Upgrade help required for my Trek

shaun668

This has been my first season on a road bike I have a Trek 1.1 to date I have covered just over 1500 miles on it to date. It is standard apart from an upgrade to the saddle and spd pedals.
I would like to make a few more upgrades to it for next year and have set my budget at around £300, I would really like to upgrade to a Madone but the Mrs will do one so will have to make do with upgrades for the short term.
I was thinking about a set of new wheels I like the "aero look" and have seen these which seem good value.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fulcrum-racing- ... -wheelset/

I have been running the standard bontrager tyre but will uprade these from 25 to 23 slicks for the summer. I did run a pair of Schwalbe Lugano's but found these wore out very quickly, any recommendations on tyre choice with good puncture resistance?

My bike only has an 8 speed cassette and would like to fit a 10 / 10 speed, would this be possible? as I often find the gear ratio either to easy or too hard and could do with a few extra gears.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

iPete

Hi Shaun, changing the number of gears would require a new groupset, certainly shifters and rear mech. I would look at the cassette range and consider changing that. E.g. if it is 11-25t look for 12-28t.

I would buy a good set of reliable wheels and tyres (I wouldn't call going to 23c an upgrade) that can go onto any future bike and will survive the winter, personally I'd avoid bling aero look wheels in the budget range.
You can't go wrong getting some OpenPro rims built onto Hope hubs (ok so they are a bit bling ) or 105 hubs.

Apart from that, I'd put your money towards enjoying the winter. It isn't the time for putting nice new bits on but something like Crud Mk2s.

ai_1

Those wheels should be fine. They're probably lighter than what you've got and most people seem to find them fairly stiff and reliable. However don't expect much difference in performance.

I'd stick with 25mm tyres. I don't see much point in using 23mm. They're a tiny bit lighter but less comfortable and no faster. Can't really suggest a winter tyre without knowing your budget and the sort of road conditions you ride on. I've been happy with 25mm Continental 4 Seasons tyres for the last couple of years.

If you wanted to change from 8 to 10 sprockets then you're talking about nearly a whole new groupset. The 3 most expensive constituents of a bike are the frame, groupset and wheels. If you're considering changing 2 of those 3 then you might be better off just getting a new bike and selling this one to make up any difference!

shaun668

Thanks for the replies, I intend to keep the bike as it is for the winter the changes I make will be for the spring/ summer next year. I'm not too worried about increased performance as I mostly use the bike for commuting and weekend rides.
What is the groupset? i'm guessing it's the front crank,cassette and derailleur which sound expensive I hoped I wouldn't have to change all this as a new bike might be the preferred option.

ai_1

shaun668 wrote:

Thanks for the replies, I intend to keep the bike as it is for the winter the changes I make will be for the spring/ summer next year. I'm not too worried about increased performance as I mostly use the bike for commuting and weekend rides.
What is the groupset? i'm guessing it's the front crank,cassette and derailleur which sound expensive I hoped I wouldn't have to change all this as a new bike might be the preferred option.

The groupset is basically all teh drive train and braking components and usually includes:
- STI levers (the brake and gear change levers mounted on the handlebar)
- Front & Rear Derailleur
- Cassette (rear sprockets)
- Chainrings & cranks
- Chain
- Bottom bracket
- Brake callipers

If you moved from 8 speed to 10 speed gears you'd obviously need a new cassette with 10 sprockets. You'll also need an STI lever and rear mech combo that provides 10 indexed gear changes rather than the 8 that the current components provide. Also in order to fit the extra 2 sprockets at the back, the cassette spacing has changed and 10 speed chains are narrower. This means a new chain, probably new chainrings and possibly new front mech (not sure about that).
that leaves you needing to replace almost everything except your bottom bracket, brakes and maybe the left STI lever (only if you don't mind a mismatch and there's no front mech issues - I'd change both levers regardless)!

markhewitt1978

shaun668 wrote:

This has been my first season on a road bike I have a Trek 1.1 to date I have covered just over 1500 miles on it to date. It is standard apart from an upgrade to the saddle and spd pedals.
I would like to make a few more upgrades to it for next year and have set my budget at around £300, I would really like to upgrade to a Madone but the Mrs will do one so will have to make do with upgrades for the short term.
I was thinking about a set of new wheels I like the "aero look" and have seen these which seem good value.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fulcrum-racing- ... -wheelset/

Wheels are a good upgrade to a bike if you're changing nothing else, get wheels. However you should only have aero wheels if you need to be aero, do you regularly average over 20mph on flat rides? If not then they will likely slow you down if you have any climbing, and you'd get more buffeted by the wind. I'd say something like this instead http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fulcrum-racing- ... lset-2014/

I have been running the standard bontrager tyre but will uprade these from 25 to 23 slicks for the summer. I did run a pair of Schwalbe Lugano's but found these wore out very quickly, any recommendations on tyre choice with good puncture resistance?

I run GP4000S in the summer and can't recommend them highly enough. I would stick with 25mm however, as that's the standard choice these days.

My bike only has an 8 speed cassette and would like to fit a 10 / 10 speed, would this be possible? as I often find the gear ratio either to easy or too hard and could do with a few extra gears.

Not without a significant spend, I'd stick with 8 speed for now.

Anonymous

These are cheap as well, a snip for £140

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fulcrum-racing- ... 5360584220

I'd save your 300 and wait until summer or get the above and maybe some used 10sp shifters + cassette + rear mech. (100 + 20 + 40)