Originally Posted by
wphamilton
Tires are good upgrades, and aren't wasted since you keep the old ones as spares. You need spares.
I think wheels can be reasonable upgrades. Not that there's anything wrong with freewheels, but a freehub is better. The wheel can be lighter, stronger, sealed bearings. It makes a difference.
It's true that upgrading parts will cost you more in the long run than upgrading the whole bike. It's also true that any upgraded part is just as much better than the old one on a beater bike as it is on a high end bike. If it saves you 100 grams on the high end bike, it saves you the same 100 grams on your bike. Snappier shifting is snappier, whichever frame. Is it worth it in either case, who can say, but if you like to tinker and enjoy having spare parts around from the take-offs, it's not unreasonable to upgrade.
I used to think that, and I have a collection of old tires now of varying levels of wear. Guess how often I need to put an old tire on one of my bikes in the last, say, 2 years? Zero. Though I did gift a slightly used 26" x 2.0 tire to one of my son's friends. If you take care of your bike, or bikes, it isn't especially likely you will have a catastrophic failure of a bicycle tire such that you have to go rooting around in your garage to pull out a spare just to go for a ride. And on OP's current bike, changing tires would, IMO, be a waste of money at this time.
As for better wheels, yes, that could make a difference. But again, this is an entry level bike we are talking about. If OP goes cheap, he might as well stick with what he has. If you are talking about lighter or more durable wheels than what he has, he could spend as much for upgraded wheels as he did for the whole bike, in which case, I would ask, why did he go entry level in the first place? IMO, maybe best for OP to save his money and get upgraded wheels, tires, and components on the next bike since the current bike is only a couple of weeks old.