Is Colnago Primavera still worth investing into?

iceinbangkok

I have had this bike (Tiagra spec) for 3 or 4 years - but only started riding seriously in last 6 months - so it has seen less than 2ks of riding (only one minor spill). I ride 3-4 times a week and am reasonably fit. I want to enter some races, sportives - 100 mile race towards the end of the year. I changed the seat post and handle bar stem to 3T carbon making it quite comfortable (never ridden full carbon). I also upgraded the wheels to H Plus Son Rims/DT Swiss spokes from Velomine. The bike weighs about 9kgs now. I am considering whether I should keep going and upgrade the Tiagra 4500 to new 105 or even Ultegra. I am keen on aluminium as my budget will never extend to stiff-enough carbon + decent wheels so I am not tempted to try to go full carbon. But I have looked sideways at the Giant TCR SLR 1 (Ultegra) which is 1kg lighter than my set up now. Should I invest into better lighter groupset for the Primavera - does the frame still warrant it? Or wait and upgrade - is the TCR SLR a much better frame?

frisbee

If the gears are reliable, the brakes work and nothing needs constant adjustment then I would stick with your current bike as it is. The weight reduction is negligible, just doing regular miles will result in the average person loosing a complete bike's worth of weight.

Maintenance bits, tools, clothing etc. will quickly build up to a decent yearly spend on their own.

napoleond

The frame is great. I had an alloy Arte that I put top kit on and loved it. Wish I'd never sold it.

GGBiker

NapoleonD wrote:

The frame is great. I had an alloy Arte that I put top kit on and loved it. Wish I'd never sold it.

I picked up a second hand primavera frame for a great price a couple of years ago and built it up with 10spd campagnolo veloce/centaur. Lovely bike to ride, I use it as a winter bike with clip on mudguards and for wet weather in the summer. Definitely not as comfortable as my carbon frame but nice to ride and handles beautifully, would be interesting to build it up with chorus and decent wheels to see how good it is.

napoleond

It's the handling that's the standout feature.
They ride so well on fast descents. All colnagos do.

iceinbangkok

Thanks for the replies - it makes sense. I think especially as the bike fits me it makes sense to stick with it - good to know the frame is well regarded. Seems like it could be worth adding to even if it is just to replace gearing with better stuff as things wear. Cheers