Best 1st Upgrade

dizarch

Hi

I bought a Giant Defy 1 about four months ago and absolutely love the bike. However, I have a bit of money to spend - approx £500 - and want to consider upgrading some of the components. My first thoughts turned to the wheels which come as standard:

Rims P-Elite C Wheelset
Hubs P-Elite C Wheelset
Spokes P-Elite C Wheelset
Tires Giant P-R3, Flat Guard, Front and Rear Specific, 700x25

Any advice or suggestions from people far more knowledgeable than I am would be very welcome:-)

Thanks

DizArch

southdownswolf

Welcome to the forum.

With wheels you are going to be asked several things before anyone can help.

such as; your approx weight, type of riding (lots of hills, flat etc), annual milage........

Bookwyse

Either set of hand builts from Ugo or cycleclinic on here or a set of Ksyrium Elites would make the world of difference. That coupled with some different tyres will transform the bike.

dizarch

southdownswolf wrote:

Welcome to the forum.

With wheels you are going to be asked several things before anyone can help.

such as; your approx weight, type of riding (lots of hills, flat etc), annual milage........

15st 4lbs - yikes but it's coming down
Undulating and often potholed Northumberland roads
Between 5000 and 7500 per year

Nixster

Best first upgrade is tyres - depending on whether the existing are wire bead or folding you could save anything up to 400g off the weight of your wheels by changing to something like Ultremo ZX or the ever popular Continental GP4000. Save a further 100g by changing tubes to Continental supersonic and you could see half a kilo off the wheel weight for about £75. It'll cost around £300 to take that off the weight of the wheels themselves.

simon_masterson

Your money will buy some good quality handbuilt wheels; probably 32-36 spokes and sturdy rims, and some quality hubs.

If you have significant weight loss in mind though, you may want to hold off. You are well outside of the upper weight limit for typical road wheels.

964cup

Nixster wrote:

Best first upgrade is tyres - depending on whether the existing are wire bead or folding you could save anything up to 400g off the weight of your wheels by changing to something like Ultremo ZX or the ever popular Continental GP4000.

+1 for Ultremo ZX on general principles, but not now. They cut up very easily, so IMO aren't suitable as a winter tyre. Ultremo DDs or Vittoria Pave, perhaps, but they're more like 250g instead of 195g.

dizarch

I'm beginning to wonder if I would be better off just losing more weight. I'm naturally very broad so it's difficult but am really appreciating the advice guys:-)

keef66

Better tyres and keep up the weight loss. Ride those wheels till you wear out the rims or something breaks, then consider your options.

trek_dan

Get some GP4000S while on special at PBK. Those Giant tyres are terrible for cutting up and punctures.

dizarch

Everything seems to come back to GP4000s so I'm going to start there.

Thanks for the advice folks, much appreciated indeed:-)

keef66

trek_dan wrote:

Get some GP4000S while on special at PBK. Those Giant tyres are terrible for cutting up and punctures.

Wiggle had them cheaper if you buy two...

dizarch

Awesome, thanks:-)

buckles

4th cat to 3rd cat

gubber12345

where or who PBK?

dowtcha

https://www.probikekit.co.uk/

bsharp77

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k373/a ... black.html

I always get my tyres from here - very, very cheap all year round!
(usually deliver from Germany in 2 days as well)

Tiesetrotter

Personally, Rubino Pro Tech's in the winter.

Barbarossa

Garmin 500, HR strap and a secondhand Powertap wheel off eBay. This plus Hunter Allen's book plus lots of hard work is guaranteed to make you faster.

dizarch

Well I've ordered the GP4000s and am going to move on to a computer now. Currently using MMR (which I really like) on my i-phone but the battery lasts about a nanosecond with the GPS on - what's the point of GPS if you have to have the screen off to preserve power?

Any recommendations? Cost is not a huge issue but getting fitter, lighter and faster is.

supermurph09

Garmin Edge 500. You'll never need more.

simon_masterson

If you want to get fitter, lighter and faster, train a lot, rest a lot and eat properly. GPS isn't important, though a computer with HRM is likely to have it anyway. Quite honestly though, were I to go out tomorrow with the intention of spending a few hundred on training, I'd sooner buy a turbo (unless you already have one, of course) and a cheap HRM watch.

dizarch

I understand but I love the GPS feature, it gives me focus and allows targets. Plus, I can drool over maps all day long, having a GPS just makes it even better:-)