Why do you upgrade? Bling factor? Cash to splash? Keeping up with the Jones’?

As a casual road rider do I need to ‘Upgrade’? Would buying some nice Carbon fibre wheels make a difference, would putting the latest Campag group set improve things noticeably ?

What would you potentially upgrade ( bike not body 😉 ), to make a tangible difference to your riding? Or is it your own physical / mental ability that you need to focus on?

???

Pose and coz I can and its my no 1 hobby / obsession…….

Lighter & stronger.

Blink factor?

is that some kind of double take thing ?

Kinda like bling 😉

Sometimes for performance improvements, sometimes just for variation, sometimes just because I like researching, buying, and fitting new parts.

I like shiny new things.

Now this is a good question. Well done missy.

For me i like tinkering and there’s only so many times you can clean stuff. So upgrading is another reason to strip something apart.
I get a sense of achievement when I’ve improved something, whether that’s cleaning or upgrading.
Did it to my motorcycles, RC cars and now my bicycle.

Damn good thread OP, intelligent, retrospective and analytical.

I upgrade as I improve and I improve as I upgrade.

I see upgrades a bit like scout badges, they mark the growth of my riding. But then the upgrades need to go together…so some coordinating occurs. I mainly buy 2nd hand and sell on as I go.

I hardly do any more, better things to spend money on.

I upgrade when things wear out, or when I see something I’d like to try that might improve my riding experience – I’m too fat, unfit and lazy to actually do it by my own personal efforts, you see.

there’s something satisfying about making something personal to you. For me my bike is part of my identity.

I’m obsessed with the classifieds!

APF

There is no one reason. But I will try and give you some. The first one is necessity. Stuff wears out or breaks, might as well replace it with like or better.

The second one is progress. It might be easy to be all curmudgeonly and cynical and say that companies are just out to rip us off but compare a bike from now and from 5 years ago (go ten years back if you’re not convinced). Compare a top of the line Spesh Enduro from then and now. Yes the old bike was, and still is great, but the new one is better in every single way. Compare brakes, forks, shocks, carbon components…it’s all better. You can’t argue with that.

And lastly there is just the lust factor. I love bikes, I like bike parts, I like building bikes, having a nice new bike…etc etc etc. So if I can go hungry for a few months to get one, why not!

So i can beat my mates. Its all about the competetive advantage!

And yes its shiny.

Stuff breaks either I get a deal and upgrade or i don’t and end up doengrading

I like my bikes to look nice, which is why I occasionally upgrade them.

More maintaining and fixing or downgrading these days as kit wears out and the pre-children disposable income is no longer available!

Go back 4 years and it was Raceface, XT and Fox.

Now it’s more likely to be a rigid fork, Deore or SLX (or Alivio for the square taper cranks on the SS), although still have the odd “treat”. Funnily enough I don’t enjoy riding any less. Just takes a spot more grunt to get the weight up the climbs (also true of the rider).

Because its tax deductible and I can try new stuff out as the technology improves. Looking to get a clutch DR at the mo to quieten things down. Some of it is a performance upgrade, like a new shock.