Help me make my lame bike good!

AdamJ

when i first started riding just over a year ago, i unfortunately bought one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barracuda-Mens- ... B007A9UTHS

This time last year i upgraded to a Trek Domane 2.0, and now i am thinking with the bad weather creeping in i might upgrade the components of the Vivante to a reliable winter bike. I can get my hands on a set of wheels identical to the trek off a friend, i have my eye on some tiagra brake calipers too. The only issue i am concerned with is the cassette and the shifters - the vivante has horrendous 7 speed gripshift gears. Anyone have suggestions? I think i can also find some tiagra shifters cheap but im not sure what to do about the rest! would the rear derailleur need changing too?

cheers

desweller

Is there anything actually wrong with it?

One of the principles of using a different bike in the winter is that you abuse el cheapo parts rather than the Gucci bits on your summer toy.

AdamJ

the brakes are like tinfoil, bad enough in the dry and i dont trust them in the wet. Wheels are quite heavy and im not sure how to explain it but feel as though they roll a lot slower than the trek, which i assumed was the wheel/hub/cassete combo?

Apart from being able to take some abuse i was kind of hoping a slightly more enjoyable riding experience would solidify the Mrs' cyclng enjoyment as she uses that one when riding with me.

Once i get it to a standard i am confident with, i may use it for the 20mile round trip commute also.

Wirral_paul

Once you start upgrading, then where do you stop? I'd be concerned about compatibility of changing any single component including the brake calipers with your current levers - so either leave it as it is and thrash it for a winter, or look for a complete 2nd hand bike. I'd imagine that frame is made of girders anyway - and your money may be better spent on a proper aluminium "winter" bike with mudguards etc.

desweller

Give your brake pads a good clean - dig out any embedded material. Clean your rims, a good scrub with hot water will help them no end.

Make sure your brake cables move freely; likewise your brake calipers. If there is excessive friction you will lose a lot of force in the cable run and not get the braking performance you expect. You may need new cables.

If the bearings in the hubs need a service then this is a good time to inspect them, before the bad weather really kicks in.

Remember all bikes need regular servicing. None of it is very difficult.

slowbike

AdamJ wrote:

the brakes are like tinfoil, bad enough in the dry and i dont trust them in the wet. Wheels are quite heavy and im not sure how to explain it but feel as though they roll a lot slower than the trek, which i assumed was the wheel/hub/cassete combo?

Apart from being able to take some abuse i was kind of hoping a slightly more enjoyable riding experience would solidify the Mrs' cyclng enjoyment as she uses that one when riding with me.

Once i get it to a standard i am confident with, i may use it for the 20mile round trip commute also.

Brakes are important - I'd consider changing those first - Shimano 105 brakes are good, but not so good you wouldn't want them in the winter.
Wheels - not sure, possibly try some better tyres first - loads of advice on tyres on these forums. I've got some "cheap" wheels that I've just swapped out my summer tyres to my winter tyres - it now feels sluggish and hard work - I'm using it for the commute so it's just extra resistance training and hoping that I'll dodge the P fairy.
I wouldn't worry about better wheels for the winter - plan those for the summer. About the only things I'd test on the wheels would be that the bearings are ok and that they're running true - lift the bike and spin the wheel - they should spin for a while before stopping and shouldn't touch the brake blocks either
Shifters - yer, not the best, but do they work? STIs are expensive - over 1/2 the price of the bike itself - it would be the last bit I'd consider upgrading, possibly ditching the bike first and getting a(nother) better one.

AdamJ

Decided as i can get bontrager wheels on the cheap i will use those along with some new tyres. I will keep the gears and cassette the same to save the hassle, but will swap the brakes for either sora or tiagra for ease of mind. Having not changed an entire brake caliper before, am i right in assuming i can just unscrew the existing one and fix the new one in its place? The bike has done under 150 miles so woukd rather not change cables or levers for now