Originally Posted by bjkeen
People tend to focus so much on the bike and not on the engine. For the time hassle and cost of replacing bearings, you could get a good fitting or try a different handlebar or stem or something of this nature.
Riding position is the most important thing - for whatever kind of riding you're doing, the trick is to get the right one. If I was racing, for instance, I'd forgo the last $1000 in blingy components and spend that on getting fit and position and etc just right (bar/stem/saddle/seatpost/cleats/etc), because I am fairly sure that I'd be faster and happier with Tiagra and perfect position than with Dura-Ace and with whatever position was possible with what came with the bike.
YMMV. But according to me, anyway, optimize position first.
I'm in total agreement - As I've posted previously; It ain't the bow and arrow - it's the Indian.
The more you train, the better you'll ride - just look at Lance vs. Ulrich. Both had the best equipment available on this planet, with the support to match. The difference was Lance trained year around while Ulrich partied half the year. (Personally, I tend to subscribe to the Ulrich training method, so I'm not slamming him), but when it came down to crunch time, there is no question as to who was better prepared.
BTW, I believe Lance could have won last year's TDF going away........