This tech change thing is really overstated. Ignoring some oddities around when discs were first introduced (e.g. discs + QR), most road bikes now fall solidly into one of two camps

Well they have settled down now but lots of us have legacy kit in pre settled down standards. That’s what’s being referred to. A manufacturer sells shite wheels as part of a build assuming you’ve got better as it’s being sold at ‘enthusiast’ level. You have; mid and deep section QR, 15mm front/135mm rear thru axle and loads of non tubeless… Many £££’s of existing investment, all completely incompatible with your new, errrm, ‘whip’ 😂

Well they have settled down now but lots of us have legacy kit in pre settled down standards. That’s what’s being referred to.

It’s a tough thing for early adopters (especially the 15mm axle which the industry should never have done :-/ ), but it has been pretty settled for the last few years now and hopefully it won’t change much in the immediate future.

TBH, road bike standards have been pretty good over the last 20 years. With the exception of the addition of extra sprockets and the mess of BB “standards”, road bikes have been far, far more stable than MTB. At least they haven’t insisted on changing wheel sizes across the board! With the exception of the move to discs, the biggest changes have probably been in frame geometry and wheel clearances to allow larger tyres, but neither of these brings obsolescence in itself.

New hubs and a rebuild an option to bring legacy wheels up to standard? If the rims are decent, it may well be worth the modest investment.

Next Shimano groups will likely be 12sp also.

I’ve done the cost break down to build the Orca mentioned above since I’m looking into one myself, it’s 5.3k RRP though I have been quoted as low as 4.7k.

Whilst I haven’t had an actual quote for frameset alone the RRP is 2.9k, so add your Force AXS group at +1.5k (without cranks) then a reasonable carbon wheelset say around 1k and your already at the full bike RRP before you’ve added a decent bar, cranks (incl. rings and BB), tyres and saddle.

Cheers – will look into that.

So my old wheels are worthless…

Well, if they’re taking up space in the garage….. 😉

@londoncommuter : mine are the QR rim brake version, running 28mm tubeless Schwalbe Pro 1. They’re really nice; light, stiff, the braking is pretty decent. They look quite smart too, relatively understated. Tubeless went on easily and inflated first time, front one with a track pump, rear one needed a compressor on the first tyre but when I replaced the tyres, the replacement went up with a track pump so it might have been a tyre thing. No punctures at all, no problems with the hubs or rims at any point. Did everything from regular road riding to racing and even a LEJOG on them.

The wheels come with QRs, spare spokes, tubeless valves and brake pads, CRC are good with spares.

I’ve only done two sub-30km local rides, but they seem great so far.

Good to hear they’ve been reliable for you Crazylegs, as the hubs were the unknown factor to me.

Specialized tyres come up quite wide. Other than Schwalbe Pro One, it’s pretty much the only other brand of tyre I buy, I’ve used the Turbo (with tubes) a lot as race tyres. Super grippy bit they do wear quite quickly!

Although to be fair, I’d still buy the 26mm version.

Yes, it’s not just the hubs that would need some kind of spacer, but also the forks including where the axle screws in. Those adapter things would probably work but while the choice might be limited there are still a fair few 15×100 hub options by the looks of it. In fact I’d been looking at those CRC own brand ones earlier.

Rather enjoying this thread. I’ve been back out on the roads recently, so much so that I’m considering a new road bike. More likely to be nearer the end of the year or the start of next but been browsing anyway. I was drawn to the TCR, had a good experience with my Reign and I’d never considered Giant before. Propel might not be the greatest looking bike but it has caught my eye, head says the TCR or Defy would probably work better though. Also caught with the Orbea OMX, local dealer has Orbea but Giant VFM seems very good.

Ive been riding my roadified Charge Plug, steel frame, large tyres and discs. I did pull out my old Planet X SL yesterday, 31.6mm seatposts and 23c tyres do not make for pleasant riding round here no more. Was never an issue at the time but its a tough ride now.

