Worth upgrading wheels on a CAAD8 105?

Holmesy321

Hello,

So inevitably with the end of season sales I have been looking at new bikes (Giant TCR with ultegra and, perhaps, disc brakes are top of the shortlist),

I kind of relegated myself to instead maybe upgrading the wheels on my CAAD8 which i've been riding for 2 and a bit years now. However I'm having second thoughts as to whether it's really worth spending say 400 quid or so on a wheelset (Ksyriums, Hunt or handbuilt at a similar price) for a bike that only retailed at 999 anyway.

Is the CAAD8 105 is 'worth' a 500 quid wheelset. It is billed as '105', but in fact the brakes are Tektro (that said, they work fine), and the cranks are FSA Gossamer on a BB30 bottom bracket (which, after some creakage early on, I'm a little dubious of the quality of).

Is buying good wheels for this bike polishing a turd? I know that I could buy these and they'd probably still be an upgrade for my next bike - however I have a feeling my next bike will be disc, so that's not the case.

Cheers

foggymike

I'm currently running some £650 wheels on a caad5! I got it on a sale about 15 years ago for the same kind of price and nothing but the frame is left of the original bike. It got resprayed after the first 5 years or so and is now on it's 4th groupset - currently 6800 Ultegra. If you enjoy a bike I don't think it matters what it cost originally. I still love every minute I spend on my caad5 despite having more flashy machines that cost many times as much. The flashy bikes with aero this and carbon that are barely any faster or more comfortable - expensive lesson that!

£400 wheels on a £1000 bike seems perfectly reasonable to me, but only worth pursuing if you get on with the bike otherwise.

Matthewfalle

foggymike wrote:

I'm currently running some £650 wheels on a caad5! I got it on a sale about 15 years ago for the same kind of price and nothing but the frame is left of the original bike. It got resprayed after the first 5 years or so and is now on it's 4th groupset - currently 6800 Ultegra. If you enjoy a bike I don't think it matters what it cost originally. I still love every minute I spend on my caad5 despite having more flashy machines that cost many times as much. The flashy bikes with aero this and carbon that are barely any faster or more comfortable - expensive lesson that!

£400 wheels on a £1000 bike seems perfectly reasonable to me, but only worth pursuing if you get on with the bike otherwise.

This.

fat daddy

funnily enough, I have noticed more difference upgrading wheels sets than I have frame sets.

one argument could suggest that people should buy wheels, then decide on the frame to go with it

So yeah, buy a decent set of wheels .. then decide if there is any benefit in upgrading the frame

Holmesy321

Fair, sounds sensible. I am still only a few years into cycling so am probably over eager to spend in an effort to try different stuff that, as someone's pointed out, is not always more fun or more comfortable or whatever despite costing many pennies!

I wouldn't have a second thought if I knew the next bike would be caliper (so I could use these wheels on that too).


With regards to the CAAD5, I have a Capo track frame that was based on the CAAD5... bloody brilliant frame. That deserves WAY better kit than I've built it up with, but I digress.

pblakeney

Simple solution. Wait until the rims are worn*, then replace. When I say replace, I mean upgrade. No one simply replaces. Do they? Those wheels can then be transferred to any upgraded future bike.
*If they are not wearing then get out on your bike more.

singleton

Yes it's worth upgrading wheels. I'll be selling some 4 Season Hunt wheels off my CAAD10 soon and they have been very good.

adetowell

Ooh was thinking of getting some Hunt 4 seasons for a titanium road bike build, may be interested if you do put them up for sale

roubaixmb

Yes. Like others I've upgraded wheels and groupset on mine. Enjoy riding it now more than I did when it had tiagra and stock wheels.