Should I spend money upgrading an old bike
Options are Di2, a new paint job, carbon wheels, and a new cockpit. About 4k including buying the bike back.
The question is, is it worth it? What's everyone's opinion
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With a £4k budget I would just buy a new bike. There are lots of options around at that price point, although Di2 and carbon wheels may be a bit of a stretch if you went down that route. Obviously it's a personal choice though, if you love that frame and don't think there are any current options you would enjoy riding more than the Madone, then buy it back.
After many years and many bikes I have found that I just buy bikes now that I love to ride and suit the miles and terrain I regularly cycle. I brought a CAAD12 a couple of years back, put sram force mechanical on it and a set of mavics. The whole bike cost around £2k and I get more enjoyment riding it than plenty of other far more costly bikes I have owned over the years.2 -
It would be a summer bike. Rim braked. Live in the lakes so would like to lower the gearing a bit0
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You could get a new bike with Di2 and carbon wheels for less than £4K.
Something like this:
">https://boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/products/2360-slr-9.6-disc-2021.html
Or something from Ribble, Dolan and a whole bunch of bikes on Wiggle too1 -
The current vogue is for bigger tyres eg 25 or 28mm and I reckon your 2013 Madone might struggle to accommodate these bigger sizes. As already said above, my suggestion would be to get some decent handbuilt wheels and change the cassette to a wider range if you need it for the Lake District hills. You can go 11-32 or 34 if you want.
https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-hg500-10-speed-cassette-61919.html?utm_source=PHG&utm_medium=AffiliateMarketing&utm_campaign=phg-GB&ucpo=44641&source=PHG
You might have to invest in a GS rear derailleur if one is not already fitted to the bike but the outlay will be modest.
If you're determined to splash out £4K then look at a new bike for that money rather than upgrading a 7 year old frame
For example you could have gone for a Rose X-Lite 4 with Ultegra Di2 at around Euro 3000.
https://www.rosebikes.com/rose-x-lite-four-ultegra-di2-2661729
Unfortunately, since Brexit, Rose have stopped supplying to the UK but I'm sure are avenues you could explore to swerve that restriction.1 -
You're heading completely the wrong way with it.
10 speed is perfectly fine, however if you insist
mechanical Chorus 11 or Force 11. No need for Di2. C and F work just as well, look better, less cost, less wright, less hassle, less dentisty.
don't believe the hype about 10 speed being outdated or whatever.
Merlin/Prime/Chinarello deep rims. £600 for the former, less for the latter.
A couple of hundred for 'bars, stem, tape, cables, tyres, etc.
Paint job do what you want but i'd sand it all down and lacquer it like i did to mine.
you can do it all for £1,800 and spend the rest on a cool holiday, ho's and blow..The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
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It's always cheaper to buy a bike as one piece, rather than build up your own (says he who has three bitsa's in his shed). Especially now, post-brexit, where sources of cheaper continetal supplied parts are no longe available. So if you really like the frame, it'd be cheaper to buy a new bike with the kit you want on it, then swap it over and sell the new frame and old parts. That assumes that "standards" haven't moved on so far that the new kit won't fit the old frame!0
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Ignore most of this. I’d agree that 10 speed is fine, the rest is just laughable.MattFalle said:You're heading completely the wrong way with it.
10 speed is perfectly fine, however if you insist
mechanical Chorus 11 or Force 11. No need for Di2. C and F work just as well, look better, less cost, less wright, less hassle, less dentisty.
Merlin/Prime/Chinarello deep rims. £600 for the former, less for the latter.
A couple of hundred for 'bars, stem, tape, cables, tyres, etc.
Paint job do what you want but i'd sand it all down and lacquer it like i did to mine.
you can do it all for £1,800 and spend the rest on a cool holiday, ho's and blow.
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That’s dependant on how much effort you want to put into searching / sourcing. At the moment, the world is all a bit crazy, particularly in regards to bikes / bike bits, in more normal times, if you were to find a friendly LBS with spare build kits, who may be willing to maybe sell them on to you, it’s possible you could get the cost of your build down.rafletcher said:It's always cheaper to buy a bike as one piece, rather than build up your own (says he who has three bitsa's in his shed). Especially now, post-brexit, where sources of cheaper continetal supplied parts are no longe available. So if you really like the frame, it'd be cheaper to buy a new bike with the kit you want on it, then swap it over and sell the new frame and old parts. That assumes that "standards" haven't moved on so far that the new kit won't fit the old frame!
