New roadie needs advice upgrading 2016 Trek Domane 4.0 disc

Red27

Hello, I'm a long time MTBer wanting to get into road biking. I test road several Specialized, Trek and Cannondales and quickly realized I wanted an endurance style geo so narrowed it down to the Roubaix, Domane and Synapse (I know there are many others I could have tried but I've tried to keep this simple as there are so many options). I started my search on Craigslist figuring maybe I could find a nicer used, high-end bike for the money vs a lower-end new bike. I ended up finding a barely used 2016 Trek Domane 4.0 disc 56cm that someone received as a gift and never used (less than 50 miles total) for 1/3rd the price of a new one. Though it comes with Sora, and other low-end components, I figured it will be a good first road bike to get started on and and a good platform to upgrade over time. BTW- I'm 43 y/o, 6' (183cm) tall, 193 lbs, 32" (813mm) inseam going by pant size but not sure of exact length.

First off, I understand that the bike is plenty rideable as it is stock so I plan to do that but I'm also a tinkerer and enjoy working on my toys be it my motorcycles, MTBs, etc. So I'd like your input on what components would be good to upgrade and in which order. I'm not going to run out and do it all at once but I'd still like to put together a gameplan so I can spend countless hours researching the different options which is part of the fun.

So if you had a brand new Domane 4.0 disc, where would you start? I'd like to start with some of the cheaper items that will give me the most bang for my buck. I don't have go from Sora to the best but don't mind paying a bit more for some Ultegra vs 105 parts if it's not way more expensive. However, if with some items it makes no sense to go higher-end, that would be good to know.

Here are a few thoughts/questions I've come up with:
-Ultegra 6800 rear derailleur (medium cage) $60
-Ultegra 6800 front derailleur $39
-Ultegra 6800 11-32 cassette. $63 Most of the year I live in Brevard, North Carolina near Asheville where there are a lot of hills so I'd appreciate your advice for best gearing.
-Ultegra crankset 50-34. $200 Again, open to advice on gearing. Also looking for advice on crank arm length, 170mm? 175mm? What comes stock on a 56cm Trek Domane?
-Ultegra shifters $200. Here's where I need considerable help. The Domane 4.0 comes with TRP’s HY/RD mechanical disc brakes. First, do I keep the mechanical brakes as I've read these are really good for mechanical brakes, if so what shifter do I get? Or, do I eventually upgrade to hydraulic disc brakes and what all can I keep and what all do I need to change out? I really want to get the cables routed under the grips as this is one aspect I don't like about the Sora shifters.

Also, is it worth changing out the seat post or handlebars? I won't even get into wheels and tires at this point but I eventually wouldn't mind going to wider tires and wonder what size and model would be good to further smooth out the vibration? 28c? 30c?

I'll leave it at this for now as I've already asked a ton of questions. Thanks in advance for all your help!

cougie

Nothing needs upgrading. You can change the gearset over but you won't notice anything different. Keep the money until you either break something or find something you want to change.

imposter2.0

Pretty much as cougie says above. All I would add is that gearing is not really an 'upgrade' but your gear choice should depend on a) your fitness and b) the terrain you ride on. Ultegra is not going to get you up hills any quicker than Sora, unless you are into saving milliseconds.

Tyre choice will have the biggest and most immediate impact on your riding. But you said you didn't want to get into that.

Red27

Thanks for the responses! That's good to know and I figured Trek wouldn't put out a bike that is absolute rubbish so I figured it would be adequate for me as I get up to speed. That said, I ended up with a bike way below my budget so there is room to make some upgrades, knowing they won't make me any faster. For me that's part of the fun, spend $50 here, $100 there and slowly improve my bike. Some of the questions above are to educate myself since several of the more expensive upgrades (shifters, crankset) would be done down the road so it would be good to at least know what to look for.

The options for upgrading the shifters/brakes is the most confusing to me. This would be a ways down the road but what options are there if the bike has the TRP mechanical disk brakes and I wanted to go to different shifters that kept the cables inside the grips? I don't see an Ultegra option for that to use with the mechanical brakes. Or, would it require upgrading to hydraulic disc brakes and what does that entail?

