Stand by, I will post my R600 pics this weekend. Like you I thought the brakes sucked, then my BB crapped. I ended up getting a new 9spd Ultegra group for a great price, including octalink BB 7 cranks and ultegra brakes. Not only does it look dead sexy now that everything matches, but I find BB lots smoother, front shifts much slicker, braking much better, OCP points - almost enough to get me in !!!
9 months down the track, I still think I have the perfect bike. Doesn't stop me looking at others though.

Actually I belong to a fourth group... That group is the one where if I were to spend a couple grand on a brand new bike my wife would go ape and throw me out of the house. My upgrading has gone on under the fiscal radar.

https://www.cannondale.com/bikes/01/c...del-1RR3K.html

If you bought a CAAD 5 in 2001 you could get it blinged out with full Dura Ace and Mavic SSCs.

Four years later and you can get it with an entry level group, but the frame is still the same.

Hahaha - that's me, yes this is it. I used to do it with Computers, then cars, then my motorbike. It's a highly thrilling fine line to be treading.

Oh there is a fine art to it. Always pay in cash (credit card statements will get you every time). Always stash the receipts where she wont find them... If she does catch you spending money, act like you are so upset that you have to keep spending money on this bike - like you feel like you bought a lemon and are now being taken to the cleaners. Had my wife thinking I was so upset that I had to fork over a bunch of money for Mavic wheels.

Teach me! Teach me!

We could form a "Stealthy Spenders" club, and share ideas. My latest ride started out as an R600, but the only thing left of it is the frame. I'm trying to sneak some Ksyriums in under the radar, but this will involve new levels of cunning. Help me out here !!

Upgrade?
Next time buy the best bike you can afford and like. Skip upgrades, unless parts are worn out.
Have ridden 1000s of miles on steel, alu (including 3 'Dales), Ti and now custom carbon fiber.
Even 'Dale is building c/f bikes (in China)!
Try c/f, you may be convinced!

I don't know if it can be taught... First and foremost you have to have the heart of theif and the balls of a gambler.

The closest I came to getting busted was one time I had Performace Bike magazine open on the table to the bike shoe page. She looked at the page and saw my Sidi shoes and the price of $210. "You paid $210 for bike shoes!" she said. "Oh no honey... Those are some kind of extra fancy shoes, not the sensible ones that I bought..." Whew!

definitely true. Not everyone has the patience, know-how or tools to disassemble their bike to sell though. But yeah, you'll get more, unless it's some major nice Anniversary model with a commemorative gruppo or something. Then I might say keep the bike original for best return.

I disagree, everytime you replace the tires or tubes you have the chance to upgrade. But there is abig difference between choosing a replacement for a part that NEEDS to be replaced, and pulling parts off just for the sake of adding some bling bling. Nothing WRONG with doing that but from an economic standpoint, it's not the most frugal thing to do. Since not all bikes/wallets etc are equal, this person was simply asking for some feedback on their particular model.

But I think the question that started this thread is one most of us encounter as bike enthusiasts. Wondering how much better performance we can squeeze out of our steeds with that magic part or two. It's true we'd all do better to improve our own performance through diet, training, etc but at some point you have to consider your equipment too.

In some cases, a specific upgrade to a specific bike may very well NOT be worth doing. Even if you're Bill Gates, you might be better off getting a new bike if your goal is better performance. Even the world's richest dork can only ride one bike at a time.

I think the brake calipers are worth upgrading, but other wise you probably wouldn't get much out of it. Might as well wait a ocuple more years and replace the bike then - you'd get a much superior bike.

I ignored this thread for a long time but I should let you in on my story about upgrading...

First when I say upgrading I am refering to major current bike specific upgrades, drivetrain, fork, and to some extent wheels.

Eight months ago I bought a trek 2100 after fighting with my parents over price (I had a 1500 dollar bike budget for a road bike and I had no intentions of racing at the time. At that point I really had no idea what I wanted in a road bike, and the 2100 looked like the best mix of components and frameset (ultegra 9, Al frame with CF stays) for the cash. I choose to upgrade the wheels at the sametime also (Race X Lite areos, mainly because of my weight (255 at the time). For 4 months I rode the bike, did my first century on it, my first TT, etc and learned about road biking in general. I learned that the bike that I thought fit did not really, the reach was too short, etc. My biggest complaint was that the cranks were too short.

