£250 for an upgrade... But what ?

Toe knee

Hello everyone,

As the title says I have £250 left from my cyclescheme vouchers to spend on my bike ( cannondale synapse sora ) , now I'm about to go clip less, and have the pedals to fit, so maybe some road shoes will have to come off my spend, unless I can find some 2nd hand shoes, anyway what in your experience, would be the most significant upgrade to improve my bike ?
I have just been reading some horror stories about the stock wheels on the bike ( Maddox r3.0 ), have I got enough to spend on a new set of wheels that would make a great difference, a quick question here, how do better wheels improve your riding experience ?
Thanks for any ideas or advice .

Tony

Omar Little

Id ride with the wheels you get with the bike you can always upgrade later - for now your £250 would be better spent on a few other bits and pieces - think about upgrading the brake pads (koolstop or swiss stop), possibly the tyres too depending on what it comes with. Do you have things like a pump or co2, bottle cages, bottles etc?

Clothes too with some decent cycling shorts being a priority. Of course you may already have things like shorts, pumps etc covered.

markhewitt1978

For £250 perhaps a nice GPS cycle computer?
e.g. http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gar ... e-ec046584

Toe knee

Thanks for the replies ,

I do have most other things already, apart from shoes as stated.

Brake pads a good thought , will sort them.

Thanks
Tony

markhewitt1978

If you have all the accessories, and don't want to upgrade your wheels - which would be the best option IMO.
What about groupset stuff? It's difficult as your bike is Sora, so you're outside of the 10-speed compatibility sphere, even so, £290 would buy you a full Tiagra groupset (I know you can't over spend on C2W but as groupsets are just a collection of bits you could buy most of it and buy the missing bits yourself).

That way you'd change your bike from 9-speed to 10-speed, which importantly will allow you to upgrade to e.g. Ultegra 6700 eventually if you wanted.

unixnerd

I'd totally look into lighter wheels and tyres. Even expensive bikes come with fairly heavy ones unless you're lucky. I got a used set of Ultegra wheels for 110 on ebay and they're fantastic. But be sure any wheels you buy will take a nine speed cassette, some (like the Ultegras) have taller splines and only take ten speed.

If you don't have a track pump add that to the list, you'll never get a high enough pressure with a normal pump.

Sprool

helmet, lights, mudguards for the winter, waterproofs, new cycle jersey, T-handle hex key set, saddle upgrade, I'll soon have your spare money spent

markhewitt1978

unixnerd wrote:

I'd totally look into lighter wheels and tyres. Even expensive bikes come with fairly heavy ones unless you're lucky. I got a used set of Ultegra wheels for 110 on ebay and they're fantastic. But be sure any wheels you buy will take a nine speed cassette, some (like the Ultegras) have taller splines and only take ten speed.

If you don't have a track pump add that to the list, you'll never get a high enough pressure with a normal pump.

Are the Ultegra's good? I was thinking of getting the 6700 version? Although I might wait for the 6800..

Anyway, they will all take 8, 9 and 10 speed, so that won't be a problem. You'll need different wheels for 11 speed but they too will take 8, 9 and 10 speed cassettes.

unixnerd

Are the Ultegra's good? I was thinking of getting the 6700 version? Although I might wait for the 6800..

They're great, I think mine are the 6700 flavour. Only difference is a small amount of weight. They roll very well and spin up nicely. They won't take a nine speed cassette, I know that for a fact as I tried. They have the taller "Dura-Ace style" spline on the hub which stops the cassette eating into them.

smidsy

The C2W rules only allow the BIKE and SAFETY EQUIPMENT. You should not be able to purchase general items of fancy.

Toe knee

MMMmm. . . . . Depends what shop you use smidsy, it's already sorted, I can pick what I want,

smidsy

I do not doubt it but technically it is fraud.

C2W is a tax benefit so if you deviate from the scheme rules you are going against HMRC.

Toe knee

I have read somewhere that they have changed the rules and you can now buy kit etc... Instead of a bike....!!
Correct me if I'm wrong but that's what my bike shop has said.

smidsy

They have extended the scheme to allow you to buy SAFETY ACCESSORIES.

Toe knee

FFS, there's always one isn't there, very good glad that's sorted.

canny_lad

Tyres. Unless you're very lucky the stock tyres will be sh00t. £100 shoes, £50 tyres and £100 left for a basic GPS - sorted

Toe knee

Sounds good canny lad, the tyres are schwalabe Laguno, I have a cateye strada,and my strava, so money for something else's?

smidsy

Toe knee wrote:

FFS, there's always one isn't there, very good glad that's sorted.

Sorry if the facts are not to your liking.

Toe knee

Goodbye, thanks for all the adult replies .

lc1981

Toe knee wrote:

Goodbye, thanks for all the adult replies .

Advising someone not to commit tax fraud is childish?

epo rocks!

You've got a Cannondale? christ just upgrade the bike, its a lot easier, go to Halfords, buy a Carrera, job done.

samsbike

as the others have said, but if you are going to commute, some half decent lights, mudguards, spare tires (if not new wheels), spare chain and cassette, a nice set of shoes, pump (track and bike), handlebar tape, better bars, better seat.

etc