Allez Sport - 1st Upgrade recomendations

Hurricane151
Hurricane151 Posts: 632
edited February 2009 in Commuting chat
I have a 09 Spec Allez Sport and was wondering what people would suggest as the best thing to upgrade first?

I do have a budget of about £300 or so (+ / - depending on benefit) so not looking to change a great deal of things but was wondering what people might suggest as the most beneficial.

I have oredered SPDs recently (should arrive next week - a little scared) but that is all i have done to date.

Hard not to get carried away with this cycling lark!!!!

Comments

  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    I would go:

    1. groupset - you can get a 105 groupset for about 320 quid.
    2. wheels - a second set for "sunday best" :P There are reasonable deals around on factory builds at the moment for that price point, or you can get some handlbuilt Open Pros on Ultegra hubs for less than 250.
    3. and, in a couple of years, upgrade bike and keep this as a training steed.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • Agree with what cjcp says, on my two year old Allez Sport training bike the worst components are the groupset and the wheels. I replaced the rear wheel with an Open Pro handbuilt with Ultegra Hub after the original hub pretty much collapsed, cost was about £100.

    The Sora shifters are really worth replacing as they the worst component on the bike, shifting and braking is pretty dire compared the Ultegra on my other bike. The 105 groupset is said to be pretty good and that would give you a ten-speed cassette on the rear. With new wheels and groupset you would a pretty good bike, but at a price!

    The other approach is to wait for things to fail and replace them as and when they do. Because if you think about it, spending this much money pretty much doubles what you spent on the bike in the first place.
  • akcc05
    akcc05 Posts: 336
    I wouldn't upgrade anything if the bike is new. I just looked at the spec of the Allez Sport 09, it's got full Tiagra groupset and even a pair of Mavic CXP22 rims so it's pretty good. I can't really see a significant weak point in the spec. Unless you are planning to race, I don't see the need to upgrade.

    What I would do is:

    - Upgrade to lighter, faster rolling folding tyres when the wire bead Mondos wear out to save a bit of rotational weight and for ease of maintainance.
    - Upgrade to a 10sp drivetrain as they wear. So for example, upgrade the entire brakeset when the blocks wear out instead of just replacing the blocks. I'd skip 105 too, to me there is not much improvement from Tiagra to 105 apart from the obvious 9 to 10sp jump. And don't forget Shimano is going to announce the release of the new 6700 Ultegra soon!
    - If you are going to commute/do winter rides on the bike, you can also upgrade the wheels as the braking surface wear. Fulcrum Racing 7 or 5 Evolution gets good reviews but Mavic OpenPro with DT double butted competition spokes and Ultegra cup and cone hubs are good too.
    - What you can do now is ride the bike for a few weeks and see if you want to fine tune/upgrade your contact points. Like better/more comfortable saddle, stem length, seatpost setback and handlebar width and shape. All this you could have swapped out when you bought the bike at the shop for free, or if you were upgrading, trade in the OE + get a discount for the upgraded parts.

    Hope this is what you are looking for.