Brakes and chain set upgrade

Mickyg88

My bike came with a part 105 group set, ie levers and front/rear shifters 105, but crankset and brake callipers are shimano non series. I would like to upgrade these, and looking on eBay can get brand new ultegra parts at a discounted price, would they work with the 105 levers and shifters (I think that's the right terminology)' the ultegra chainset in particular looks the business over the 105, and has just had a great review in Cycling plus.

sungod

shimano is very interchangeable, you shouldn't have problems 105<->ultegra

but if the braking is ok now, you'll notice little or no benefit from replacing calipers, simply fitting better pads will probably make more difference, shimano's components are pretty good irrespective of range

same for the crankset, overall you may save a little weight, otherwise the difference is mostly bling

now there's absolutely nothing wrong with bling, but if you want the bike to actually feel better i'd look elsewhere

depends what wheels you have now, but that's often the best place to look - standard wheels are often pretty heavy - decent tyres can make a noticeable difference too