Ok. Haven't posted on BF in awhile and actually my first time in this part of the forum. I've essentially "let myself go" to a scale busting 285 pounds and it's now time to do something about it. I currently ride a Salsa Caseroll, which I love, but like a lot of others, I want something "flashier." I'm torn between purchasing a new bike (been thinking about either a ridley compact or ridley crosswind on competitive cyclist) or just upgrading my current bike. While I don't race, I've really wanted to try SRAM's doubletap for a while now. The two ridleys are 1299.00 and 1199.00 respectively. Both are made of aluminum with carbon forks.
That's one route.
The other route is to upgrade the snot out of my salsa. I was thinking about replacing the Tiagra/Sora group with SRAM Apex (supposedly the new hill killing group and boy do I LOVE hills.....
,) replacing the steel fork with a carbon one (weight savings and supposedly absorbs some of the road chatter,) and replacing my Salsa/Tiagra wheels which need truing at least once a month.
I'm supposed to be getting a sizable sum back from uncle sam (around 2100$) so I could really go either way. I just need help deciding. Thanks in advance for any advice.