I'm very open to getting new tires I just didn't want to bombard you with too many questions in my first post. If I'm wanting to go to a wider and nicer tire, what would you suggest? How wide could go on this bike? Do the stock rims limit how wide I could go to where I'd likely want to wait until I upgraded the wheels before upgrading the tires?

Tires are probably the first thing I'd like upgrade and probably as wide as rationally possible because some of the roads around me are chipseal and it rains a lot here so both traction and vibration damping come into play. If rim width doesn't limit me, what tires (and tubes) would you recommend?

Thanks!

janwal

If you spend $200 on Ultegra shifters you will have to spend it again or even more later to get hydraulic ones.TRP brakes are ok but on my Domane I could never get the rear one to be really that brilliant.Although changing to Swisstop green pads did make a big improvement?I have since changed the whole groupset to SRAM 1x11 hydraulic with 11-42 cassette and 42 tooth chainring.The brakes are a lot better as you would expect,much more feel and one finger braking is so easy.I chose the SRAM as I wanted to try it instead of the Ultegra that was on.
I never used the Sora on it as I had the Ultegra already and had it fitted before delivery. They worked just fine with the TRP's as would 105 I am sure.
The SRAM has the same range as about a 13-34 So plenty of climbing gears and I am not a speed merchant downhills so it's fine for what I need.
In fact I like it so much I have bought a Boardman cx team with the same on in the sale as a winter bike.
I have run Continental GP2000's 28's with mudguards on with still plenty of clearance and they run nearly 30 wide.

Red27

janwal wrote:

If you spend $200 on Ultegra shifters you will have to spend it again or even more later to get hydraulic ones.TRP brakes are ok but on my Domane I could never get the rear one to be really that brilliant.Although changing to Swisstop green pads did make a big improvement?I have since changed the whole groupset to SRAM 1x11 hydraulic with 11-42 cassette and 42 tooth chainring.The brakes are a lot better as you would expect,much more feel and one finger braking is so easy.I chose the SRAM as I wanted to try it instead of the Ultegra that was on.
I never used the Sora on it as I had the Ultegra already and had it fitted before delivery. They worked just fine with the TRP's as would 105 I am sure.
The SRAM has the same range as about a 13-34 So plenty of climbing gears and I am not a speed merchant downhills so it's fine for what I need.
In fact I like it so much I have bought a Boardman cx team with the same on in the sale as a winter bike.
I have run Continental GP2000's 28's with mudguards on with still plenty of clearance and they run nearly 30 wide.

Thanks for the info janwal! The shifters will wait until later on when I know enough to know what I'm doing with the brakes but just so I understand, you started with all Ultegra goupset and the Ultegra shifters worked with the TRP mechanical disc brakes? I thought the Ultegra shifters only worked with hydraulic brakes. Did you go with SRAM Force hydraulic brakes? Starting with what comes stock on the 4.0 disc brake system, what is kept and what comes with either SRAM, Shimano or other, hydraulic brake system? Would you use the same rotors or buy those as well? It looks like the shifters are part of the brake system so I assume you wouldn't mix SRAM Force hydraulic Brakes with Ultegra derailleurs, crankset, and vice versa? Sorry for all the questions but I'm trying to understand how all this works together.

Thanks!

Red27

I think my first upgrade is going to be the 28c (or larger) tires/tyres. What is a good road tire that is comfortable, durable and is good on smooth asphalt, chipseal and on wet roads (I don't plan to head out in the rain but want something that is ok if I RARELY get caught out in it). I see good reviews on Continental Grand Prix 4000 II and Gatorskins but I know there are a lot of options and don't know which will be best for me. I noticed the Gatorskin comes in both 28c and 32c. I read of guys running a 32c up front and 28c on the back but am I best off going with 28c on both?

Thanks!

janwal

The Ultegra cable shifters work fine with TRP brakes.As far as I know you cannot use Ultegra shifters with SRAM derailleurs as the pull ratio on the cables are different.Or vica versa .I wouldn't go wider than 28's on the standard rims with the GP 4000's , as I say they run 30 wide anyway.Gatorskins may be narrower as I don't think the tyre walls are as supple so you may be able to go up a size.
I did get a full force hydraulic groupset when I changed.I liked the idea of the 1x system simplicity and have not been disappointed so far.

