First upgrade?

copperthorpe
copperthorpe Posts: 82
edited December 2008 in Workshop
Want to spend some money on upgrading my 2008 SCR 2.0......about 200 to spend.Any suggestions please.
C49

Comments

  • SCR Pedro
    SCR Pedro Posts: 912
    Hey there,

    I have the same bike and have so far purchased:

    Shimano WH-R550 Wheelset for £80 inc p&p
    A carbon post for my chair £13

    Less than £100 so far. With the rest I would buy:

    Michelin Pro3 Race tyres £25 each
    or the more budget conscious, but still good
    Michelin Lithion Tyres £12 each

    This is assuming you already have decent clothing and clipless pedals.

    Cheers
    Pedro
    Giant TCR Advanced II - Reviewed on my homepage
    Giant TCR Alliance Zero
    BMC teammachineSLR03
    The Departed
    Giant SCR2
    Canyon Roadlite
    Specialized Allez
    Some other junk...
  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 5,877
    edited December 2008
    Wheels are often the first upgrades, providing the bike was a good fit to begin with. £200 could get you :-
    A good set of "bomp-proof" handbuilts eg. CXP33 rims on Ultegra hubs (~£170)
    Some Planet-X Model Bs or Cs (~£130)
    Fulcrum Evo 5 (~£150)
    A "leftfield" choice eg. Specialized Roval Pave SL (~£199, but for some reason £160 at http://www.freeborn.co.uk/shop/componen ... al-pave-sl )

    Depending on what you go for on the wheel front, the remainder could go on a nice new set of tyres. Another can of worms for this forum! With the recent pound>euro crash, I doubt it would still work out the cheapest method, but I bought some hardcore puncture protective Schwalbe Marathon Plus and Stelvio Plus from www.bike24.com (Germany).
    ================
    2020 Voodoo Marasa
    2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
    2016 Voodoo Wazoo
  • gkerr4
    gkerr4 Posts: 3,408
    wheels are the usually touted "first upgrade" - along with tyres - but as stated, clipless pedals and shoes are a good starter if you don't have them.

    if you do have them then I would say go for something like Fulcrum racing 5 wheels which you can get for around £140 - or perhaps some of the shimano wheels such as the older R561s (£130ish) or ultegra wheels (£170ish) . apologies to Pedro but I don't think that R550's really constitute a wheel "upgrade" although they are a suitable replacement wheel and probably slightly higher value (£ cost wise) than the std fit wheels.

    This leaves some for tyres. Stretch to a new cassette too and then you have a ready spare set of wheels for that unexpected puncture when you go to get your bike out.
  • Ricardo H
    Ricardo H Posts: 167
    yep i'd go for wheels as well, loads of good deals around at the moment. check out dave hindes website
  • Mettan
    Mettan Posts: 2,103
    Another ideas wheels wise is the WH-5600's - I've recently got some from Ribble to replace my R550's - (they're slightly lighter/"better" than the 550's/561's). The 5600's use the Ultegra 6600 series rims FWIR?, but still alow 8,9,10 speed cassettes.

    Shimano WH-5600's - £ 135 + postage

    http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/productde ... HIMWHFR400

    These paired with some Pro Race 3's would make a nice upgrade.
  • gkerr4
    gkerr4 Posts: 3,408
    they would - the 5600's are really nice wheels - those are the 2007 version of the R561s which can be had for around the same price

    I thought 5600's were 10-speed only though?

    nice wheels for the money - I have the 561s and they were a good upgrade on my trek pilot.

    (In fact if anyone lives near Blackpool and fancies them they can try them and or buy them as I don't use them anymore - turned to campag you see!)
  • Mettan
    Mettan Posts: 2,103
    gkerr4 wrote:
    they would - the 5600's are really nice wheels - those are the 2007 version of the R561s which can be had for around the same price

    I thought 5600's were 10-speed only though?

    They're 8,9,10 speed - I've got an 8 speed cassette on mine - for 10 speed, you need a 1mm spacer on these. The 5600's have got the same rims as the Ultegra level wheels (apparently) with the "old" 8,9,10 speed hub.

    Specs below:

    http://cycle.shimano-eu.com/publish/con ... type-.html

    http://www.bicyclestore.com.au/Shimano- ... 22071.html

    I've found mine slightly lighter/slightly better rolling than my R550's but the difference isn't substantial. It "feels" like a 3% - 5 % upgrade in performance - ie not much (quite happy with my R550's in hindsight) - on 8, 9 speed you'd probably have to go to some EA50 SL's EA70's or the new RS80's to get another bump in performance. The RS80's look like an awesome buy.

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