What was your favorite bike upgrade?
NorthCascades
Posts: 10,968 Member
Might be a fun thread for the cyclists here. What one thing that you changed has the biggest effect on your enjoyment of cycling?
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I love my trek road bike, but I need to upgrade to cleats and shimano brakes which I'm sure will help!
My big thing in last 3 months has been integrating hills even on my short cycles. Helped me start to tackle bigger hills and I scaled 1500ft last weekend as a result.
Bookmarking for tips and recommendations!3 -
Getting a decent saddle. By far. (Though I haven’t got the power meter yet )
I have an ISM saddle now, FWIW.3 -
Biggest impact was being persuaded to try a drop bar road bike instead of my flat handlebar hybrid, in effect upgrading the whole bike. Never thought my injured back would tolerate a lower riding position but a friend not only volunteered to ride with me on a long charity ride but also loaned me his spare bike for the event. Opened up a whole load of of new opportunities to go further and faster.
Second to that would be my first Garmin Edge for navigation, what a world of difference to be able to explore new areas with reasonable expectations of being able to follow a route and not get horribly lost.
Best component upgrade was fast carbon wheels.
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Carbon racing wheels is my #2 pic. Feels like a different bike with them. More sure footed and unquestionably faster. The placebo effect never wore off, every time I get on the bike I expect to be fast because I'm using good gear, so I push myself harder.2
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Really tough question.. I've had like 9 bikes in the space of decade lol.
Probably Di2. The little robot zippy sound is still so satisfying. The shift is so crisp.. Also, setup and indexing is a breeze.
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Saddle had the single biggest impact on enjoyment... Tires were probably the most benefit for least money.2
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Enjoyment, GPS cycling computer (Garmin Edge 530) to avoiding getting lost and smart trainer (Elite Drivo) to add some spice to my indoor workouts.2
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On my road/touring bicycle(s)
Brooks saddle
Shimano M324 MTB Pedals
And mtn bike gearing that can help me climb walls.3 -
Can't say I'm a bike enthusiast but I'm enthusiastically into my grey commuter bike 😅
Every year (present one excluded) she gets an orange gift. Orange is my fav color so I switch out an accessory or add gear.
Her last gift was orange pedals.6 -
Two thing for me:
- gator skin tires when i was large. Reduced the number of flats by like a million fold
- Brooks saddle. No more sore butt!3 -
I've stayed mostly stock with this bike (Trek X-Caliber 9 2018), the whole bike itself was an upgrade/change from my traditional 80s road tourer (Fuji Touring Series IV - a bike I loved, but no longer was the best for me). It was a retirement/Christmas gift from the family - "go ride," they said, "it'll be good for you." And they were right.
Anticipating a ride profile of 50/50 road/offroad and 80/20 paved/unpaved (something that I more or less have kept to), my main time-of-purchase upgrade was puncture-resistant "balloon" tires with a fairly slick tread (Schwalbe Big Apple, 29x2.35). This has worked great. I also added a more comfortable saddle than stock, but now that I've lost about 85lbs., I think it's time to consider something else down there.
I had hand numbness as my range increased; adding Ergon GP-4 bar-ends took care of that.
I ride flat pedals; this old dog isn'tgoing to learn a new trick, and there's a story behind this decision I won't go into here. However, the sharp traction pins have, of course, occasionally taken their toll on my calves or shins. This spring, I took a couple of good divots out, and finally switched pedals. My new ones, Look Trail Grips (pictured below), have been an absolute joy and have been working quite well in a variety of situations without any bloodletting. They have been, I guess, the best upgrade yet. In the bike picture, my original pedals are shown.
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Getting a decent saddle. By far. (Though I haven’t got the power meter yet )
I have an ISM saddle now, FWIW.
Love my ISM saddle! I've also come to really enjoy the Di2 setup that came on my bike.
As far as upgrades, adding power has delivered the most significant benefit in helping me improve my performance. (garmin vector pedals)
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Some things I've done recently that have been nice on my "endurance" style (drop handlebar, relaxed geometry) bike:
- Going to 32mm tires and running them at 60psi
- Adding a Redshift suspension stem (gives a little bounce)
- Buying a Garmin Edge 530 computer with a Varia RTL515 radar
I like the stem so much, I've been tempted to put some suspension in the seat post. But, the tires really add a lot of cushion to the ride relative to 100+ psi 25mm tires.2 -
Can't say I'm a bike enthusiast but I'm enthusiastically into my grey commuter bike 😅
Every year (present one excluded) she gets an orange gift. Orange is my fav color so I switch out an accessory or add gear.
Her last gift was orange pedals.
Your bike sounds very cool. My bike has a two toned grey frame with black tape, so orange accents would be quite an upgrade.4 -
Professional bike fit!
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Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »Some things I've done recently that have been nice on my "endurance" style (drop handlebar, relaxed geometry) bike:
- Going to 32mm tires and running them at 60psi
- Adding a Redshift suspension stem (gives a little bounce)
- Buying a Garmin Edge 530 computer with a Varia RTL515 radar
I like the stem so much, I've been tempted to put some suspension in the seat post. But, the tires really add a lot of cushion to the ride relative to 100+ psi 25mm tires.
I used to run 23s at 110 psi. We all did. We thought it was faster. I'm on 28s now, but on wide rims so they come out to 33 mm. I run them around 70 psi. Profound difference. Not just in comfort, the bike corners like it's on rails.1 -
For me it was when I went to the 1x10 drive system. Ditching the front derailleur just made a world of difference as far as mountain biking. Now as far as my dream upgrade would be I want that sram Gold eagle group set lol2
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For me it was when I went to the 1x10 drive system. Ditching the front derailleur just made a world of difference as far as mountain biking. Now as far as my dream upgrade would be I want that sram Gold eagle group set lol
I can imagine that works for off-road. For on-road, my biggest gripe is that some of my gear changes are too large, an by that I mean that some adjacent cogs are different by two teeth instead of one. I've considered using a "straight block," but I frequently need the full gear range. And, I have an 11 in the rear!1 -
my new ultralight wheelset.
it makes all the difference.
also.... a saddle upgrade is an affordable luxury2
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