Melvang

Hey guys.

I am just getting back into biking in a regular basis. I haven't ride consistently for about a decade.. I am going to start commuting to work. My old bike is a 2002 Kona Roast that I bought used and the previous owner swapped to a single chain ring with a bash guard. With skinny tires, it still weighs 31 pounds. So I bought a used Cannondale R500 CAAD4.

It has the 9 speed Tiagra setup. I am thinking of upgrading to a 2x11 setup next year but want hydraulic disc at least up front. My question is would I be better off buying a new wheelset or just having my time relaced with new hubs?

Also, does anyone make a braided stainless brake line for Shimano hydraulic brifters?

My Kona has a stainless line and love the feel.

pressed001

How was the change for you from the Roast to the R500? Those are very different rides.

The new 11 speed road groups from Shimano are really great. I think the 105 would be great for you but I suggest to stay away from disc if you want to keep the R500. Having a disc only on the front will make the build a bit more tricky:

Front disc requirements:
disc fork
left shifter must be disc and right is rim brake
groupset must then be pieced together seperately
new front wheel



Good luck and have fun!

fietsbob

You don't gain that much , spend a lot, addig 2 more cogs on the back wheel

replace worn cassette, chain, maybe even chainrings, new brake pads, maybe shifter and brake cables..

Suppliers to Bike shops can get maintenance parts , long after the trendy internet sellers ..
have moved on to pushing the latest kit.

Bored with your old bike , buy a new one ..

Melvang

As far as the ride difference, I can't tell you quite yet. Haven't quite had it on the road yet. But a couple quick jaunts around the block, it is going to be a much easier ride than the Kona.

So going to hydraulic disc front and dual pivot read brakes isn't out of the question, just not going to get a discount for a full set. And piecing together might be fun. This shouldn't be an issue with as many PCs as I have built from case up.

I just don't have any experience on the road bike side of components. The biggest thing I like about the feel with my hydraulic disc is the very light spring pressure with very definitively feel for when the pads contact. Plus, I end up getting caught in bad weather a fair bit. Any idea of there is a braided stainless line available?

Melvang

This is a new bike for me. Nothing seems work yet. Will see better when I start riding it.

cpach

Note that with pretty much everything (except maybe current Di2?) the hydraulic levers are taller and slightly differently shaped than the cable actuated. I'm all for this project as exactly that, a fun project, but you'll get a much better bike and spend less buying a new bike built up with the components you want, considering you'll need new absolutely everything except the frame, pretty much.

If you wanted to run a hydraulic disc up front and a caliper in the rear, I'd probably try to do Sram hydraulic with a hydraulic rim caliper in the rear. Should keep the ergonomics consistent, and might have a more similar lever feel than a cable actuated brake. Asymetric brake lever bodies would drive me crazy.

Jagwire makes hydraulic line in a crapload of colors/finishes including "carbon silver" and "sterling silver" with a braided look that will work with pretty much hydraulic brake with interchangeable fittings to work with whatever.

Bike Gremlin

This.

Whenever people say they want an upgrade, I always ask what the current bike is lacking. Need a "slower" gearing for long climbs? Do the brakes work fine? Then, if possible, see if properly setting (tuning) the current equipment does the job (it often does). Of course, if one insists on buying new stuff, it's their choice and money. I'm more than happy to recommend (and install)...

Having two well functioning bicycles is a good thing if they're used for commuting. When (not if ) one breaks down, you have a means of transport until it is repaired/parts sourced. And it is more likely to be well functioning.

Melvang

Couple things. You guys say that it's to much money to spend on upgrades. It is one tier higher (planning on 105 parts aside from shifter/brake). Yes it is older, probably all factory installed, so would be worn equipment replacements and upgrade at the same time. I just bought this bike less than a week ago. The thing with buying a new bike is budgeting. If I can buy a part every couple weeks or so, it's much easier to build. Especially on a blue collar working mans budget with car payments, house payment, and 2 kids. I do this with PC parts fairly often. I do not have a delusion of these parts making me faster. I just want a hydraulic disc because of the better feel and improved performance in wet weather. I did not know the shape was different between they hydraulic disc brake lever bodies and the cable. Thank you for that info. In that case, I will just go with hydraulic disc on both ends.

Melvang

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize they were shaped and sized differently. It makes sense though. To avoid the mismatch, going to disk front and rear is no problem. But I don't care about the look. The braided stainless serves a couple functions. It drastically reduces the line swelling under hard braking, especially with longer runs of line. This increases the feel and sensitivity, and also reduces the amount the line shrinks in length due to the line swelling under pressure.

fietsbob

bike companies buying in thousands get a huge discount vs what you pay, buying One.

need a new brifter.. 11 klicks, for a start,, they aint cheap..

cpach

How the heck are you getting a rear disc caliper to mount on an old R500? If your answer involves welding you should know that welding thinwalled aluminum on bicycle frames is very difficult, and the aluminum needs to be heat treated post weld, so any sort of retrofitting of aluminum frames is extremely uncommon.

cpach

I don't think the jag brake line expands under pressure any less than stock--it's mostly cosmetic. I looked up the 2002 Kona Roast--it says it came stock with cable discs. Is this what you have? Cable housing and hydraulic hose are constructed very differently. Stock hydraulic hose is plenty stiff and is engineered to work best with the systems it comes with.

