£600 New parts? or upgrade my Cannodale?

[Pete*]

Hi,

I have a good Cannondale bike frame (aluminium), and have £600 to spend.

My question is, do I upgrade the components and wheels? or buy a new bike?

Any help would be appreciated.

Pete

 

[amaferanga]

If its a good frame (is it a CAAD something?) then it's probably worth upgrading. You could get a SRAM Rival groupset for about £400 and if you want some lightweight wheels and could stretch your budget by £100 Soul wheels look like a good buy.

£600 will only get you a Sora-equipped bike these days.

 

[Alembicbassman]

Wiggle had some Focus 105 equipped bikes for £600.

Planet X has a carbon frame with SRAM Red bits for £1099 - Bargain !

 

[Pete*]

Hi Thanks,

It is a CAAD Bike (R500).

Could anyone reccommend which groupset to purchase?

Cheers

Pete

 

[Will1985]

Anything except Sora should do - depends what you have on at the moment. Within a brand, groupsets are mechanically very similar or identical and save weight by specifiying different materials as you go up the range. Upgrading groupset parts might give you a small reduction in weight, but you probably aren't going to notice a change in performance. I'd only go this route if you want to change a triple to a double/compact, or want to increase the number of sprockets in your cassette.

Decent wheels and tyres on the other hand can more than make up for the several hundred grams you didn't save by not upgrading the groupset. Light or aero wheels will be faster accelerating and easier to climb with - they completely transform a ride. £400 could get you some Fulcrum Racing 3s/Campag Zondas/Mavic Ksyrium Elites etc.

The poster's reaction in this thread from this morning pretty much shows why most of your budget should go on wheels and tyres.