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Time to upgrade our 2015 Giant Fastroad CoMax 1's

Old 08-31-18, 04:29 PM
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Time to upgrade our 2015 Giant Fastroad CoMax 1's

Here is a little teaser of the kind of updates our (my wife and I) 2015 Giant CoMax 1 bikes are about to receive this weekend:
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Old 08-31-18, 08:33 PM
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Originally Posted by DowneasTTer
Here is a little teaser of the kind of updates our (my wife and I) 2015 Giant CoMax 1 bikes are about to receive this weekend:
We need a :drool: emoji...
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Old 09-01-18, 01:04 AM
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You don't mess around do ya?
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Old 09-01-18, 11:18 AM
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Not enough
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Old 09-01-18, 01:48 PM
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OK after today's ride and a little yard work (got to keep the better half happy) I finished step 1.... mounting the tubeless tires, disc brake rotors and cassette for my bike. It is the first time I have ever tried mounting tubeless so while they appear to be holding air now.... I'll have to wait until the AM to see how much my air loss is. The wheel sets came from Bike Nasbar their are Vuelta Corsa SLX 700c Discs and the rotors are TRP 33s front 160 mm and rear 140. The tires were purchased from Chain Reaction in the UK and are Schwalbe Pro One Tubeless sold as a set with both sealant and rim lube ( funny thing is they are both Stans NoTube products). After viewing a few online videos of the process I purchased Stans Yellow rim tape and an Airshot 1.15L Tubeless inflator to help pop the tire beads in place. It was a pretty simple process just waiting to see if in fact it works.....
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Old 09-01-18, 02:41 PM
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Generally if they hold air they are seated .... only place they will leak is the valve, and if you didn't damage that inserting it .... you should be good to go. So

I followed your link from road cycling, where apparently, the rules are different.

Where are the bike pics? We need :"Befores" to have "Befopre and After"!

Plus we need a list of what you are adding ... and weights ... J/K
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Old 09-02-18, 01:21 PM
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We'll friends showed up today so little time to do much. However on the plus side the tires are holding air. Got the chain sets installed along with new KMC 11 chains and replaced one of the hydro brake levers and bled the system. Installed the new wheel set on my bike and will give all this a try on tomorrow's ride on the Withlacoochee. I all goes well I'll set up the Wheelset for Mrs. DowneasTTer.
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Old 09-02-18, 02:42 PM
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WOW! I used to get packages full of goodies like that. It was easier when my wife was working during UPS delivery time.
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Old 09-02-18, 05:29 PM
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Originally Posted by DowneasTTer
We'll friends showed up today so little time to do much. However on the plus side the tires are holding air. Got the chain sets installed along with new KMC 11 chains and replaced one of the hydro brake levers and bled the system. Installed the new wheel set on my bike and will give all this a try on tomorrow's ride on the Withlacoochee. I all goes well I'll set up the Wheelset for Mrs. DowneasTTer.
If there's no rain I'll be at the trail in the A.M. Hopefully we'll meet up again so I can get a close-up view.
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Old 09-03-18, 02:19 PM
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WOW!!! I had my first ride on the new wheels and tubeless tire set up. My wife and I did our usual 30 mile ride on the Withlacoochee State Trail. It was a marked improvement over the OEM stuff. No air loss in the past 3 days so I figure that's good. The comfort of the tires running at 80 psi is a vast improvement over the ride on my usual Conti 4 seasons on the same ride. I guess I will be a tubeless guy for the remainder of my riding days (ok, I"m currently 69 so how many are left). The wheel set Vuelta Corsa SLX from Bike Nasbar is also a great improvement over the stock Giant PR-2 disc wheels. With the tires, wheels and discs the new setup is about half a pound less. It was quite noticeable when going up a couple of the small hills. I was even able to pass my wife!! Now that will end as soon as I upgrade her ride.

