New bike or a FEW upgrades?

Riggsy12

Got this with some help/advice off here the other day...

Generic 21.5" road bike frame, carbon forks, good entry level bike, new parts include rear wheel, rear Sora mech, chain, brake calipers, bar tape, cables and bottom bracket. £170



I like it alot. I have been doing 10-20mile rides each night.

Is it worth me forking out more for a new bike? Should have £1000 to spend at the end of the month. But as I'm not going to be getting into racing should I maybe just upgrade the wheels and be happy with what I have?

Cheers

iPete

Enjoy it and ride it till spring, then maybe consider some nicer wheels that could go on a future bike.

I'd only make changes to contact points, if needed.

migrantwing

Personally, I'd get a new bike if you have £1000 at the end of the month. You can add new components to the bike pictured above and use it as a Winter/bad weather/commuter bike, and then the new bike can be used for 'best'. You can get a very good second hand bike with £1000 and still have money left over to add new parts to the bike above OR get a great bike with good spec for around £1000 as a lot of last years (2012) models will be cheaper. Look around for deals. Same with components, a few hundred pounds can be spent upgrading the above bike. This is exactly what I did. I had an old Carrera TDF, I bought a new bike at the beginning of the following year, which I got for around £800 as opposed to £1200 + as it was the previous years model. The money I saved on that, allowed me to do up the Carrera with better wheels and groupset, stem, bars etc. In essence, two bikes for the price of one

Riggsy12

We are moving from a three bedroom house with garage to a flat at the end of the month so I wont have the space to have more than one bike

I just dont want to blow that money on the bike I have, if in the long run it would be better to sell and spend the £1000 on a better one.

charlie_potatoes

I would keep riding what you have until April then you should have £3,000 to spend on a bike. 8)

migrantwing

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

I would keep riding what you have until April then you should have £3,000 to spend on a bike. 8)

HA! +1

migrantwing

Riggsy12 wrote:

We are moving from a three bedroom house with garage to a flat at the end of the month so I wont have the space to have more than one bike

I just dont want to blow that money on the bike I have, if in the long run it would be better to sell and spend the £1000 on a better one.

I'm looking at moving, but for the opposite effect. 1 bed flat wanting to move to a bigger flat/house.


Wall brackets are your friend

In that case, I'd ride your bike into the ground and get a new one later in the year/next year in the sales.

nochekmate

Ride your bike for a while and in time, you will have picked up a great deal more knowledge (keep reading the forum!) and will be able to make a more informed choice of new bike - you will also enjoy a new purchase if you are fitter to benefit from your purchase.

markos1963

Keep it and save your money. Buy some new wheels in the spring/summer if you like(you can never have too many of them as you can move them from bike to bike) Use your money to enjoy riding it more. Better clothing/shoes etc will make a big difference. Join a club or go for weekends away with your partner(they can shop whilst you ride!) to get experience. Cycling isn't about a race to buy everything it's about enjoying yourself.

smidsy

Why looking at changing so soon? If you like it (as you say) what do you want to change?

Even I lasted a year on a second hand 6 year old bike before convincing myself that a new bike would turn me into Chris Froome....it hasn't.

IME ride what you have for a while and change the wheels for summer - a nice set of those really enhances the package.

simon_masterson

I couldn't condemn you too harshly for wanting a £1000 bike, but be aware that there will not be £750 of difference between it and what you have. It is your money, but I would strongly advise you to invest in quality cyclewear, tools and other such things first.

As for 'upgrades', I wouldn't bother unless you're unhappy with the saddle, handlebars, stem or tyres; not that getting those right is really an 'upgrade'! Don't bother with upgrading groupsets and components on cheap bikes; it's a waste of money. There's really nothing mystical about this: if you want a good bike, you have to pay for a good frame, good wheels and good parts (etc). On paper there really is not much difference between most of the bikes available between £300 and £1000: inexpensive aluminium frame and carbon fork, cheap factory wheels, (often) incomplete low-end Shimano groupset, fairly unremarkable finishing kit. Of course the higher end bikes will have a nicer ride (you would really hope so!), but there isn't (up to) £700 in it and the manufacturers will use marketing and hype to deceive the gullible (eg. trying to sell the bike based on how light it is, which doesn't matter very much)

If you're going to spend your money, get some good shorts (emphasised because saddle sore is not very nice!) and other cyclewear, your choice of pedal system (unless you're perfectly happy with the one you have!) and some tools. That isn't to say that a new pair of wheels would be a bad idea, though, and they could always transfer to another bike. I'd opt for some basic handbuilt wheels, myself...

rolf_f

You've just bought it so you might as well get some miles out of it. The only things that are definitely likely to be worth replacing before they wear out are the tyres and brake blocks. Changing those is likely to make a nice improvement in safety and handling.

lotus49

What Rolf said.

Keep riding it and enjoying it. You almost certainly will upgrade sooner or later but get your money's worth out of this one and you will enjoy the new bike all the more when you get it.

As far as I could tell from the other thread, you got a pretty good bargain with that bike so make the most of it.

Riggsy12

Thanks very much to everyone that commented. I think I will hang on to this one, to me coming from an MTB it rides like a dream

I may upgrade the wheels as you lot say I can easily put them on any bike. One other thing I might look into is lightening up the rear of the bike...

pollys_bott

Lots of good deals around on tyres - some quality rubber would be a good (relatively) cheap upgrade for your current wheels. For example Ribble have Conti GP4000s £25, Michelin Pro 4 £24, Vittoria Open Corsa EvoCX £21...

Or for wheels...

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/fulcrum- ... 67961.html

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/w ... -pair.html