Upgrade advice - wheels or groupset ?

nels

Hi... very new to road riding and have been riding a 2nd hand allez sport, Sora kit and Alex S500 and r450 wheels... i have some money to spend on upgrade(s) and would like to know whether i'd get best results from change to groupset or wheelset ? As there are some great deals on kit at the moment. Typically riding 30-50miles around surrey hills area to complement MTB training.

thanks in advance
Nels

iPete

Have the same bike and over the years I've done both, 105 5700 and RS80 wheels with Mich pro 3 tyres.

Both are very nice but to pick one it would be wheels every time.

smidsy

If the groupset is working fine then you will see the most benefit from lighter/stiffer wheels.

Lighter wheels also have the added advantage of shedding 'rotating mass' which gives significant advantages over simply lighter fixed parts.

I have just upgraded my wheels on a 7 year old Cannondale which has 9 speed group and can really notice the difference. I went from Shimano RS20 to American Classic 420 Aero wheels and there is a definite improvemnt in the feel/handling of the bike.

ugo.santalucia

I've got the feeling that both will be a waste of money. Chances are you will soon-ish upgrade your all bike. That is always the case

ALaPlage

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I've got the feeling that both will be a waste of money. Chances are you will soon-ish upgrade your all bike. That is always the case

+1. To get any real noticeable difference you will have to consider spending £500+ for a wheelset and then if you do the groupset you can add another £500 for 105 kit. Secondhand you would potentially halve this outlay. That said £1000 will start to get you into a new bike with lighter frame, wheels and 105 kit. Second hand £1000 will get you something very nice.

Doing it on a lower budget and I am with Ugo. Before too long you will start thinking about a whole new bike as the impact of the upgrade will not be significant enough.

If you stick with the upgrade route then wheels and tyres will make the biggest difference and worth spending that bit more for. Groupset is only marginally lighter as you go up the scale and the biggest benefit say for moving from Sora to 105 will be the "smoother" shifting and ten gears.

nels

thanks all

iPete

ALaPlage wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I've got the feeling that both will be a waste of money. Chances are you will soon-ish upgrade your all bike. That is always the case

+1. To get any real noticeable difference you will have to consider spending £500+ for a wheelset.

Simply not true. You'll notice a hell of a difference with some £300 RS80s and light tyres/tubes.

As for upgrading being a waste of time, if you have a tendency to buy shiny things yes. If you upgrade as things break, not so much. I'm very happy with my now full 105 Allez, when you add up all the 'upgrades' it's in exotic bike territory but spread over 3 years it's expected running costs. Not to forget the fact that it should all transfer to another frame, should one tempt me!

nels

...and to be honest at the moment Merlin and others have some great deals on RS20, RS30 wheelsets which have gotta be better than old Alex s500 and 450 wheels (with worn-ish rims)..

ugo.santalucia

You will find people telling you yes and others telling you no... do as you wish, my feeling is that upgrades are rarely worth it, unless there is a real problem/need. If your wheels don't give you troubles, replacing them is just looking for troubles, missing power is best found in the legs than in the wheels

nels

;-) understand... and too true

breaking surface on rims is degraded too i might add...

ugo.santalucia

nels wrote:

;-) understand... and too true

breaking surface on rims is degraded too i might add...

In that case... certainly it's not worth rebuilding on cheap hubs... there are good prices out there, good quality at those prices?... Well this is more debatable.
Give me a shout if you are interested in hand built wheels...