What's the one upgrade or accessory you've added to your bike that made the biggest difference in your riding experience?

Tires

peddles

What kind of tires and pedals did you go with, and how did they improve your rides? Always looking for recommendations!

Wheels

.

Saddle, tires and wheels are the top 3.

The bike itself. I held on to the belief that road bikes from the late 70's were the best for way too long. Though they were great riding bikes, my 2020 Tarmac is the most fun bike I've ever ridden.

If the answer has to be something added to a bike, then that would be tires. On those old vintage bikes I use to buy cheap tires. When I finally bought a tire that was middle to high end of the price range, I was surprised how much better the ride was and how they rolled more easily with less leg muscle.

Adding brifters to a prebrifter bike. Yowza!

I think you just turned a non-word in to a second order non-word.

Depends on your starting point. What are you currently riding?

Road bike? If so:
-modern 28-32mm race tires, like GP5000’s or similar, are fast, supple, light, grippy and puncture resistant.
-wheels, lighter, deeper section wheels can change the entire bike.
-wide range rear cassette, something that will get you a 1 to 1 gear ratio or better for climbing.

IMHO, the best bang for your buck performance improvements.

Not to sound too harsh, but I feel like I bought the right bike in the first place. And that goes for my previous two bikes. I replaced things when they wore out, and tires have gotten marginally better over the nearly 300K miles I've put on those three bikes. They all rode/ride great and there are no miracles if you start from the right place.

proper gear ratios for my Gravel/Rails to Trails bike. this included a compact geared Hollowtech II Crankset that lightened the bike at least 1 lb too.

in '69, Tubular wheels & silks
in '74, a frame which fit me great
in 76, 6 spd freewheels (wheels...)
in the 80 it was ultra7 spd freewheels
in the early 90's it was indexed Shifters (Suntour Command shifters)
in the late 90's it was 8 spd 'Brifters' and ISIS cranksets
in the early 2000's it was HED wheels
in the Mid 2000s it was CF frames & 10 spd Brifters/drivetrain
in 2022 it was TPU tubes for road, and tubeless for MTB & single chainring & Clutch RD for Gravel
in 2023, it was CF 50ish profile wheels

tires have always been at the head of every top notch setup

Ride On
Yuri
I'm prolly leaving something out...

I prefer ‘to the second powa’.

I today’s parlance, that is called a ‘humble brag’. Well done on your purchases.

Touch points would be the biggest thing. Ergon grips, good pedals and a saddle that works for my rear end.

IKR. Aside from my touring bike and one bike I bought off a friend to use as a bad weather road bike, I haven't bought an off-the-shelf bike in forever. All of my road bikes from 1991 on were speced by me (with assistance from LBS) and built from the frames up.

Thanks for the advice! Super helpful, much appreciated!

That’s a great perspective, sounds like you’ve made solid choices from the start! 300K miles is an incredible achievement, and it's awesome that your bikes have served you so well. Thanks for sharing your insight!

Panniers, and their contents, or the bell.

No offense if OP is actually a human, but threads with such general, open ended questions followed by lots of “great response!” and *[brand name]* mentions always scream AI marketing tool to me.

Riding up grades, not upgrades.

handlebar, cause otherwise you have to stick your thumbs in the stem to steer...

initially i had MKS Sylvan touring pedals [ [url=https://www.mkspedal.com/?q=en/product/node/92]SYLVAN TOURING | MIKASHIMA INDUSTRIAL CO,.LTD ] - no clips/ straps. i could never scooch my feet consistently close together (Q factor) to keep them straight and fully on the pedal. hence the soreness on the

utside of both feet after a 20 mile ride.

i also use Quoc Pham touring shoes, which while enabling one to walk in them, have lugs that reduce the width of my footprint. i think it is/ was a combination of little things added up giving me aches.

so i changed to another MKS pedal style. i[ [url=https://www.mkspedal.com/?q=en/product/node/80]ESPRIT | MIKASHIMA INDUSTRIAL CO,.LTD ] t has a support on the outside of the pedal and they area marked improvement. additionally, the center components of the pedal allow my shoes to bear on the

"U" of the pedal perimeter and lugs to rest lower than the original. pedals. the pedal actually measures the same length as its predecessor, so it is certainly not dramatically different, yet different enough for my feet to notice the benefit.

so the shortened version is that my feet are planted more firmly on the pedal surface. i had gone through the exercise of slicing a groove where the front of my shoe sole hit the front edge of the pedal (about 2mm wide) and that continues to be a good indexing point.

i'm off for the winter months (northeast hiker) but in the spring i am wanting to try a pair of Dromarti shoes. DROMARTI The Finest Leather Road & Touring Cycling Shoes On The Planet – D R O M A R T I they are made a bit less tapered and have a wider toe box than

the Quoc Pham shoes.

i also like the Esprit pedals enough they will go on my '83 Raleigh winter project. NOS out of the box / never ridden. it will get complete disassembly to replace the 41 year old grease dried on its bearings.

Converting my cheap 29er MTB into a capable hybrid by swapping to a Salsa rigid fork, changing to Marathon Supremes 622-42 tires, adding Ergon bar ends, a Cobb enduro saddle, SPD touring pedals and upgrading the braking system to Deore, are all modifications that enhanced my riding enjoyment especially on rough pavement and hilly terrains.