emeralds

i'm wanting worthy but also aesthetic based upgrades and it seems most kilos out there aren't the purple that i have coming in. right now i just want to upgrade the saddle and bars. i'd like the two to match well together, possibly in a brown leather covering though i don't know how that will look on the purple yet. bullhorns are a must. any suggestions? it's my first bike so i'm not real sure where to go from here.

Cy Trivialities

ride it for a while and go from there. you'll know what you want to change only after riding it.

Redline927

you mean something like this? I've since changed my setup, but this is what it looked like a few months ago. Brooks honey b17 with chop and flop horns, wrapped in yellow cloth with amber shallac. It was a pretty good match, but started to change shades on me with sweat, moisture, use, etc.

I think this would look horrible on purple though.

sp00ki

my advice: if it's your first bike, give yourself a second to ride it before swapping things out. why upgrade something you haven't even touched yet?

rdubbz

nice ride. are those mavic cxp22 wheels? if so, how did you get the stickers off? was it a pain...

conor

i would also like to upgrade the look of my bike.

what's in this season?

conor

snarky answer to snarky question: y'all newbies afraid t'ride ina cold!

haw haw!

skeletor3000

If this is your first bike, how do you know you like bullhorns?

I understand the urge to buy things that you think look cool, but I also thought I'd really want some bullhorns when I got my first fixed gear and, as it turned out, I hated trying to go sprint or go up hills with them. It just felt awkward to me, so I stuck with drops.

Ride the bike. Then change it to fit how you ride.

brandonspeck

I'd say saddle and pedals are the most noticeable upgrades for first starting out.
As far as pedals go, get yourself some steel track pedals with steel clips and straps. You'll notice a major difference from the plastic garbage that comes on them.

Lots of people prefer the leather saddles, like Brooks. I say ride as much as you can, then try different saddles and see what style you like. If a friend or somebody has a Brooks, try it out. I'm personally one of the few people who doesn't prefer Brooks, but got one just because the majority of people prefer them, and I ended up giving it to my girlfriend.

Another upgrade is tires. I haven't heard very good things about the stock tires. Also, one of the best things you can do to a bikesdirect bike, is to take it to a shop and have them look over everything. They'll grease everything that needs to be greased, and it will keep the bike in good working order for a while.

Skooongie

I just upgraded to the Sugino Messenger cranks and I love them so far.

It's a much smoother ride.

muckymucky

cutted the drop bars that came with the kilo tt with a $8 ace hardware pipe cutter, saves you some $ from having to buy new bars~

Redline927

rdubbz, they are vuelta pro v wheels.

conor

it's all in your head.

synapsemusic

new clips/straps. metal toeclips and leather straps will make the biggest immediate improvement to your ride quality than anything else.

xsnakobx

Don't get leather straps. Leather stretches. Get Pake straps, they're nylon and they're amazing!

adriano 

suede laminate straps are king but pricey!

xsnakobx

There's no reason to even go with suede (especially for all of the vegetarians out there).

cc700

brown will look terrible on the kilo purple.

get white or black or something.

and get clipless.

old scratch

smoother how?

i went from rusty dollar store cranks to sugino 75s and i didnt notice any smoothening. bike looks cooler though, which was my goal.

conor

^exactly!