After the ride I was able to set up the Wheelset for my wife's CoMax. If the air pressure holds I'm put on her bike for a test ride in the morning. Also replaced disc pads, brake levers and bled all the brakes before a little pool time and a beer. Have a safe and wonderful holiday!
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Old 09-05-18, 05:02 AM
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I love upgrading my bikes and customizing them to my preferences. One of my bikes is so modified it's barely even the same bike as when I bought it, sort of like the Ship Of Theseus. Or perhaps the Bike Of Theseus?
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Old 09-09-18, 11:39 AM
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And now the rest of the story:

We purchased these bikes back in the fall of 2015. Since then they have been around 30k miles (yes we ride alot for a couple of old folks in our late 60’s) and have lived off the back of our motorhome for 4 months of the year. Upon returning from our summer travels to the North East the bikes needed to have several parts replaced or replace the entire bikes with something else. The drivetrain was simply worn out. Needing at the very least new chainrings, cassettes , chains and jolly wheels. Because of the time the bikes spend on the rear rack exposed to the elements many spoke nipples were breaking due to corrosion. So they really needed to be respoked or a new wheel set purchased. We looked at the new Fastroad Advanced with all the latest tech. However Giant didn’t spec the bike well IMHO. So we figured we could replace all that was needed including upgrading from 105’s to Ultregra R8000s and new wheel sets for less than half the cost of new bikes.

We had done a few mods before this however. The first thing we always do is replace the stock saddles. The new ones are both Terry, mine a Fly TI and hers a Butterfly Ti. The Giant grips and bar ends were replaced with Egron GP3’s and the Giant skewers with Enve Ti road skewers.

As the first post picture shows the upgrades include Ultegra R8000 chain sets, front and rear derailleurs, and cassettes. The wheel sets are Vuelta Corsa SLX Discs with TRP 33 rotors and Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tires. I also replaced both sets of brake levers as the levers had quite a bit of wear and tear.

So far we have ridden about 300 miles on the upgrades and all is well. The wheel set and tires are the biggest improvement as they roll much better and accelerate quicker (the engines are the same old tired out ones however). The tubeless tires mounted on the new “tubeless ready” rims without any problems and continue to hold air as well as any tubed wheels we have had in the past. My onboard toolkit has changed thou. Less tools but a small tube of sealant, a valve wrench, and plug kit were added for use on that first flat….

So for us the decision to replace/upgrade instead of simply buying new bikes was a win. We both have better than new bikes that we love and the retirement account was drained a little less than expected. Here are a couple of pictures of the finished product. Oh and btw I’m thinking now that maybe some Shimano XT M8000. Disc brakes and Enve carbon fibre handlebars might be next.



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Old 09-09-18, 03:21 PM
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Very nice!
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Old 09-09-18, 05:23 PM
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When I retire I wanna be like you!
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Old 09-14-18, 04:47 AM
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What a fantastic thread, my Comax 1 is only 8 months old, so no need for upgrades yet, , but I know where to come in the future. Can I ask how much the upgrades were?
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Old 09-14-18, 02:26 PM
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Originally Posted by SlinkyWizard
What a fantastic thread, my Comax 1 is only 8 months old, so no need for upgrades yet, , but I know where to come in the future. Can I ask how much the upgrades were?

Not a problem. Here is a summary of the upgrade costs:

Purchased from Chain Reaction Cycles in the UK:
Shimano Ultegra R8000 Rear Derailuer $65.99
Shimano Ultegra R9800 11 speed Chainset 50-34t $199.99
Shimano Ultegra R8000. Front Derailuer $34.49
Shimano Ultegra R8000 11 speed Cassette $51.99
Schwalbe Pro One Tubeless Tyre set (2 tires ). $ 101.99

Purchased from Bike Nashbar:
Vuelta Corsa SLX 700C Disc Wheeset. $349.99

Purchased from 365 Cycles (via Ebay):
TRP 33 Rotors. (2 @ $38.53. $77.06

Purchased from Amazon:
KMCV X11SL Chain. $35.00
Stans No Tubes Rim Tape. $13.50
Stans No Tubes Presta Valve Stems $14.80