Because that 1 KG makes sod all difference. However they is a scale to it where 1kg won’t make any difference I wouldn’t want to be riding a 30kg bike around…

As a bit of a lockdown project and based a bit on this thread, I stripped and cleaned my old road bike, a 2002 Specialized S-Works (the E5 aluminium road bike, before the Tarmac came in).

That’s the frame. The kit on mine is full DA 7800 groupset:

And I’ve just taken off the aluminium American Classic wheelset and used the Prime wheels mentioned earlier in this thread with some narrower tubeless tyres. The wheels (inc tyres, QR etc) knocked off about 300g over the Am.Classic wheelset. 7.6kg on the bike shop digital scales.

The problem is, as discussed several times in this thread, the weight isn’t the main issue; it’s actually quite a flexy bike, the front end especially. 1″ headset, narrow carbon stem and bars (ITM Millenium) means it really isn’t as planted through corners as the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX I’ve ridden a lot or the 2015 Tarmac SL6) I had for a while. Sure, it’s a bit lighter than either of those bikes but you can’t push it as much.

But then it’s 18 years old as well so…

Itm millenniums. The bar de jour of the time.

40cm ?

Still running mine on a bike of same era on the turbo.

Best shifting too. I have it on my winter commuter (I know the shame). It took them a lot of re-engineering to get back to that shifting quality with 11 speed and coated cables.

When Decathlon supplied the AG2R pro bikes, you could ride the same bike for a lot less than £5k. Seriously, you could buy a TdF bike in a supermarket (sort of) for about half that and exactly the same spec. The Van Rysel frames are not in the mainstream peloton, but still excellent bikes.

Imagine going to your Renault garage for a …

I was toying with a carbon Trek Emonda or Domane. I noticed they sell the frames on their own- often not much cheaper than a fully built bike.

Shimano had been chasing Campagnolo performance for an age to gain pro acceptance (so were working harder), they had finally achieved their first TdF win a couple of years earlier (Lance), and were upgrading to their first 10-speed (a significant re-engineering at the back). The external shifting cables had no kinks at all, so the shifting is absolutely sublime. If your hands fit, the shifters are lovely, more like bar ends with grips than the tighter resting position that followed. The cranks are a work of art – Hollowtech and space-age looking.

People loved the Campagnolo hidden cables, but they forget the shifting experience. The next upgrade for Shimano was DA 10-speed Di2, and internal manual gear cabling. The first was an electronic backwater that was not followed (modern Di2 is based on the later Ultegra Di2 and not compatible), the second coupled dreadful manual shifting with snapped gear cables.

They remedied the shifting a bit with 11-speed DA by changing the cable angles and teflon cable coating, but it’s not as nice. Di2 has however been a big success after switching from the original DA platform to Ultegra.

You have got me weighing my road bikes now!

CAAD8, budget build with whatever I had – bits of 105, Ultegra and non-series, old shallow narrow DT swiss rims, Schwalbe One 25mm tyres and light tubes, aluminium bar,stem, post – 8.4kg

CAAD12, moderate budget build using parts off an old higher end bike but still sensible money – dura ace mechs and levers, new shallow wide DT swiss rims, Schwalbe 28mm tyres with heavy tubes, carbon post but ally bars, stem – 7.6kg

If I was being a weight weenie I could drop 40g with a move to 25c tyres but that then means can swap tubes and another 60-90g (not weighed but based on manufacturer info).

I can’t see how people have got down sub 7kg on a CAAD12 without spending fortunes, dropping the odd 100g from where I am is easy but above that superlight wheels, 50g on carbon bars, then onto silly bits like bolts, cages and upgrading pedals etc.

The easiest place to lose the weight is the wheels – tubs and a support car is a lot lighter than clinchers and a saddlepack. Access to frame, groupset and finishing parts isn’t too hard. Wheels are where the difference is really made, bad it’s a compromise too much for most.