Melvang

The Kona has Deore XT hydraulic disc front and V brake rear. No idea if it was factory equipment or not as I bought it used. It has also been converted to a 1x9 with a bash ring on both sides of the middle chain ring and an XTR rear deraileur.

Good call on brake mount. I guess after so many years of looking at the Kona with rear disc mount unpopulated, I didn't even thing about that. You have me thinking now, is their brake lever for mechanical disc modeled after the standard rim brakes or the hydraulic ones? If there is no way to go hydraulic disc front and cable rim rear brakes, I will just stick with dual pivot until after I go to 11 speed and then upgrade frame and fork.

I have a feeling this is going to be like my gaming PC hobby that I have drifted away from. A build is never really done, just upgrades always on the horizon. For for the comparison between bikes and gaming PC's the video card would be equivalent to the frame. The most expensive part in the build.

Bike Gremlin

Frame is the heart and the spine of the bicycle. It pretty much limits what parts can be placed on the bike. I'd compare it to the motherboard.

Just as PC builds - if you have a clear goal: what you want the thing to do, and what your desired performance level is, you can get there. If you go for the newest thing out, it never ends, that's the way manufacturers want it.

cpach

There isn't a separate lever/shifter for cable disc--it's the same as for cable rim brakes. I do think an R500 is a pretty bad candidate for anything other than a pretty conventional road bike build. Half the point of discs, to me, is to gain clearance for wider tires and fenders, but the R500 is going to have particularly tight clearances.

Disc brakes are also difficult to spec on road bike frame builds these days because the newer flat mount standard has all but taken over new OEM production, but there are still many frames both new and old that either use IS mounts (which are typically used with post mount brake adapters these days) or post mounts, so in some cases you have to order shifters and calipers separately to get a recent model shifter on a bike with IS/post mounts.

Honestly it sounds like the R500 wasn't a great choice for your needs/wants.

Melvang

I can deal with rim brakes no problem. It isn't a big deal. At least this purchase is going to get me riding again. That's never a bad thing, is it? So I spend a few more dollars getting where I want. Won't be the first time that has happened. Though I do want to go up to 11 speed. Not because it is the newest (how new is it anyway), but just curious about an extra 2 gears on the cassette. That choice isn't set in stone either. But if I can go to a 2x11 speed setup with newer components, then I can pickup a new frame/fork and move everything over. Hopefully at that point go to hydraulic disc front and rear.

By all means, these upgrades weren't going to be anytime soon, just planning/plotting.

Melvang

Never really had a performance goal in mind with my PC builds. Just wanted to play WoW with no lag. My first was based on an AMD with a 280GTX. My next build was a first gen core i7 with a 680 GTX Signature SC+ from EVGA. I still have the PC running and it has over 10 year old hard drives still spinning. One of them is a 74.4Gb Raptor drive that was $300 when bought.

cpach

Cool. If you think you might pick up a new frameset with disc mounts on it, you may want to hold off on 11sp, as the shifters and levers are integrated and the most expensive component of a road drivetrain. The other option would be to stick with cables and use TRP Hy/RD brakes which are basically a cable actuated hydraulic brake. These work well, but really aren't as good as full hydraulic brakes.

MarcoBianchi

IMHO buy a pair of shimano dura ace brakes ( 100€ on the bay ) , fresh wire and housing, it would be like night and day.

alcjphil

One thing to keep in mind: You cannot upgrade to 11 speed piecemeal. 11 speed shifters won't work with your current derailleurs and neither will 11 speed derailleurs work with your 9 speed shifters. Brake cable pull for 11 speed levers is also different, the new levers have less mechanical advantage than yours do. If you connect new 105 levers to your old brakes, brake effort will increase. New 105 brake callipers are designed to take advantage of this new lever design. Another problem is that 11 speed cassettes require a longer freehub body, they won't fit on your current rear wheel. Current 105 is 3 generations newer than your 9 speed Tiagra, there have been changes and improvements to Tiagra as well. Current 10 speed Tiagra is 2 generations newer than your components

fietsbob

Q; How many years is a generation?

Birth to reaching fertility to give birth , is a typical measure, in animals..

Melvang

Yeah, I knew of the compatibility issues. But I could buy them individually to make budgeting for purchase easier and just wait to install at once.

alcjphil

I know what you mean, but maybe the solution is to put aside a set amount every payday, and purchase a complete groupset once you have enough money. This will certainly cost less than ordering individual parts that will sit on your workbench taunting you