Upgrading!
royalcbr
Posts: 15
I've been cycling now for a few months seriously and kind of feel that perhaps some upgrades might be in order for my trusty machine.
As I didn't have a massive budget to begin with I decided to go for a Boardman CX Comp - as I felt with it being a cyclocross bike it would give me some flexibility when it comes to types of routes.
I've upgraded the tyres to something more suitable for the road, a saddle and also have SPDs now, but I was thinking what would be a good next step upgrade?
The current spec is as follows:
Shifters: Shimano Sora
Front mech: Shimano Sora 2 speed
Rear mech: Shimano Sore 9 speed (double cage)
Chainset: FSA Velo Compact 50/34t
Cassette: Shimano HG50 11-32t
Chain: KMC Z99
Bottom bracket: FSA square taper 68mm shell
Any suggestions would be welcomed
As I didn't have a massive budget to begin with I decided to go for a Boardman CX Comp - as I felt with it being a cyclocross bike it would give me some flexibility when it comes to types of routes.
I've upgraded the tyres to something more suitable for the road, a saddle and also have SPDs now, but I was thinking what would be a good next step upgrade?
The current spec is as follows:
Shifters: Shimano Sora
Front mech: Shimano Sora 2 speed
Rear mech: Shimano Sore 9 speed (double cage)
Chainset: FSA Velo Compact 50/34t
Cassette: Shimano HG50 11-32t
Chain: KMC Z99
Bottom bracket: FSA square taper 68mm shell
Any suggestions would be welcomed
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Comments
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If the bike fits, is comfortable and has the right gearing, you've already done some of the contact points so there isn't really anything left to 'upgrade'.
Spend the money on some comfier clothing, a GPS or other. It depends what you want to achieve really.0 -
I agree, nothing wrong with the bike. I'd look at clothing- good quality shorts make the world of difference if you haven't already invested for example. Maybe quality eyewear? Treat yourself to a the likes of Assos or Rapha or something of similar quality.0
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Tyres "suitable for the road" includes a lot of tyres that I wouldn't want on a bike. Have you got some decent rubber, like Conti GP4000sII or Schwalbe One?
Slightly off-piste but I wouldn't want such a wide range on my cassette in 9 speed, 11-32 is pretty big and will inevitably have some big jumps. Some folks are ok with that but it may be worth looking at something like a 12-28 when it comes to needing a replacement. Losing the 11 is no big deal (learn to spin faster) and the drop from 32 to 28 will still leave a very low 34/28 combo.0 -
I've been cycling now for a few months seriously and kind of feel that perhaps some upgrades might be in order for my trusty machine.
As I didn't have a massive budget to begin with I decided to go for a Boardman CX Comp - as I felt with it being a cyclocross bike it would give me some flexibility when it comes to types of routes.
I've upgraded the tyres to something more suitable for the road, a saddle and also have SPDs now, but I was thinking what would be a good next step upgrade?
The current spec is as follows:
Shifters: Shimano Sora
Front mech: Shimano Sora 2 speed
Rear mech: Shimano Sore 9 speed (double cage)
Chainset: FSA Velo Compact 50/34t
Cassette: Shimano HG50 11-32t
Chain: KMC Z99
Bottom bracket: FSA square taper 68mm shell
Any suggestions would be welcomed
The normal suggestion for an upgrade would be a better wheelset but this would not be a budget item. I'd go with ipete's suggestions.0 -
If you do choose to go down the clothing upgrade route - check out this thread - viewtopic.php?f=40042&t=13028668
Can nab some quality Italian bibs for £70ish after discount, which are supposedly equal to Rapha quality, from La Passione.
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I'm in the same position and other than wheels i'll be upgrading the chainset first. It was advised by a fellow club member because you are likely to lose power with a flimsier chainset.0
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I'm in the same position and other than wheels i'll be upgrading the chainset first. It was advised by a fellow club member because you are likely to lose power with a flimsier chainset.
Will not make a Sh1te of difference for mere mortals. You really think you are powerful enough to bend a chainset enough to make a decent difference in power? Unless you are racing at world tour level it doesn't matter anyway.0 -
I'm in the same position and other than wheels i'll be upgrading the chainset first. It was advised by a fellow club member because you are likely to lose power with a flimsier chainset.
Will not make a Sh1te of difference for mere mortals. You really think you are powerful enough to bend a chainset enough to make a decent difference in power? Unless you are racing at world tour level it doesn't matter anyway.
By flimsier i mean poorer quality, never said anything about bending it. Of course you'd feel the difference, everybody can exert power through their bike, and its generally through the chainset.
A better chainset is likely be lighter and stiffer which equates to better power transfer.0 -
I would focus on upgrading you at this point.. after I had stuck some decent rubber on it (maybe some lighter wheels as well and possibly carbon bars if you want some more comfort..)..
