Where to start
 

There are several components I want to switch out on my bike but am wondering which one should hold priority..

My bike:

Pake frame/fork
Vuelta XRP wheels
Dura-Ace crankset
No name stem
No name seat post
Filante Selle Italia saddle
Cinelli road bars
No name pedals
Soma Clips

Eventually, I wanna switch out everything but I gotta do it slowly since the most of the parts I want are very expensive. IE: A HED-3 wheel.

I was thinking about picking up a Nashbar carbon fiber fork on Friday for $90.. You think that would be a good step in the right direction?
I was either going to pick one of those up or some Cinelli drops and/or a Nitto stem.

My bike is heavy as hell and I wanna shed some weight off.

Thanks!

Any parts you dont like on your bike in particular? Or is this purely a hmm, Im bored with my bike right now type thing?
Is there a reason you want the carbon fiber fork? Anything wrong with the Pake one?

You could just save that fork money and put it towards a new wheelset, since the Vuelta XRP's are sorta entry level. (have a pair right now and am waiting on the new wheelset i ordered to upgrade from them)

And to be clear, this is my game plan.

I want to switch out everything by this time next year. Once I am happy with all my parts, I want to get a better frame. I am thinking Cannondale Track.

The parts I have are all I could afford on a budget and I didn't want to start off with a really nice bike. Seeing rookies on $4,000 bikes makes me cringe.

I am ****ing devoted too. I am moving into my friend's closet just so I can save up for bike stuff. And since I got a job as a courier (although delivering only makes up about 60% of my hours) I feel its justified.

My buddy told me I should really focus on a crankset first but man, I hate my fork. I've heard having a nice fork makes a huge difference in handling and $90 for a carbon fork? The Nashbar fork seems like such a steal!

I am bored with my bike and I've been riding fixed every single day for the past year and a half. I feel like its time to get better parts. My bike is heavy and I know its holding me back from riding my best. I rode my friend's Cannondale Track bike with a HED-3 wheelset and just really nice parts all around and it felt amazing. I was so bummed riding my bike after testing that bike out!

Sorry, I lost interest at "My bike".....I'm bored

Enjoy

With a Paké frame, a carbon fork isn't going to help. It's a heavy frame, I ride one too everyday and I love it...rock solid. As a messenger, keep what holds you up steel, as you'll be putting loads of miles on those components, bumpin' bangin', and generally thrashin' it up. Good, strong, wheels will make your life better. 32 spoke minimum x3. You don't want to be messin' on a HED/carbon fork, unless of course your posenger'ing, because you'll be doing more miles than a touring bike for the most part. One wrong move (pot hole/curb/car) and you're not riding home, or worse, face planting. It's a work bike not a race machine. Crash that C'dale with Hed and see how it folds up, whereas you'll just get up and keep going with the Paké.

Wheels
BB
Crank

This man is intelligent.

Am I missing something? It looks like your crankset might be one of the most valuable pieces youve got on your rig.

Ill take it off your hands if you want to replace it though!

but you have the cranks and wheels you'd see rookies have on their $4,000 bikes, then you want that HED

As well, being on a budget, means the work bike needs to be solid as f**k, because if you bust it you have nothing to work on to make more money. Being a messenger is hard enough, without not having a bike to ride. Save up and replace stuff with nicer gear as it breaks/wears. Those nicer components/frames ... save 'em for the 'after work/weekend bike'. Once you have several bikes then you can afford to risk wasting something it took you a year to put together. Same reason I won't commute on my CF road bike, despite not having crashed in over ten years on the streets. Good wheels though will save you time/money/grief.

try not to worry too much about swapping out parts for high end components. Worry about ridin!

Thanks for all the input.
Thing is, work is slow and I am only working 15-20 hours a week right now and I deliver on the east side, way mellower than downtown riding. Still, its a good point. My Pake has been through hell and back and its still pulling.

I guess I'll start off with a new wheel set. Everything else would be nice to switch out but at the same time, its not completely necessary.

Any recommendations on wheels? Like I said before, I am running Vuelta XRP's and I just wanna upgrade to something stronger and LIGHTER. Mavic Open Pro's are looking pretty nice...

A good box rim, Mavic OP, Ambrosio Excellights, 3x laced will do you quite well unless your roads are hellish. If your roads are terrible you might want to look at heavier Aero profile rims, these will withstand vertical misshaping due to potholes better. You telling me Portland has more than one bike messenger zone? You said your were working the East, and not the core?

Damned straight on the Paké, you'd have to run it right into a brick wall to wreck it.... if you kill that while messin' ... then what to ride is the least of your concerns because chances are you're in the hospital. I bought mine used, put used wheels on it , only just getting the Ambrosios built recently. I've a mismatched crank, 1/2 Sugino 1/2 Peugeot that came off a bike I found, I'll be putting on my Steelwool 1/8th crank on it soon. I messed for a good couple years before getting any respectable gear, and even then it was all used mostly. Granted I was messin' when you were in grade school most likely, though not a hell of a lot has changed, cept I made more money back then. ;) The BIG fashion items in the messenger crowd back then were Oakley sunglasses, and clipless was just making it's inroads to market domination.

IMPORTANT: Get the wheelset hand built for you from someone respectable. They should ask how much your weigh, tell them it's for messing so to add 20or so lbs +/- to account for a loaded bag.

My friend will sell my a set of H PLUS ONES for $350.. Seems steep to me though.

If I can talk her down to $275-$300 should I go for it? I know they have to be better than my XRP's plus they're probably bulletproof as ****.

And each wheel weighs 200grams less than mine.