Road Cycling - Upgrading

Hi,

When I bought the Cannondale, got home and read the forum, I got a massive rush of blood to the head (or should that read wallet) and called about a wheel upgrade to Mavic Open Pro on 105 hubs. Now wondering about:

Spinergy wheels vs Mavic wheels (the shop stocks Spinergy).

Upgrading the Tiagra to 105 where possible.

Opinions required!

D

Upgrade as components wear out or as you have opportunity. No need to go ahead and do it right away. Tiagra is a perfectly functional group, particularly if you're new to the sport. Its GREAT advantage over Sora is that it IS upgradeable.

Ride the bike and enjoy it. If you find you's like different gearing, change the cassette. If your shifting gets dodgy and the derailleur goes continually out of alignment, swap out those parts. But there's no need to upgrade now.

I would suggest, if you plan on doing lots of mileage, that you invest in a second set of wheels. Every serious cyclist needs at least two sets of wheels. If you buy Open Pros with 105 or ultegra hubs, then you have an upgrade right there.

At what level do you consider yourself as a rider? Do you plan to race soon? The Tiagra will serve you well as will whatever wheels you have. I would say wait a while to do anything. Wait until you have a better feel for what you think you really want. One nice thing about Shimano is that most components work pretty well together. So you can upgrade one thing at a time. Let's say after a few months even though everything is properly adjusted you think the shifting could be better. For not a huge amount of money you can put on a Dura Ace rear derailleur. That should improve things. A while later you could put on a DA front der. Then when you've saved up quiet a few nickels you could replace the shifters with DA. Now you have a SERIOUS shifting set up. I would counsel this route rather than laying out a chunk right now and only moving up to, say 105. I have 105 on one bike and Dura Ace on two others. Do I NEED DA? No, I don't race or anything, yet, but shifting with DA is wonderful, and I have decided I will never buy anything less again. Even if it means buying one piece at a time and having to save for a while to afford it. Of course I still think I will have to set up a bike at some point with Campy, maybe Chorus, just to see what all the fuss is about.

I guess my point is, unless YOU are CERTAIN you know what you want, not what people say here, hold off until you have learned more about what you want and whether you are willing to compromise in certain places and why. For instance, I have no desire to upgrade to a Dura Ace crankset. I don't think the crankset is more a weight issue, not a smoothness of operation issue. Likewise cassettes, 105 level cassettes work beautifully. DA are just lighter and the aluminum cogs wear much faster. Hubs and wheels are not a big issue with me either. I have Sora, Tiagra, 105, and XT hubs all with Mavic rims (T519, MA3, CXP23). Since most of my riding is my 100+ miles of commuting each week plus recreational rides sometimes on weekends, I can't see spending extra money on performance wheels. If I really get into racing and feel like my wheels are holding me back, I may get a set of racing wheels. Right now my main focus is quiet, smooth operation of my bike, especially shifting. Properly adjusted Dura Ace shifters and derailleurs give me that.
FWIW,
Raymond

I would say that there's really no need of upgrading to 105 or higher, unless you plan to race or something? I would change the wheels, when the ones you already have wear out.

But if you have lots of money, I would go for it!:D

You could wait for the stuff to wear out to upgrade.

Even upgrading to Dura Ace will only shave a couple of lbs off of the bike. That would give you a bit of a help in races up long steep hills.

If you have to spend money, I would think of getting a new bike. It is nice to have 2 bikes. You can ride one when one is in the shop. You can have a "rainy day" bike. You can have different gearing on them.

Thanks everybody for your replies - I think I needed to be slowed down a little before I went bezerk, into hock and sold everything to finance my bike! I must confess I am a gearhead, and like to have the nicest and best of everything whenever possible. However, I will only ride for recreation/exercise, so it is true that I don't NEED to have the best components. But then, when did NEED ever come into it? :D

Still, I think I may go for the wheels anyway (depending on the price) and maybe swap the Coda brakes to Shimano - at 205lbs I will take quite a lot of stopping, and want to maximise my braking power :p

Still, sound advice from all of you - thanks again

Duncan