Decent bike, decent spec, now forget about the gear (as most on here fail to do unfortunately...) and go out and ride it!!
bob6397Boardman HT Team - Hardtail
Rose Pro-SL 2000 - Roadie0 -
The bike is fine. The vast majority of us won't feel the difference between deraillieurs/chainsets etc. (not that this stops us buying 'better' ones of course!).
Spend the money on something you will remember for much longer than a new chainset.
Give yourself a target to work towards - spend some of the money on entering an event and make that your goal.
Or treat yourself to a night away in a B&B and do a little mini tour - pick somewhere X miles away from home and ride out to it, spend the night, treat yourself to a nice dinner and then ride home the next day.
Both of those will make more difference to your enjoyment of riding and your memories than some new piece of metal.0 -
I'm in the same position and other than wheels i'll be upgrading the chainset first. It was advised by a fellow club member because you are likely to lose power with a flimsier chainset.
Will not make a Sh1te of difference for mere mortals. You really think you are powerful enough to bend a chainset enough to make a decent difference in power? Unless you are racing at world tour level it doesn't matter anyway.
Yepp, what he said.0 -
I'm in the same position and other than wheels i'll be upgrading the chainset first. It was advised by a fellow club member because you are likely to lose power with a flimsier chainset.
Will not make a Sh1te of difference for mere mortals. You really think you are powerful enough to bend a chainset enough to make a decent difference in power? Unless you are racing at world tour level it doesn't matter anyway.
By flimsier i mean poorer quality, never said anything about bending it. Of course you'd feel the difference, everybody can exert power through their bike, and its generally through the chainset.
A better chainset is likely be lighter and stiffer which equates to better power transfer.
You can believe that if you want. But as others have said, I would be massively surprised if you can detect any difference whatsoever in power transfer with a different chainset. You might notice a weight difference, but power transfer? Come on..0 -
Don't think you'd go far wrong with the new Shimano 5800 Groupset as an upgrade. It's getting good reviews and can be bought for good price online.0
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I'll echo a lot of what is said here - you don't need an upgrade, ride your bike.
However.
Sooner or later the chainrings will get worn. At that point, rather than replacing the chainrings I'd buy a new Shimano chainset. If you want to maintain the Sora components and guarantee best performance with the 9 speed set up, Ribble have the Sora chainset for £40 (less another 10% weekend discount code running this weekend):
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/chainsets-chainsets-road-shimano-sora-double-3550-9-speed-chainset/shimchar491
You'll also need a hollowtech 2 bottom bracket - here you can splash out on eg an ultegra spec bottom bracket, they're dirt cheap (often cheaper than square taper BBs in fact, which is what you'll need at the moment):
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/bottom-brackets-bottom-brackets-shimano-bb-r60-11-speed-cups-ultegra-6800-105-5800/shimbtbr744
Of course, you could keep your old chainset and later swap the chainrings across if you want to upgrade now... ;-) It's not a massive amount of money to spend, but external-cup bottom brackets are more stable (and give marginally better power transfer) than the old square tapers. This is probably the cheapest thing you could do (now that you've changed tyres) which will actually qualify as an upgrade, rather than just change for the sake of it.
Next up the price scale, those Tektro Lyra brakes are a bit cheap and cheerful. You'll get better performance and other advantages by going to TRP Spyres, or TRP HyRds - both have their own pros and cons, I'll let you do the research. You can save money by just upgrading the front brake as that will make the bigger difference.
Next up is upgrading the wheelset. Assuming you aren't a heavy rider, the Kinesis Crosslight Disc wheelset is very well regarded, I've heard nothing but good things:
http://www.merlincycles.com/kinesis-crosslight-cx-disc-wheels-68254.html
The nice thing about getting another wheelset is that you can give your bike split personalities - you put road tyres on one set, off road tyres on another and (assuming you fit a cassette and brake rotor on both wheelsets) its very quick and easy to changeover depending on what kind of ride you're going on. As a commuter, it means I can keep my spiked ice tyres ready to go in winter, but don't have to ride them on the milder days.
One other upgrade you could contemplate is replacing the aluminium fork with a carbon fibre model - this should give you a bit more comfort and take down the weight of the bike. This is where compatibility can get a bit fiddly though, so is perhaps better done once you know your stuff. In theory though, Planet-x recently had the 'London Road' frameset for £150, which is both alu frame and carbon fibre fork, which should constitute an upgrade for you - whether it would be a good enough upgrade to be worthwhile with the effort moving all the components over is debatable.
Beyond that, you can look at upgrading the groupset/frameset, but at that point you'd be better spending your money on a nice new bike, and you will probably get better value for your money that way. If you spend more time riding, you might get a better idea of whether you want to get a dedicated road bike, or another better cyclocross bike, or even some kind of MTB.
So there, I've given you plenty of scratch for your upgrade itch!0 -
But before you do any of the above, upgrade your tool kit first. Invest in a workstand, full toolset and learn jobs as you go. It's a worthy upgrade that will save you money.0
