What to upgrade for £150?

bongofish

Hey all!

So some of you on this forum may know I just bought this for £550


https://m.gooutdoors.co.uk/calibre-nibi ... ke-p347145

I've just sold one of my old bikes and my wife's said I can use £150 of it for anything I want haha. So is there anything you guys would upgrade on this for £150? I don't have clipless pedals but I've never road in them and find myself putting my feet down alot at junctions and stuff and not sure if I actually want them. Is there any light none ipless pedals anyone recommends? Or any other upgrades?

I could push it to £200 upgrade if it was going to make a significant difference

cooldad

Blow and hookers.

bongofish

cooldad wrote:

Blow and hookers.

It's not the worst idea but I don't think the wife would appreciate it haha. So would that mean you would leave it as?

I didn't know if maybe there were some descent wheels to get for £200 that would be lighter/better.

supermurph09

If you can take it back, that gives you a budget of £700?

I’d look here: https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/bikes/big-bike-sale/

N0bodyOfTheGoat

For a single item purchase, if you have big aspirations of improving your fitness in an analytical way, you could do a lot worse than buying a power meter for £200. It's the cheapest it has been, I paid £340 for mine last spring.

https://m.probikekit.co.uk/cycling-powe ... 73311.html

Just make sure the crankset on your bike is Hollowtech II type.

But you could easily spend £200 on bits like...
GPS computer
A pair of nice tyres like GP4000S IIs
Clipless pedals
Clipless shoes
Cycle clothing
Etc.

bongofish

NitrousOxide wrote:

For a single item purchase, if you have big aspirations of improving your fitness in an analytical way, you could do a lot worse than buying a power meter for £200. It's the cheapest it has been, I paid £340 for mine last spring.

https://m.probikekit.co.uk/cycling-powe ... 73311.html

Just make sure the crankset on your bike is Hollowtech II type.

But you could easily spend £200 on bits like...
GPS computer
A pair of nice tyres like GP4000S IIs
Clipless pedals
Clipless shoes
Cycle clothing
Etc.

Cheers for the reply. I use my phone on my bike as GPS and Strava much prefer big colour screen. Never ride for more than 3 hours straight so battery isn't a problem. Yeh going clipless may be the way I go. Just don't know if I'll like it. I instantly swapped tyres on picking it up to continental gator skins because I absolutely hate punctures and find gator skins still roll extremely well. And cycle clothing just seems like spending for the sake of it. I didn't know if anyone would recommend upgrading the brakes or the wheels or to anything that would substantially lighten the bike a bit.

mrb123

You'll not find many people, if any, riding road bikes who have gone back to flat pedals having tried clipless.

They can take a bit of getting used to but it it always worth it. Maybe try the double sided SPD type to begin with. You can get the ultra reliable Shimano M520 pedals for about 20 quid.

bongofish

MrB123 wrote:

You'll not find many people, if any, riding road bikes who have gone back to flat pedals having tried clipless.

They can take a bit of getting used to but it it always worth it. Maybe try the double sided SPD type to begin with. You can get the ultra reliable Shimano M520 pedals for about 20 quid.

Are they heavy at all?

mrb123

Not especially.

Wayne Plunger

To be perfectly honest I would keep my one and a half in my trousers until I knew what I needed rather than take the opinion of people you don't know and who don't know your ins and outs.

Failing that I am really skint at the moment and £150 would buy my family food for three months, if you wish to send it to me please PM me and I will tell you which motorway flyover bridge to leave it under.

cougie

Clipless pedals will be the best upgrade but if you're not ready for them yet just get used to the bike.

napoleond

Keep it. Or, if my wife suggested something as selfless, I’d take her out for dinner.

bongofish

NapoleonD wrote:

Keep it. Or, if my wife suggested something as selfless, I’d take her out for dinner.

You sir are a good man haha.

Me on the other hand...we don't really go out for dinner much, we have a young family and I work long hours in the week. I don't think there's anything to selfless about saying your selling something you personally own so you can keep 1/4 of it but I want the other 3/4 in our bank. If we was struggling to eat maybe. If she sold something of hers I honestly would not be telling her what to do with her money. I'm happy to have my money to spend but I don't think k I've been graced by God to be able to keep some of it haha

Cheeseface22

Boring but perhaps sensible suggestions from me, considering you're a young family.

- Decent bike lights (even if you only cycle during the day): At least 400lumens on front and 25lumens on rear (and get two for rear as one for back up). Around £40 if you shop around online with discount code.

