Felt F95 Road Bike - Upgrades or Upgrade?

[nathb]

I'm rather new here, so hello

I've been a MTB'er for many many years, however ever since moving from up north (Lancashire - were mud was easy to find) to London I found myself looking at road bikes.

So I eventually bought a Felt F95 in September as an entry into the road cycling world. The bike was at a very good price brand new from Merlin and was a less risky purchase than a £1000er through the cycle to work scheme.

Since then I've done over 600 miles on it, doing 40-60 miles on Sundays around richmond park. I'm truly enjoying this sport!

I've only just fitted SPD's to it last week and managed a 50 mile cycle without falling off.

However there is a few bits with it that I'm thinking aren't the best of quality, for instance I'm finding the wheels to be a bit cumbersome/heavy?

Here's the bike:


Now my question is: Would you upgrade the components or save up for a better bike for next year? (there's no way the missus will let me purchase one this year ) (

Or is it pointless upgrading this bike due to the limitations of the frame (weight for instance)? I really like the look of the frame though - actually more so than some of the carbon ones I have seen!

The component upgrades I was looking at:
- Mavic aksium (or similar) wheelset = circa £150 new
- 105 - 5800 groupset = circa £285-£300 new
(obviously happy to upgrade to second hand parts)

Bike upgrade wise:
- Ribble Gran fondo/Pro evo carbon ultegra bikes are circa £1k at the moment

Thanks in advance

P.s. If you spot any glaring errors with my setup please say

[NUKe]

there is nothng wrong with your current bike, for what you are doing. Get some miles in on the current componentry and replace it as it wears out. The mavic wheelset will probably not make any noticable difference, and a much more noticeable uupgrade wiould be the tyres. even those, I would find my optimal pressure and wear out before buying new.

[Valbrona]

That looks a great bike. The upgrades you speak of are not very logical given the frame is aluminium. I would get some more use out of it and start saving for a new bike which you could perhaps buy in a year or two.

[samsbike]

Agree to all the above. I would save up for a nice summer bike and relegate this then to the winter hack

[nathb]

Cheers for the replies guys!

One thing I should have mentioned is that I'll be using it for some sportives I've going to sign up for this year!

But yeah you're all right, I knew that deep down, I'm just one of those people who can't leave things alone!


Another quick question, I was getting my bike ready for tomorrow and discovered this:



Do you think it'll be okay to ride on that or is it a puncture waiting to happen?

[Brucey]

Re the tyres; if you can see the tube in the bottom of the hole then you will get a puncture for sure. If you can't you may pick up another stone or something but on the other hand it might be a couple of thousand miles off... So if it were me I'd ride it and just keep an eye on it. Punctures are part of cycling and they are a big part of riding a 'road bike' if you start worrying about the weight of wheels and tyres....

Re the bike; the wheels you mention are unlikely to transform your bike and similarly the gearset etc. The OEM parts are normally designed to last about x10 the mileage you have done so far, with just tyres, brake pads, chains and cassettes etc as consumables. In the summer, try some really nice tyres and see how you like them. Keep heavier ones for the bad weather.

I would likewise aim to buy a new bike in a year or two's time once you have had some use out of that one. In the meantime fix stuff that breaks, learn how to adjust hubs properly etc and try to develop an understanding about what is really important (clue; it is the 'engine'; provided it is working properly the bike makes very little difference...).

in the meantime just enjoy yourself!

cheers

[gregoryoftours]

That tyre doesn't look great, I'd think about replacing it soon but in the meantime tape a piece of milk bottle plastic over the area inside the tyre to provide support for the threaded weave and stop the inner tube pushing through. Also obviously carefully dig anything that's lodged in there out. As other people have said, I'd just replace stuff as it wears out, and tyres would be a good upgrade, some folding ones will be lighter, of 25mm or wider (23mm is out of favour these days, but I kind of agree in this case). Saddle, stem and bars are worthwhile swaps to get the bike set up right, and comfortable for you. Stem can be flipped/steerer spacers swapped around etc to adjust bar height. A cheap but decent road bike is more than adequate for sportives etc. If you do get a more expensive bike get it because you want it, not because this one isn't good enough.

[Mark1978]

Alexrims are pretty heavy and slow. I had the same but branded as Bontrager.

However; a £150 wheelset won't make much difference you'll get a new set which is broadly similar to the ones you have. If you want a proper upgrade take a look at eg Shimano RS81; you're talking over £300 for those however you could use them later on any new bike you buy as pretty much all new bikes come with low spec wheels.

