Chainset Upgrade - any advice please?

[autolycus]

I've tried to get my head around chainsets and bottom brackets without a great deal of success and i would like to upgrade my current set up. I am told by Specialized that my "Sirrus uses a 68mm English thread bottom bracket shell. This gives you a high degree of compatibility with aftermarket chainsets".

At the moment I have a Sram 3 piece, 10-speed, alloy chainset (48-34T). The BB is a (brand new) Truvativ Power Spline Bottom Bracket (68x108).

Any recommendations? Amazon are doing what seems a mega bargain 'Sram S950 Chainset GXP 50-34T GXP Cups Not Included' for under £70 at the moment and i'm very tempted, but have no idea whether it will suit the bike :-(

Thanks

 

[lpretro1]

If u can cope with the extra teeth on the big ring then it wull be fine - you'll need to buy the bb cups to go with it so your 'bargain' price is not as cheap as it might seem as GXP cups are not world's cheapest nor most long lasting. You might want to consider going for a 10 spd Shimano cransket instead

 

[RegG]

Rather than buy from Amazon why not check out suppliers such as Wiggle, Chain Reaction, Merlin, Ribble etc? If you have any questions about compatibility you could always ring them for advice before buying and their prices are usually very competitive.

 

[Smokin Joe]

One thing to bear in mind is you are not actually "Upgrading" anything. Fine if the new one is more shiny and you want it for that reason, but it will make bugger all difference to your riding.

 

[TheDoctor]

^^ That. The chainset is probably the last thing to upgrade. Better wheels, tyres and brake pads are the first things to upgrade.

 

[derrick]

He is going for a more teeth on the chainring, So could improve his cycling experience.

 

[TheDoctor]

2 extra teeth on a chainring will make no real difference. Just means you'll spin out at 50 mph instead of 48 mph.

 

[derrick]

2 extra teeth on a chainring will make no real difference. Just means you'll spin out at 50 mph instead of 48 mph.

So in hour he will be 2 miles further on. I would say that's a big difference

 

[autolycus]

Thanks for the replies. I'm pretty sure the chainwheel is not quite true and wondered whether an "upgrade" might make sense rather than like for like replacement. I appreciate it won't make much difference to performance and other components are more sensible targets for improvement. The amazon price is currently £70 - £120 cheaper than other stockists ATM which is very tempting but i don't know where to start converting to GXP cups. After previous enquiries here about what sort of BB i have, i came to the conclusion that it was GXP - obviously i was mistaken!

 

[TheDoctor]

So in hour he will be 2 miles further on. I would say that's a big difference

Right. I can do 50 mph on a bike, but to keep it up for an hour I'd need a bloody big hill!