Red27

janwal wrote:

The Ultegra cable shifters work fine with TRP brakes.As far as I know you cannot use Ultegra shifters with SRAM derailleurs as the pull ratio on the cables are different.Or vica versa .I wouldn't go wider than 28's on the standard rims with the GP 4000's , as I say they run 30 wide anyway.Gatorskins may be narrower as I don't think the tyre walls are as supple so you may be able to go up a size.
I did get a full force hydraulic groupset when I changed.I liked the idea of the 1x system simplicity and have not been disappointed so far.

Cool, I'll go with the 28 GP 4000s as they seem to get good enough reviews and you confirmed what I read about them actually being about 30mm so that's a bonus.

I'm sorry to keep bringing up the Ultegra shifters but I want to make sure I'm clear on this. The Ultegra shifters will work with my TRP brakes so a Ultegra groupset would work except if I decided later on to get hydraulic disc brakes I'd need different shifters right? However, SRAM does make Force shifters that work on hydraulic disc brakes but not mechanical disc brakes? What needs to be different about the shifters to work with hydraulic vs cables and why couldn't that part be changed out (i.e. cables swapped out for hydraulic lines)?

The only reason I keep asking about the shifters/brakes which I don't plan to upgrade for awhile is because I don't want to start down the Ultegra road, starting with derailleurs or something, only to realize later on that I want to upgrade to hydraulic disc brakes....and then have to switch over to SRAM components. I guess the one positive if I realize I can live with the mechanical disc brakes is that the Ultegra shifters will work with them.

I thought getting this 4.0 disc was going to make eventually upgrading brake components easier but there still seems to be incompatibility issues. I'm used to motocross where a variety of brake levers will work with a variety of calipers, brake pads, rotors, master cylinders etc so you have many options to upgrade, whether replacing a lot of brake parts, or just one item at a time and it all still works together.

Thanks for the help, I'm learning!

janwal

Yes the Ultegra groupset will be fine with your trp's.You Can't change a cable shifter to a hydraulic one though as they are completely different,only cable in them and a hydraulic reservoir for the brakes. You also can't just put an Ultegra derailleur onto your Sora shifters as they' are 11 speed Sora is 9 speed.It would have to be a complete groupset from the start.
You could save some money by going to 105 hydraulic which many say is just as good.Just check that the calipers you get are for post mount which the Domane is.Some are now flat mount and won't fit.

Dan_xz

Go ride the bike as it is and hit those local hills. If you find it tough but make it up then keep the cassette as you will improve with time. If you really struggle to the point of getting off and walking then go for the 11-32 cassette.
After that tyres as you are doing. Then wheels if the budget allows - these are usually the lowest spec part of factory spec bike.

Red27

Dan_xz wrote:

Go ride the bike as it is and hit those local hills. If you find it tough but make it up then keep the cassette as you will improve with time. If you really struggle to the point of getting off and walking then go for the 11-32 cassette.
After that tyres as you are doing. Then wheels if the budget allows - these are usually the lowest spec part of factory spec bike.

Thanks! I pick up the bike tomorrow so I can start riding it and compare the equipment to some of the bikes I've been test riding. Unfortunately, I'll be stuck down at our Florida the next couple weeks so no hills but I'll be back up to the NC mountains the beginning of July to get a feel for the gearing. So tires will be the first upgrade and then if all of the shifting and brakes seems solid with the lower-end Sora components I'm wondering if some cheaper (but still highly rated) Chinese Carbon tires like Far Sports would be a worthy upgrade given that tires and wheels could be moved over to future bikes. I realize these aren't brand name carbon wheels but they seem to get really good reviews and they stand by their products so do you think $600ish towards wheels would be money better spent than $600ish towards new Ultegra groupset? My thoughts with this is I know bike companies tend to give huge discounts in the fall so if I found a really good deal on a higher-end bike I could always put the old wheels and tires back on and sell it for at least what I paid, or possibly more, given the deal I got. now Farsports says that their hubs are compatible with 9, 10 or 11 speed. Does that mean I'd slip the cassette and disc brakes off the Bontrager wheel and onto the carbon wheelset and be good to go or is it more complex than that?

Possibly something like:
https://www.wheelsfar.com/disc-brake/25 ... elset.html
or
https://www.wheelsfar.com/disc-brake/25 ... elset.html