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Not sure I agree. My best bike was built by me from parts bought in sales and a lot cheaper than equivalent spec bikes.rafletcher said:It's always cheaper to buy a bike as one piece, rather than build up your own (says he who has three bitsa's in his shed). Especially now, post-brexit, where sources of cheaper continetal supplied parts are no longe available. So if you really like the frame, it'd be cheaper to buy a new bike with the kit you want on it, then swap it over and sell the new frame and old parts. That assumes that "standards" haven't moved on so far that the new kit won't fit the old frame!
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always helps if you get a bike that fits you and isn't massively overpriced though, so i suppose you had better start researching tgat firstbrundonbianchi said:
Ignore most of this. I’d agree that 10 speed is fine, the rest is just laughable.MattFalle said:You're heading completely the wrong way with it.
10 speed is perfectly fine, however if you insist
mechanical Chorus 11 or Force 11. No need for Di2. C and F work just as well, look better, less cost, less wright, less hassle, less dentisty.
Merlin/Prime/Chinarello deep rims. £600 for the former, less for the latter.
A couple of hundred for 'bars, stem, tape, cables, tyres, etc.
Paint job do what you want but i'd sand it all down and lacquer it like i did to mine.
you can do it all for £1,800 and spend the rest on a cool holiday, ho's and blow..The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
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Assuming you did spend £4k on getting the old Trek, Di2, one piece bars, carbon wheels; I can't see that the bike you'd end up with would be better than this:
https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/road-bikes/race-bikes/aeroad/aeroad-cf-sl-8-disc/2448.html?dwvar_2448_pv_rahmenfarbe=BK/GY
or this:
https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-endurance-sl-r-series-shimano-ultegra-di2/
On the Ribble, you can get your one piece bars taking the price to £3700, flog the stock Aksiums and get a set of carbon rims and you'd tick all the boxes and be under budget. But it would be much more modern, aero, lighter, fully concealed cables.
But would still get the Canyon....
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I am struggling to understand how you get to £4k.
Mechanical group set 11sp would be £800 (ultegra). You should easily be able to get a set of wheels for under £1k. The bike itself is worth less than £1k. Possibly quite a lot less.
If you insist on di2, which might be a faff anyway, since you don't need new brakes or crank set it might not be much or any more expensive.
That project should be more like £2.5k0 -
According to this it was £2800 new 8 years.
That's a £500 bike for a buyer, £800 for a seller.
Whole project done dusted for £2k all but is it a £2k bike? Only you can say......The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
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financially it doesnt make sense unless..... you want to do it.0
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What's wrong with keeping it 10 speed? I am still running 10 speed...
spare parts are a lot cheaper tooleft the forum March 20230 -
agree 100% - 10 speed rocks and 9 is, tbh, perfect good.
The fact that he seems determined to go to Di2 as well seems to point to a certain kind of person though.....The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
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He's after Di2.ugo.santalucia said:What's wrong with keeping it 10 speed? I am still running 10 speed...
spare parts are a lot cheaper too
But yes, a wheel upgrade in the first instance and £100 on bar tape, cables housing and wotnot and it is a lot of bike for £1500.0 -
Oh well, happy to consider buying the 10 speed shifters if they are Ultegra 6700 or above and the price is good...
left the forum March 20230 -
Is that a no then... ?ugo.santalucia said:Oh well, happy to consider buying the 10 speed shifters if they are Ultegra 6700 or above and the price is good...
left the forum March 20230 -
I went through these calculations recently, and a couple of things swayed the decision in favor of new: Ability to run big tires -- I'd maxed out my old frame at 25 mm and realized that as I get older I'll probably go to 28 or 30; I wanted to go to discs, for a couple of reasons (safety in rain and rim life); and in the end the costs was +/- negligible. But the main two reason were tire size and discs.
One thing to keep in mind on costs: Companies like Trek can spec a complete bike for the cost that you would pay for groupset/wheels alone. So if you buy a new bike you're also taking advantage of their economies of scale, if an out of the box Ultegra groupset is fine for you.
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Thanks for all the replies. Have decided not to repurchase the Trek and going to upgrade my current bike a TCR to Di20
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The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
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