Is it worth upgrading really?

ianbar

So I has set myself targets which if I hit I could buy a new bike, currently I have a caad8 tiagra sone upgrades mavic aksium wheels and replaced saddle,seat post,stem and bars as much for cosmetic than anything.now apart from the bling of a new bike what real difference will I see in a bike say £1500+[good sale deal possibly] from what I have?

rpd_steve

A bit lighter, and assuming it has a better group set it may feel a bit 'crisper' and more smooth to use. There is a reasonable improvement from tiagra to 105, and small improvements thereafter.

If the wheels are lighter by much then they will feel a little more lively and easy to accelerate, but on a £1500 bike your likely to not have much better than your aksiums, but a solid reliable set.

Dont expect any instant improvement in speed though. What you will/may get is an improved ride quality where the gears ect are a little more enjoyable to use, and hence you enjoy riding it more.

ianbar

Thank you that's what I thought, so flipping it around a bit would I not a similar upgrade by changing more parts myself? Eg the brakes are cannondale and crank is fsa maybe change them to shimano would help keep the bike feeling fresh?

cougie

You'd not notice any difference with crank and brakes apart from a lighter wallet.
Wheels and tyres should be the first changes.

unixnerd

Only thing worth changing are the wheels. Get a really light set and keep them until you wear them out! Even if you buy a new bike it won't come with really nice wheels. When you buy a new bike put your light wheels on it and put the new wheels on the old bike then sell it / keep it for the winter.

I have a CAAD5 with Dura-Ace and love it. The main benefit with my new Specialized Roubaix isn't weight (not much in it) but the way the Roubaix soaks up road noise, it glides over the bumps. I can run the tyres at 110psi for low rolling resistance and still have feeling in my a*se after a long ride :-)

mb5

Slightly diverging from OPs question but could people comment similarly on frames? ie. how noticable is the difference between a frame in the CAAD8 pricerange vs cheaper vs >£1000 bike range ??

unixnerd

I'd say having a frame that fits is the main thing. A CAAD8 frame is pretty damn good. Even my CAAD5 frame won a few tour stages in it's day!

But by dearer you likely mean carbon and that's a real can of worms. There are so many types of carbon fibre and ways of laying it up to achieve different goals. You can't directly compare something like a Specialized Venge with a Roubaix and say one is better than the other, it depends what you want from it. In truth I suspect there are few bad frames out there these days once you get away from the bargain basement and only those with Cavendish league power outputs would notice the difference.

ianbar

i think its thre frame thats the issue more than upgrading the parts.it seems that buying an upgraded bike wouldnt be faster as much but nicer to ride. i like the idea of a ti frame but expensive.it will be a while till i reach my goal weight(at which point i was treating myself). it doesnt help that my first build has so far been a shocker to ride! so this doesnt encourage me to not buy a new bike lol but will have a fiddle tonight and see if she can run a bit smoother.

mb5

I suspect there are few bad frames out there these days once you get away from the bargain basement and only those with Cavendish league power outputs would notice the difference.

So, what type of thing would you say is 'away from the bargain basement'? /what are the important facts to look for in a frame? Does frame weight make any significant impact (say if we are talking about Al road bike frames only), or is a Kg on your body going to have the same effect as a Kg on the frame (making frame weight insignificant outside of pro racers) ?

unixnerd

I always look at the quality of the welding on an aluminium frame as a guide to it's quality. My Cannondale was hand finished and you can't see the welds at all (two years ago they moved to Taiwan and not quite as well finished now). But on some frames the welding looks like a dogs dinner with masses of residue, if the manufacturer can't be bothered to finish the fame nicely it speaks volumes.