[Brucey]

Alexrims are pretty heavy and slow...

really...? You might like to take a look at the exact rims in question or indeed their range before you conclude that they are all like that, or that the rims are what makes that particular wheelset 'heavy'. As well as MTB rims, roadster rims, etc, they do a full range of tubular rims, a load of disc-ready rims and a mere 31 other different road/cx clincher models as listed here;

http://www.alexrims.com/product.asp?sc=1&cat=1&cat2=8

Arguably this is one of the best ranges of 'roadie' rims currently offered. I'm not sure any of them (up to 30mm deep section) are appreciably over 500g and the range includes models which are listed as 420g in 622x15 size; hardly 'heavy' I think.

The only snag is that they don't have a UK distributor. I'd quite like to be able to buy their rims but right now I can't find them for sale retail in the UK.

cheers

[reohn2]

Cheers for the replies guys!

One thing I should have mentioned is that I'll be using it for some sportives I've going to sign up for this year!

But yeah you're all right, I knew that deep down, I'm just one of those people who can't leave things alone!


Another quick question, I was getting my bike ready for tomorrow and discovered this:



Do you think it'll be okay to ride on that or is it a puncture waiting to happen?

No,it's OK,I've been riding this tyre for upwards of 1000miles :-

As for the 'upgrades' completely unnecessary and will offer no increased 'performance',as Brucey says it's the 'engine' that make the thing go and it's there that improvements are made and the only upgrade to the bike that'll improve it are tyres,learn about tyre pressures to improve comfort and performance, here:- http://www.bikequarterly.com/images/TireDrop.pdf
Ride it,enjoy it.
Enter sportive's in the full knowledge that anyone with the same engine and ability as yourself,won't go any faster,change gear any quicker,corner any better on a bike costing £5k let alone £1k!

[nathb]

Cheers for the responses!

I've decided, from reading your comments, I'll leave it as standard component wise. The missus will be happy!

However I am thinking of swapping to 25 tyres - I'll use the 23s for the turbo trainer.

Also I need to do some adjustments since moving to spd's: seat moving forward slightly and I'll flip the stem around. Found being on the dropouts more comfortable today.

That's an interesting article on tyre pressures, up to now I've been running both 23mm tyres at 110psi. However I took my car to the garage yesterday and they're keeping it until Monday, with my pump in it, so I'm not sure what psi I was running today but my rear seems less painful than usual on a 50 miler.

[RickH]

The deciding factor on tyre pressure with narrow tyres is often how much you need in to prevent pinch flats. As your tyres get wider you can run lower pressures.

I noticed the difference in ride comfort when I switched from 25mm Gatorskins to 28mm Grand Prix 4 Seasons (a bigger, more supple tyre but the same weight) over 2 years ago (autumn 2012). They run well & nothing has stuck through either tyre in that time.

With your tyre it should be fine. A couple of things you could do - check there isn't anything sharp lurking at the bottom of the hole that may end up sticking through & you could glue the nick shut to stop anything else getting stuck in it - I'd recommend Superglue Power Flex (B & Q do it as will most DIY stores. Larger supermarkets may well have it too.

If you want a bit more comfort at the handlebar end, adding some bar gel under the tape, such as this from Fizik, increases comfort without making the bars fat & squishy.

Rick.

[nathb]

Thanks for the links Rick!

Yeah before my ride on sunday I filled the hole with puncture repair kit glue - seems to have held.

I entered the mad world of researching tyres, at the moment I'm using 23c Vittoria Zaffiro Slick wired.

I'm thinking that the rain is here too stay for a while, so was mainly looking at tyres with grip on the edges.

So far I've "narrowed" my folding choices down to:
Michelin Lithion 2
Schwalbe Lugano
Vittoria Rubino Pro Slick
Schwalbe Durano Etape

Any advice is highly welcome

[nathb]

Be prepared, this is a geeky post

So I've just been weighing things as I have just changed my tyres.

I've just reduced my wheelset (inc cassette/tyres/inners/skewers) weight down from 3560g to 3291g by swapping the tyres. (269g loss for £30).

So that works out at roughly 9g saving per £1 spent.

After a bit of research:
£20 on ti skewers = -78g (3.8g per £1)
£10 on non slime inner tubes = -184g (18.4g per £1)
£140 on new wheels = -362g (2.6g per £1) (Campagnolo Vento Asymmetric G3)

So if I bought the above the new wheelset weight = 2667 (624g loss in total for £170 3.7g per £1, or assuming I get £50 for my old wheelset 5.2g per £1).

What I've concluded, bar being a geek, is that I need to ditch the slime inner tubes!!

[Thomas125]

Faster tyres make a huge difference to the bike definitely a worthwhile upgrade.

The rest I'm not convinced. By all means get some lightweight tubes at the same time as they cost bugger all.

Whether the other 362 grams is worth it depends on what you weigh and what you carry on the bike. I'd almost guarantee you could save more than that for nowt.

I want to lighten my bike a bit but I need to lighten myself by the weight of my bike first.