. In the winter ill only be using the bike for leisure rides as ive got a fixed ill be using through most of winter. Should I keep the parts on there until early next year or is it worth replacing. I was prob looking at 105 or maybe ultegra?

I have a trek 1.2 so is it worth upgrading the parts or not on this frame? Im hopefully getting a Madone next May / June but would like my current bike a bit better.

The parts off my 1.2 I would use to build up a training bike for rollers in the winter but just wanted opinions on if im wasting my time

Thanks

davis

I wouldn't upgrade it, but I'd certainly keep it running.

Groupsets are expensive by themselves, and cheaper on a bike, so it'll be more expensive piecemeal. Save the money for the Madone. It's easy to let the spending run away with you.

Apparently you have got a replaceable headset, so I'd run everything on it into the ground. I can't see why the shifters/headset/derailleurs won't last until next summer assuming you use mudguards through the winter.

You'd probably be looking at circa 400 quid for the upgrade components (bit of a guess), and you'd be running them for 10 months on a winter bike for occasional use, then getting a new "best" bike? Nah, doesn't make sense to me.

Keep it running, but I wouldn't upgrade, certainly not to Ultegra.

Unless of course any of this results in a new bike, in which case N+1 supercedes all my previous waffle.

andy83

thanks for that, i just need some reality i think

The madone would be my best bike, only to come out when the weather is nice, it wont know what rain or clouds are lol. I still want my trek to be my main commuter next year, im looking to start racing so madone is for that really

I already have an ultegra cassette as i wanted my new wheels and all they had in the shop lol.

may just upgrade to 105.chainrings may need relacing soon. shifters prob fine really, but mechs i might change aswell, already got some easton ea50 wheels on it, and theyre prob half the cost of what the bike is worth lol

andy83

ok so ive decided im going to get a few new parts

ill only be upgrading to 105 due to cost, but just wondered if 10 speed components will do as i currently have a 9 speed cassette. Just upgraded and got an ultegra 9 speed cassette so dont really want to have to buy another one.

I know this sounds vain but the main thing i want is new shifters as my current ones have a stupid push down button to drop gear and i want the one that gets pushed across thats on the brake lever

thanks

Norky

andy83 wrote:

I know this sounds vain but the main thing i want is new shifters as my current ones have a stupid push down button to drop gear and i want the one that gets pushed across thats on the brake lever

I've seen those little thumb levers in my LBS, though never ridden with 'em. They look easily breakable and a bit tacky IMO. Shimano Tiagra and Sora (and possibly the next one down) have these. 105 and upwards have the up-shift on the brake lever. I'm pretty sure (though wait for confirmation from someone who knows this stuff better) you will need a 9-speed shifter to match that rear cassette. 105 used to be 9-speed, but this year some 105-parts appear to be 10 speed. You'll want the ST-R600 dual-control lever. See here for lovely techdocs written in Engrish.

unixnerd

Sora has the thumb button shifter, I've done 1000s of miles with that on my tourer in all weathers and it's perfectly reliable.

Tiagra and up have the paddles, much nicer. You can now shift up a gear from the drops and it feels better two. My nice bike has 105 and it feels a lot slicker than Sora.

andy83

yea i have done 8000 miles on these shifters and to be honest although they seem sturdy i just fancy a change

thel33ter

I upgraded from Sora to 105 on my Trek 1000 and it is a huge improvement, I couldn't stand those little thumb button thingies, it sometimes felt like you had to stand on them to get them to work.

So yea, it is worth the upgrade. I also put a Dura Ace rear mech on cause it cost the same as a new 105, it had only done about 50 miles by the way it looked.

andy83

what parts would be compatible with 9 speed cassette? would i need 9 speed shifters or could i get away with 10 speed.

Have saw that you can use 10 speed rear mech with 9 speed, and also presume as long as the front mech was a double then ill be ok?

or is it worth changing my cassette to a 10 speed, and just sell the cassette i have on bike atm

thanks

thel33ter

andy83 wrote:

what parts would be compatible with 9 speed cassette? would i need 9 speed shifters or could i get away with 10 speed.

Have saw that you can use 10 speed rear mech with 9 speed, and also presume as long as the front mech was a double then ill be ok?

or is it worth changing my cassette to a 10 speed, and just sell the cassette i have on bike atm

thanks

10sp shifter would kinda work with a 9sp cassette but will not ever index well. either get 9sp shifters or 10sp shifters and a new cassette. Front mechs work fine with anything, as do rear mechs as far as I can tell.