I need better wheels and or better lighter fork Mine is a steel doosey heavy beast of a fork. So cheapo $100 wheels bikedirect with sealed bearings maybe a tad lighter or new carbon fork so alot lighter, cost about the same where is my money better spent?

what is the bike?

Carbon fork probably not much 'upgrade', it may screws up your bike handling by changing in fork rake (trail) so be careful playing with a new fork.

New wheel seems obvious better choice.

Carbon forks are a great upgrade but as Altimis said you do want to make sure you get one that is similar in rake and other measurements so it doesn't change your handling or at least have a good understanding of the changes and what that will do to your ride. Also you need to make sure it is compatible. 1" threadless isn't common and might be what your bike uses and pretty much forget threaded 1" carbon, that is extremely rare or expensive these days or used and wouldn't want to ride it?

Granted though cheap components of any kind aren't really a huge upgrade and that is what it sounds like you are doing. I would save some money and potentially upgrade the bike completely or if the bike is actually decent than find some good wheels ideally something handbuilt and those will cost more than $100 for a pair. However the best components to upgrade right away are going to be contact points like saddle, bars, tape/grips and pedals. Wheels and forks and cranks and etc. are great upgrades and certainly could lighten up a bike or give you better this or that but if you aren't comfortable on the bike the rest doesn't matter.

I dunno, kind of like the looks of it as is (except the bar tape). If I were itching to add something I would go with the best wheelset I could afford. It's something you can take from build to build so not a bike specific expense. Keep the originals and if you sell to upgrade frames just put them back on for the next buyer.

Plus a bar tape that matches the seat if that one is comfortable for you. The whole neon mismatchy thing seems dated to me - but that's a personal taste.

It depends on what you are doing. Loose ball bearings can be better rolling and smoother but aren't great for the weather. The few seals and things getting in the way of a bearings movement the better. Ideally for a track bike for say a Keirin event you would put minimal grease or some lube on it each race just so it is super smooth so you can edge out the competition since you don't have much else other than your strength and power. However for the practical everyday machine sealed cartridge bearings will be a better solution however I would save up to move a little further away from the absolute cheapest stuff.

Wheels. You can transfer wheels easily over to another bike. Fork, not so much. And I don't believe that frame fits you, so I wouldn't recommend buying a new fork for it.

Maybe lighter? Can you find out for sure? Are you able to weigh your present wheels and get a weight on the new wheels?

Cartridge bearings might be an upgrade that isn't a given. Shimano's top of the line Dura Ace wheels have loose bearings.

It doesn't make sense to replace cheap, heavy wheels with cheap, heavy wheels. Unless the bearings on the current wheels are shot or the wheels are wider or you just want to change the look then the best thing to do might be nothing.


-Tim-