Poll: What did you need to change on your new bike?

class5700

Hopefully this poll will work!

I was wondering what changes people feel have been necessary when buying their new bike.

This is a light-hearted look at the things people felt were not either good enough from the factory and needed to be changed or perhaps didn't quite fit with your size or riding style.

For example, was a change needed because the saddle wasn't comfortable enough? Did you feel some aspect of the brakes weren't good enough? Were the bike components of the standard you wanted but you felt the wheels needed upgrading? The bars were too wide? The stem too long? etc.

Here are the rules:

1. If you have more than bike, pick whichever one is most important to you in terms of bike riding.

2. Only include NEW things that you bought to put on a NEW bike to bring it up to the standard you wanted, not things that had worn out and needed replacing.

3. Don't include adjustments or additions, such as stem spacers, mudguards, lights, saddle bags, computers, bottle cages or anything like that, which individualize a bike. The poll is for changes to things that the factory supplied that you found were not good enough for you.

4. You can check multiple items if you changed more than one thing.

5. If the category given isn't specific enough, then write what you changed below to clarify (there are only 10 options allowed).

I'm just wondering how much modding people do with their new bikes.

Yes, the usual disclaimers about poll accuracy apply!

EDIT: Stupidly I forgot to included "None" as an option :roll: . So if you bought a bike that was perfect for you and needed no changes, write None or something to that effect below.

Tjgoodhew

Saddle for me - tried to get on with the Fizik Arione that it came with but gave up after constant discomfort and swapped it for a Charge Spoon.

The reason I bought the bike over other options is because I knew it wouldn't need any major components changing.

Bobbinogs

Most changes are based around want rather than need, not sure how to make that light-hearted, perhaps with a

IanRCarter

Wheels - stock wheels are bombproof heavyweights.
Tyres - the Specialized tyres which came on the bike weren't bad, but they're not GP4000's.
Brake pads - Sora brakes, enough said.
And this wasn't an immediate change but having cheap, white, bar tape as standard required some new Fizik tape to be bought fairly quickly.

me-109

Everything, but maybe that doesn't qualify since it was a bare frame that was built up. So maybe that's a 'none'?

Although I did later change the bars for a different shape and the stem to match. So that meant new bar tape too.

I swapped the tyres for something wider when they came up cheap.

And I've swapped the Shimano gears for SRAM after having a play on someone else's bike.

:?

ballysmate

My mate Trigger changed the lot.

marshall_a

saddle, in-line post, longer stem and bars for fit within first couple of weeks (also changed bar tape when changing the bars). Wheels\tyres came off straight away for spare(s) winter use as already had better set, and brake pads for better wet performance and feel as didn't get on with the stock ones.

fwgx

Just got my brand new Felt Z75 on Tuesday and I don't think I will be replacing anything on it. It has an actual full 105 groupset including chainset and brakes - a real luxury for £1k . Just needed to set it up to fit me and it's perfect.

norvernrob

Best bike, Foil 10 - just the saddle needed to be changed as it was too narrow. But, I'm selling the clinchers and trying tubs.

Second bike, Cube Peloton Race - just the seatpost, it came up slightly small so fitted a setback one.

veronese68

Nothing. But then I bought a frame set so I could build it to the spec I wanted.

ai_1

I think the saddle/seatpost option should be 2 options.
Many people will replace the provided saddle not necessarily because the one supplied is poorly matched to the bike or of bad quality but simply because it's not a good comfort match for the specific rider and their style of riding.
Replacing seatposts is probably a much less frequent occurence.

For example my Canyon Ultimate CF SL 9.0 came with a Fizik Antares and I replaced it with a Specialised Romin EVO Expert. I'm pretty sure the Antares is a more expensive saddle and it appears attractive and well made. It would be perfect for plenty people but it was uncomfortable for me - It took a fair amount of research to find 2 saddles I like and I'm sticking with them for now (Romin EVO for general riding, Adamo Attack for TT).

With the exception of saddles which in some cases really is a need, I'd agree with Bobbinogs comment: These "upgrades" really are about want not need. How many bikes are sold not fit for purpose?

NeXXus

Seatpost to 400mm

964cup

I build most of my bikes from bare frames, so picked the only one I've bought this year as a complete bike. It's a CX bike I was using as a commuter; carbon-framed, but supplied with alloy post and bars. Changed those, fitted the same saddle I use on (almost) all my other bikes and fitted a stem of the correct length. Road tyres and better bar tape and all done.

SCR Pedro

Stem and furry dice. Everything else is shiit.

Bozman

Veronese68 wrote:

Nothing. But then I bought a frame set so I could build it to the spec I wanted.

+1, it's called common sense

plowmar

As well as other choices I ticked 'other' for new rider.

Jules Winnfield

I voted other. Because simply the only thing that needs changing on a new bike would be the seat height adjustment and saddle fore and aft positioning.

BUT

If I had to choose anything then getting a saddle that's the right width (if it didn't have one to begin with) is important to me.

Jules Winnfield

Veronese68 wrote:

Nothing. But then I bought a frame set so I could build it to the spec I wanted.

That's what I'm going to do for my next bike. I can only imagine how it must feel buying the frame, groupset and finishing kit to your exacting standards then building it with your own hands. It must be very satisfying.

rolf_f

Mostly nothing. I've bought bikes built to my own spec. In the case of the Ribble, there was some lack of choice here and there (using the Special Edition option) so saddle and tyres were soon changed. But if a manufacturer wants to inflict a particular spec on me, I'll generally look elsewhere for my bike.