For a grand total of $944.80 for each bike.
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Old 10-07-18, 02:42 PM
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Well it’s time for a update. We have put a little over 1k miles since upgrading the CoMax’s. Must say it was one of the best decisions we have made bike wise that is. For less than half the cost of a new FastRoad we were able to replace most of the systems with better than OEM stuff. The drive train upgrade to the new Shimano Ultegra 8000 series was money well spent. But since then Shimano has introduced the new 105 7000 series that is very close with less $$. If we were doing the updating now I might go that way. Shifting is very smooth, much more so than our old 5300 105 setup. However, some of that is due to the wear and tear on the 105s. Cool factor …. a win.

We are thinking of upgrading the disc brakes and handle bars next. But, I’m not sure of the bang for my buck. Only time will tell.

Now on to the wheel set and tubeless setup. We were faced with either replacing all the spoke nibbles on the OEM wheetset or replacing the wheels anyway. The new wheel set is without a doubt the best $$ spend. The wheels that came of the bike were Giant\’s midrange set so not bad to begin with. However the replacement wheels make the bike come alive. It’s amazing the difference in acceleration and rolling even with my 69 year old tired engjne. They were true out of the box and remain so. It should be noted that I’m not a light weight at 210 lbs.

The tubeless experience has been a bumpy though;. This is the one upgrade I was looking forward to the most. You see 7 years ago I found out I have CHF (Congestive Heart Failure) and my current EF (Ejection Fraction) is only 25 -30. That coupled with being 69 means I don’t have a lot of strength available at any one time. Sure I can petal 10K miles/year. But, I really have a hard time fixing flats. Since purchasing these bikes I have found taking off tires and putting them back on is best left for my home workshop where I have the tools to help out. It’s not something I can do in field anymore. So the prospect of mot worrying about flats on ride was worth the price of admission. At about 300 miles I had my first leak. I didn’t even notice it when it happened only after I had stopped at an intersection I saw sealant on my front fork and realized what happened. Was able to ride the rest of the 25 miles back to the car without any problems. Plugged the tire and continue to use the tire. Since then I have had 3 other leaks which have only been discovered the next day before riding. Plugged them all and not had any more problems. After the first 1k Miles the tires appear to be wearing well and should be good for a couple more thousand before replacement.

About mid month someone nice citizen decide to throw a fluorescent light bulb off a bridge over the Withlacoochee trail near Inverness., FL. We were riding early in the morning and didn’t see it until after we had ridden through the broken glass. We stopped to check out the tires and couldn’t see any damage so we continued our ride. On the way back to the trailhead we rode through the glass again. This time about a mile from the bridge was a loud bang. The glass took out the side wall of my wife’s front tire. The damage was so severe that even if I had a tube it couldn’t be field repaired. It would have required a boot or a replacement tire.. So I can’t fault the tubeless tires itself.So in 2000 miles (1000 each) we have had to replace a tire and had 4 leaks requiring a plug. That’s a lot of attention to tire health IMHO. However, In 4 of the cases repair was not needed until I got the bike back to my home workshop and the repair didn’t even need to take a wheel off the bike. So I plan on keeping the tubeless setup.

I’ll update this thread as time goes on
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Old 10-07-18, 06:27 PM
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Originally Posted by DowneasTTer
On the way back to the trailhead we rode through the glass again. This time about a mile from the bridge was a loud bang. The glass took out the side wall of my wife’s front tire. The damage was so severe that even if I had a tube it couldn’t be field repaired. It would have required a boot or a replacement tire..
Ouch! Did your wife manage to keep control and to come to a safe stop? How far from the car were you?
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Old 10-13-18, 01:24 PM
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Quick wheel set update.