- British Cycle or similar membership and get liability and legal advice. I have a commuter membership (there are others) from BC and it was like £30/year for a piece of mind if you get involved in an incident.

- A good lock (if you ever have to secure it outside): Look out for SOLD Gold standard ones, D-lock + cable types, or 2x D-locks. I don't know how much those costs these days. One off investment, had mine over 5yrs ago and my bike is still with me.

- And whatever is left... well, Valentine's Day isn't that far away... Card, flower, indulging chocolate or foam bath + candle seem to please our better halves.

I realise these aren't exciting "spending," but it’ll keep you safer on road, give you piece of mind if something goes wrong, and getting a brownie points from your wife is always worth the effort.

In terms of mechanical performance enhancement upgrade, I’d put that aside for a while until you get used to the bike and see what you want to change overtime. £550 on a complete bike is on a budget level set up, so you might find that selling it and upgrading to a more sophisticated level from about £700+ might be much more economical than having to upgrade components and ending up spending as much as a brand new, middle range complete bike. Buying bike parts separately costs much more than buying a complete bike.

Just an idea of what I might do (I commute so maybe I’m a lot more safety conscience).

Whatever you do with your £150 and your bike, just enjoy your new bike!

bongofish

Cheeseface22 wrote:

Boring but perhaps sensible suggestions from me, considering you're a young family.

- Decent bike lights (even if you only cycle during the day): At least 400lumens on front and 25lumens on rear (and get two for rear as one for back up). Around £40 if you shop around online with discount code.

- British Cycle or similar membership and get liability and legal advice. I have a commuter membership (there are others) from BC and it was like £30/year for a piece of mind if you get involved in an incident.

- A good lock (if you ever have to secure it outside): Look out for SOLD Gold standard ones, D-lock + cable types, or 2x D-locks. I don't know how much those costs these days. One off investment, had mine over 5yrs ago and my bike is still with me.

- And whatever is left... well, Valentine's Day isn't that far away... Card, flower, indulging chocolate or foam bath + candle seem to please our better halves.

I realise these aren't exciting "spending," but it’ll keep you safer on road, give you piece of mind if something goes wrong, and getting a brownie points from your wife is always worth the effort.

In terms of mechanical performance enhancement upgrade, I’d put that aside for a while until you get used to the bike and see what you want to change overtime. £550 on a complete bike is on a budget level set up, so you might find that selling it and upgrading to a more sophisticated level from about £700+ might be much more economical than having to upgrade components and ending up spending as much as a brand new, middle range complete bike. Buying bike parts separately costs much more than buying a complete bike.

Just an idea of what I might do (I commute so maybe I’m a lot more safety conscience).

Whatever you do with your £150 and your bike, just enjoy your new bike!

Thanks for the great reply. I already have eughts and are VERY impressed with them. £29 from Amazon 400 lumens with different settings and an auto setting where it increases or decreases the front light depending how light it is. And the rear light is so bright and has 6 different settings.

I have a bike lock too, but just a £10 Halfords one but has seemed to work for theast year with all my bikes.

I don't have a road bike helmet so not sure if it's worth getting a road specific one....if I'm honest I. Not even wearing a helmet in the current weather and just wearing a Woolley hat (bad I know ) . Also was thinking about maybe getting a Garmin computer (the 520) instead of using my phone on my bike but not sure if it's actually worth it. Hmmmm

Also if anyone's wondering I just bought my wife a necklace yesterday for valentine's Day so I'm covered there haha

minnnt

Sounds like you’re not sure about a lot of things!

If you’re not wearing a helmet then this would be my first port of call. I’d then ride the bike for a month and see if you actually enjoy it. If you do then look into getting some cycling clothes along with clipless pedals and shoes. As suggested, the m520 spuds are ideal and can be had for around £20 if you shop around.

Spending money on better brakes etc is daft when you don’t have a helmet... (obviously just my opinion)

Wayne Plunger

minnnt wrote:

Sounds like you’re not sure about a lot of things!


Spending money on better brakes etc is daft when you don’t have a helmet... (obviously just my opinion)

As someone whose head (in helmet) bounced along the tarmac this week I would endorse this statement. As minnnt points out though others may disagree.

Livewire

Clipless all the way, for that price you can get a half decent pair of shoes and pedals.

You won't regret it, apart from the couple of times you hit the deck... I only tipped off once when I made the switch.