Anonymous

Tyres and brake blocks would be replaced immediately, because they cost very little to upgrade and give big improvements to ride and safety.

Wheels would generally go the same way, as stock wheels never match the quality of the bike either.

Bars and saddle (contact points) would also get changed to my preferred ones if the bike did not already come with them.

Would probably also change the stem to get a good fit (and brand match the bars).

Oh, and cassette and chain would have to go if not already at least 105. Cassette may end up being changed anyway if not the ratios I wanted.

The stock stuff I do not need gets sold as new on ebay, and I end up with the bike I want with hopefully not too much additional cost.

The last bike I bought had everything listed above changed. I already had a spare set of wheels though.

Initialised

Most of my upgrades were as stuff wore out or broke:

Only the pedals were changed to SPDs before it left the shop.

I did consider upgrading the cable disc brakes immediately, having the shop fit V-Twins or a Parabox but ended up doing this a year later when they seized up and because the shop would not reduce the price or supply me with the bit's they'd removed, hence making the cost too high.

Do you think there is perhaps a market for online bike-shops to be a lot more bespoke, in the way some PC manufacturers work?

thegreatdivide

Bozman wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Nothing. But then I bought a frame set so I could build it to the spec I wanted.

+1, it's called common sense

Yip this. Frame and build up is the best way to go. I've bought a few off the peg bikes in the past but IMO it's just not worth it due to the almost instant upgrades required.

MisterMuncher

Buying off the peg seems like a bargain until you weigh up the cost of replacing bar tape, tyres, saddle etc. with something better than the price-point specials even decent bikes come with. I don't think anyone ever chose to use wire-bead Schwalbe Lugano tyres, for example.

(Edited for horrific grammar)

redvee

My C2W bike came with CX tyres so they were swapped for 4Seasons and the clips and straps were changed to XT SPDs I had in the spares box. The frame reflectors and bell somehow fell off but the wheel reflectors are a little more stubborn. Was prepared to change the saddle to a Spoon but my bum likes the stock saddle.

Anonymous

Initialised wrote:

I did consider upgrading the cable disc brakes immediately, having the shop fit V-Twins or a Parabox but ended up doing this a year later when they seized up and because the shop would not reduce the price or supply me with the bit's they'd removed, hence making the cost too high.

Do you think there is perhaps a market for online bike-shops to be a lot more bespoke, in the way some PC manufacturers work?

So they were going to steal your components in return for you giving them more business? :shock:

As to bespoke bikes. You can of course already do that, but I think a lot of the time people do not really know what they want (say a first time buyer), and I am not sure it would be that cost effective for the major brands for people who do know what they want.

I got my last bike at a big discount. The wheels are probably the expensive thing that needed changing most and I can get a nice set at about 40% off list price.
The shop would have wanted to charge full price for the wheels (and not given me as much for the stock ones as I can get on ebay). Not that they would have done any of this with a sale bike anyway.

Also, on cheaper/mid price bikes, a lot of the parts and wheels are OE/own brand to keep the cost down, and these are of no use to a shop/retailer.

Bespoke's great, but most people do not/would not want to pay for it.

class5700

lots of interesting responses. thanks a lot.

as a new rider I have found that I can get on with most of the things on my bike (entry-level Trek), which is why I bought it of course, but also that I probably would have been hard pressed to tell the difference between other items. I'm sure that a good wheel upgrade would be very noticeable though (well, that's what everyone says anyway).

I was most curious to see what percentage of people ditch their saddle. bikes are not supplied with pedals above a certain price point, and as it seemed that nearly everyone says they've changed their saddle, I was beginning to wonder why bikes are supplied with saddles as well! however, according to the poll only a quarter of people have changed them, so not as big as I thought.

ai_1

Plenty people seem to get on well with lots of saddles with no issues. My two main cycling buddies still use their original saddles with no complaints and think it bizzare that I spent about 6 months testing various saddles trying to find something that didn't inflict pain or numbness on long rides.
Stock saddles work for most people.....but there's a proportion of us who seem to need special attention!

StillGoing

Just about everything on the Basso. It was bought on a budget and improved when I had the money to do it and after a proper fitting. The Wilier I built from scratch with money in my pockets anyway so it's had what I wanted on a winter trainer from the start.

Matthewfalle

Everything bar the frame on the good bike as parts either wore out, ridiculously good deals for better parts came up, frivolous purchases came into it or the wife smashed it off the top of the car using an underground car park necessitating a change of some parts.

I love the frame, it rides and fits perfect and looks lovely - everything else is now Red, Zipp, full carbon (Selle Italia Zero saddle, 60mm tubs, Look Ti/carbon pedals) or EC90 so no need to spend anything else or buy another bike. 6.4 kilo to you.

Other bikes are either frameset builds or the winter bike with a change of saddle, bars and stem to fit me.

florerider

Saddle, I think bikes above a certain price should be sold without saddles, like they are without pedals, because so many of us want our own choice.

I like my Arione, would be annoyed as hell to spend a couple of thou and end up with a Fizik or similar price saddle that wasn't the one I wanted

Philby

Only replaced or upgraded stuff when it wore out on my Bianchi - this includes tyres, wheels, chain, cassette, bar tape and rear brake. Looking to get a new best bike and winterise the Bianchi and will be much more careful speccing the components I want.