When do you stop upgrading your bike?
pbassred
Posts: 208
With my heart just not into the idea of a single purpose full-on road bike, I bought a used CX bike 18 months ago. First to go were the toe clips. (3 days) for MTB/flat shimanos. A couple of weeks later the knobblies were swapped for marathon plus commuter tires. Them a brake upgrade. Shorter cranks (don't knock it it works), power meter, road wheels and 28mm slicks. A succession of saddles....... pedals again...... I can't think of anything else i could justify changing at my level of ability.
I also can't think of a reason to buy another bike, but there must come a point where a bike can't be upgraded any more. What point is that?
I also can't think of a reason to buy another bike, but there must come a point where a bike can't be upgraded any more. What point is that?
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from the sounds of things you have not touched the tip of the upgrsde iceberg....
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour
I am not sure. You have no chance.
You only stop buying bits for a bike when it dies or you sell it to find another bike which you will continue to upgrade.
Quite early I changed the cassette, to give me some easier gears. Then I got some clip-in pedals.
Then I changed the saddle as part of a bike fit, which made the bike miles more comfortable.
That's about it, I pretty much only buy consumables now. Clothes were another matter, it took a lot longer to get the right gear for different times of the year.
But I'm a bit weird, I only have one bike, too!
That's not upgrading - that's selecting different bits to make the bike tolerable.
So very very different.
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour
I forgot, I also bought some Swissstop Greens when the stock pads wore out. They were way better!!
Gotta allow that, surely
No, no, no
Where are the deep rim carbon wheels? Carbon seatpost, stem, aero handlebars? Colour co-ordinated bottle cages? Name stickers with a little flag for your frame? Different pedals, then different chainset cos you want a different ratio or carbon or a power meter or electronic gears or or another set of wheels to use in winter so you don’t damage your nice deep section carbon rims then another chainset different crank arm length cos you wanna try shorter ones cos you read it somewhere in Cycling Weekly.
That’s upgrading
Not to mention the Ti skewers, the lighter tires, the Ti bolts for the chain rings and bottle cages, the lightweight chain, the more expensive close ratio cassette.......
TP above has laid the foundations of your future spending.
New brake pads are just, well, new brake pads.
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour
So it's titanium and aluminium with BSA and external cables, 9 speed Campagnolo, few carbon bits here and there and that's what it will stay until I 'm too old or sick for cycling.
The only significant thing the last 4 years I did was throw away , give away or sell my narrow rims and replace the for wider ones.
So no carbon frames, deep carbon rims, 10/11 speed or whatever else I am supposed to need, they can keep it all.
Cheers Mr. Grumpy.
Two of them! And the Swissstops, they stop the bike much faster than the old ones, so that must be a proper upgrade.
Well, one of them does - the back one only stops the wheel. What's that all about, is there something wrong with it?
Or upgrade your seat post with a longer layback and sit down.
I am not sure. You have no chance.
Then ditch the tyres and wheels and get tubeless and once you got the seat post you have to buy a 200 quid pro logo saddle to match it.
2020 Voodoo Marasa
2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
2016 Voodoo Wazoo
When you can't afford any more parts!
Every time, I slam on the back brake, there's all this scraping noise from behind, and then a bang.
How can so many tyres be defective?
What happens when the only original bit is the front fork?
That reminds me, I bought a pair of bottle cages 2 months ago. Wonder where I put them??
Last time I ventured out I was cursing the fact that the winter bike is currently lacking one on the downtube...
I hate the internet. I have a kind of retail Tourette's. I only have to see something on Amazon / Wiggle / Screwfix and I've bought it.
Admittedly I do it in proper shops too, but I only rarely find myself in them so it's self-contained. The internet's there 24/7 so I can be shopping at 3 am, slightly inebriated and sitting in my pants. Couple of weeks ago the laptop was playing up, and while googling for solutions on the iPad I gave in and just bought a new one...
I wouldn't let that stop you
Then upgrade that. Bleedin' obvious innit.....
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour
What other kind of fork is there?
We're heading into Trigger's broom territory here. Deep, philosophical stuff. I'm sure you can replace every single component, and the frame and fork in time, and still conceive it to be the same bike.
I've never really been into upgrades just for the sake of it. First bike I had built so chose every component apart from the saddle; for years I rode it unchanged, apart from a couple of saddle swaps till I found one that suited me.
10 years on it's my winter bike and still running most of the original kit.
The second, summer bike was one of those Pavlovian click type purchases; £500 for a CR1-SL frameset, then built it up with cheap and / or second hand bits and pieces. I haven't really done it justice; it's crying out for better, lighter kit, but the only functional upgrades have been some s/h 5800 calipers, a s/h Spesh Power saddle and decent tyres.
Beyond that, I just replace stuff that breaks or wears out
I am not sure. You have no chance.
Sell things you dont need, kids, family member, a kidney...
I'm debating new stem spacers on the bike I've not even built yet, its an upgrade they are shiny alloy not painted that means their lighter which is weight saving
Easty commuter
Tripster AT
Like I don't know how to pull on a brake lever!
Adds 1mph top end if you do it this way.
I once got a mate to buy an entire Red groupset for me and paid him off at £10 a week. He got bored by the time I had paid half of it off and let me off the rest, so a win-win situation all round.
If you get the cash out secretly from the joint account (a tenner here or there on cash back from Edwyn’s emporiorium when doing a food or wine shop doesn’t show as a withdrawal from the account) and soon adds up to a new shiny bit here or there. Other shops are available that provide cash back but none as good as Edwyns.......
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour
I am not sure. You have no chance.