Since doing the upgrade on both bikes, I have noticed that my rear wheel seems to lose air at a greater rate than any of the others. A couple of times it was due to punctures that I plugged. But upon further testing I found that the rim is leaking air above 80 psi (I’m 210 or so and try to run with 90psi in the rear) right at the seam. The sealant works to a point. But fails above 80psi or so. I have contracted BikeNasbar where I purchased both sets of Vuelta Corsa SLX wheels and they are replacing one set. I really like them so hope this is not an indication of their quality.
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Old 10-14-18, 01:41 AM
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What was previous experience using tubeless? Were you running Gavia AC1 tubeless tires?
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Old 10-14-18, 02:08 PM
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Originally Posted by SlinkyWizard
What was previous experience using tubeless? Were you running Gavia AC1 tubeless tires?
The bikes were 2015's and didn't have tubeless rims or tires. I think they were Giant P-R3 tires and Giant P-R2 Disc wheels. After about 1500 miles they were toast. So for the last few years I have been using Conti 4 Seasons and loved them. In fact I have been using the 4 seasons for the last couple bikes you can read about them in a thread I started a while back Monster miles on a set of tires....
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Old 10-14-18, 06:53 PM
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Originally Posted by DowneasTTer
I think they were Giant P-R3 tires and Giant P-R2 Disc wheels. After about 1500 miles they were toast.
The tires or the wheels? Or both?
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Old 10-15-18, 02:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Doctor Morbius
The tires or the wheels? Or both?
Sorry the tires. The rims are about 30,000 miles and still going. However, as I stated above I have had several broken nipples on the wheels do to corrosion. So instead of replacing them all I decided to purchase a different wheel set.
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Old 10-15-18, 03:14 PM
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Did you replace the cranksets on the bikes also?
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Old 10-25-18, 02:39 PM
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Originally Posted by DowneasTTer
And now the rest of the story:

We purchased these bikes back in the fall of 2015. Since then they have been around 30k miles (yes we ride alot for a couple of old folks in our late 60’s) and have lived off the back of our motorhome for 4 months of the year. Upon returning from our summer travels to the North East the bikes needed to have several parts replaced or replace the entire bikes with something else. The drivetrain was simply worn out. Needing at the very least new chainrings, cassettes , chains and jolly wheels. Because of the time the bikes spend on the rear rack exposed to the elements many spoke nipples were breaking due to corrosion. So they really needed to be respoked or a new wheel set purchased. We looked at the new Fastroad Advanced with all the latest tech. However Giant didn’t spec the bike well IMHO. So we figured we could replace all that was needed including upgrading from 105’s to Ultregra R8000s and new wheel sets for less than half the cost of new bikes.

We had done a few mods before this however. The first thing we always do is replace the stock saddles. The new ones are both Terry, mine a Fly TI and hers a Butterfly Ti. The Giant grips and bar ends were replaced with Egron GP3’s and the Giant skewers with Enve Ti road skewers.

As the first post picture shows the upgrades include Ultegra R8000 chain sets, front and rear derailleurs, and cassettes. The wheel sets are Vuelta Corsa SLX Discs with TRP 33 rotors and Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tires. I also replaced both sets of brake levers as the levers had quite a bit of wear and tear.

So far we have ridden about 300 miles on the upgrades and all is well. The wheel set and tires are the biggest improvement as they roll much better and accelerate quicker (the engines are the same old tired out ones however). The tubeless tires mounted on the new “tubeless ready” rims without any problems and continue to hold air as well as any tubed wheels we have had in the past. My onboard toolkit has changed thou. Less tools but a small tube of sealant, a valve wrench, and plug kit were added for use on that first flat….

So for us the decision to replace/upgrade instead of simply buying new bikes was a win. We both have better than new bikes that we love and the retirement account was drained a little less than expected. Here are a couple of pictures of the finished product. Oh and btw I’m thinking now that maybe some Shimano XT M8000. Disc brakes and Enve carbon fibre handlebars might be next.
I am in the market for a new bike and have been eyeing the Giant FastRoad Advanced 2019. Would you advise getting the dealer to upgrade from the current Shimano 105 group to the Ultrega group?
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