A while back I was hit by a car and totaled part of the drivetrain, including bending the crankarms laterially and destroying the derailerurs, bending the dropout, etc. After I got out of the hospital and the parts were replaced by warrenty the new parts were sold and the new DA drivetrain was added (except for the shifters and cassette (I did not need 10 speed at the time). Over time the bike was effectivly stripped of all things stock and now it is fully upgraded.

I played around with the idea of selling the bike stock and buying a new one for say 1500 resell on the trek (with wheels) + 900 for the drivetrain = 2400 dollars. Remember since I am 6'6" very few bikes fit off the shelf, the only ones that would work were the cannondale R3000 at I believe 2800 or so without wheel upgrade or a madone which the fit sucked. Since I had dialed in the fit as best as possible on the trek I was very reluctant to throw it away for a new bike. All said and done I ended up putting in about the same as buying a new bike off the shelf into the trek. I will be riding this bike for at least the next 2 - 3 years so the money is worth it... I plan on getting the frameset repainted this winter and keeping the bike for a long time. When I go to buy a new bike I will probably either put campy on the trek (centour with record 180 mm cranks) for training and move the DA stuff to a new frame or start from scratch with record or what ever is current at the time.

Was it worth it, sure, but many people would disagree... why would you put 1k+ in drivetrain parts on a 1.5k total bike? Bottom line, in your case unless you are in a simular money situation like I was where you can not buy a brand new bike then do not upgrade, keep what you have. You will oneday need a training bike if you plan on racing, and frankly anything over ultegra is overkill in crash prone CAT5 racing. Plus assuming you are normal size you could easily sell your bike to someone looking for a trainer bike and buy a new one...

It is really your choice... at this level the MOTOR is more important than anything you can put on your bike. My current bike weights in a 18.9 pounds, no tlight by todays standards but it does not keep me from going 100% at races...

Now if the frame is very very comfortable to you then why change it... but you need to get the parts dirt cheep to make pricing work... I got my parts nearly 20 - 30 percent off installed... and that included Cranks, Shifters, Deraileurs, Brakes, BB, cassette, cables, etc. I have a (if you include the wheels, Race X Lites), a 3k+ road bike that I paid less than 2.5k for.

buy a 2nd bike and use the current one as ur backup

Replacing stuff that is worn-out with better stuff is a good idea and probably the best use of money. For example if your 9s shifters get trashed 10s might not be a bad idea. Why buy new 9s shifters when ultegra 10 STI are only $210 now (replacing 9s for the sake of getting 10s is not high yield though)


As I said before If you have some skill with bike mechanics there is no real loss in value in doing this either. Instead of selling the bike as a whole you sell off individual parts on Ebay (where stuff sells for more than it should) and let the value of an indivual piece stand on it's own.

Wheelsets are not a bad idea either. Nothing wrong with 2 wheelsets for one bike. (back-up set)

Now if you could only get a half-way decent motor you would stop talking about your bike.

How many times do you have to tell us what you are riding?

Not everyone has read past posts and knows what each person on this forum rides. There are new members everyday that can benefit from each other's opinions and experience. It may be a repeat to you, but not to everyone. Lighten up.

Me too. I've always bought just a frame or a lower end bike that has a good frame but lower end components. Then I buy high end components as I find them on sale or get a good deal on ebay. This way I end up with high end equipment without getting in trouble with the wife.

SS

Took me a while, but here it is, a bumped R600 with full ultegra, I say go for it.

Hey, that's nice!

How have those wheels worked out for you? I had all kinds of problems with mine. in fact the back wheel cracked which forced me to replace the set.

Lets just say I am lusting for a set of Ksyriums, & I think I will crack very shortly. These are ok, no problems yet aside from a truing, but I think I will be using them for training.

Are you sure this is "the one frame" you want to stick with? If so, then upgrade at will, otherwise hold out.

Unless you do the work yourself, upgrading an entire groupset is a very labor intensive (thus expensive) operation. That's not counting how much components cost.

Those Gipemme wheels look very similar to the campy sciroccos....the lacing pattern is near identical.

I don't understand. The parts that were destroyed in the accident were replaced under warranty? That seems odd. Or do you mean they were replaced by insurance?

55/Rad

Aside from replacing components that break and wear out you need to consider the price of an new R1000 on sale. It comes with ultegra 10 and K elite wheels.

This requires some calculations.


FYI Geometry between CAAD 5 and CAAD 7/8 is slightly different in the seat tube angle and wheelbase.