Road Cycling - Upgrade

I am new to cycling and was wondering when will I know it's time to upgrade to a different bike. Will the bike not present a challenge anymore? I have a trek 1000 with Sora shifters. Will an upgrade really make a big difference? What would be the next logical upgrade, not factoring $$$?

It really depends on what you are riding for. If you are looking to race, then you may want to upgrade. If your components are wearing out, or you like expensive bikes like the most of us do, you may want to upgrade also.

However, if you're in it just for fitness, stick with what you got. It's not a bad bike. I go on a Thursday night group ride and there is a guy that has no problem keeping up with us on his Trek 1000. To add to that, he is using toe straps and usually wears basketball shorts.

I upgraded my Giant OCR 3 instead of buying the OCR 1 and I love it. I just went an upgraded the handle bar, group, seat, and wheels. I dropped it by 4 pounds.

Heck if your thinking about it,thats reason enough,upgrade to a new bike.

Originally posted by shokhead
Heck if your thinking about it,thats reason enough,upgrade to a new bike.

True, true. It sounds like you have your mind made up already.

YOU'RE ADDICTED MAN!!!!!

:beer:

As far as the next logical upgrade, it just really depends on what type of riding you want to do.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you are going to do it, do it right. Reason being, I have actually spent more money trying to save a few bucks rather than just getting what I wanted in the first place.

Learn from my mistakes.

Normaly the first thign I would upgrade on most bikes is the wheels, they will make a big difference. Do you need a reason to upgrade.

As long as it is of road bike geometry I see no reason to upgrade unless you personally want to. I race on a cyclocross bike for road races and crits (and tris) and I keep up without any problems. Wheels do make the biggest difference I believe.

I hate having to take my bike rack off my bike to race, so I have thought about buying another bike to race on. I have decided against it though and will probably just stop taking the rack off to solve the problem :)

depending on how much you want to spend is whether to upgrade or not i had a much older bike an opted to buy a new one instead there are issues with hub spacing that can come in play also

Originally posted by shokhead
Heck if your thinking about it,thats reason enough,upgrade to a new bike.
Yes, even the thought is enough reason to upgrade.. That simply means you are outgrowing your bike!

[invest in]Sports! not drugs! (its a healthy addiction)

Well, what you have is adequate. Going more upscale will give you a little more, but it will be subtle.

We have had people in our club who had good bikes (105 or better equippled) and went out and bought really high end stuff. They noticed that they did not ride faster (IT IS THE ENGINE NOT THE BIKE) and then quit riding!

I had a friend who rode a really old sport touring bike and he bought a pretty good bike and actually rode slower. I couldn't figure that one out.

I have seen people get new bikes and ride better. I think as long as your expectations are not too high, it works.

Remember there is an benefit to riding one of the more modest bikes in the group - it really frosts people when you drop them and if you get dropped, you can always blame your bike. Come to think of it, when I get dropped, I don't blame my bike.

i remember when i was thinking of my last upgrade. i didn't think that i could do justice to the upgrade. my buddy said that you can't put a price on comfort. if you are going to be in the saddle over 200 days of the year like i am, then it is instantly justified.

and i spent even more time enjoying the ride.