Does anyone else just buy a complete bike and ride it without changing the spec?

I was determined not to change anything on my Canyon Strive. Changed the seat immediately to my tried and true SLR but then I lasted 4 months before I even changed the weird Ergon grips. Everything else is stock at the moment.

I used to be very particular about what I liked (SRAM vs Shim, RS vs Fox etc) but it’s all pretty good stuff these days. Just replace when it breaks.

See this is why I buy Rose bikes, you get to change stuff before it even turns up.

Stock bikes are the worst – don’t do it ever ..

My Trigger will get the Reverb Stealth I already have, mostly because there’s way too much seatpost for the frame so I can barely lower it.

Rest will stay as-is for a bit. I’ll at least try the tyres before replacing.

I impulse bought a Santa Cruz Nomad literally last week for a riding holiday. I then rode it for 4 straight days of fairly demanding riding, and it was fine. I had to swap out one of the headset spacers for a rude one, but otherwise it seems to have passed the test. Tubeless conversion, then use until broken.

🙂

Road bike is two years on with no change.

Last MTB had chnages planned before it arrived.

It’s a do and don’t care issue.

Well the last complete bikes I’ve bought have been a road bike and a CX.

The roadie got the chainset swapped in the shop for a compact (surely I don’t to explain that one!). After a couple of 50+ mile rides the saddle had to go as it was making me bleed. After 400+ miles in the alps the bars had to get swapped out (they were narrow 42’s and I like wide 44’s!). Had to change the stem as different dia (and I got a cheap matching one off Merlin for £20-25). Oh and I bought a decent set of wheels as well. OEM were Aksiums, I put on Dura-ace

The CX seems fine. The bars are a little narrow, I can see them being changed. I’m not overwhelmed with the Spyres so would like to go hydraulic, but that’s a wish not a must do.

So basically I like to change things for fit purposes and to improve the cycling *experience*.

No way I could buy an off the peg mountain bike (even a Cotic) as I know what I want. It’d be like buying a pair of size 44 shoes when your really a 45, they’d work but you’d always wish you could change them so they were that little bit more comfortable.

Who rides a stock bike ?? Bloody weirdo’s 😆

I just like having nice parts on my bike and when buying complete there are lots of compromise parts that I would never choose. The last complete bike I bought was 6 years ago and just ended up with the frame, forks and headset after 2 years.

If I was into buying bikes that cost £4K then I doubt I would swap much, otherwise what is the point in spending £4K.

Think it is cheaper in the long run to just build them from scratch and any compromises on parts are my choice that I am happy to make rather than a manufactures.

Road bikes get ridden as bought until something wears out. My first decent road bike was a custom handbuilt frame so if I hadn’t got that right … Since then I’ve just gone with stock bikes.

Current MTB was specced and built up prior to purchase so there was no need. I changed the stem after about 4 months as an experiment (I’m still using it) but apart from replacing parts as they wear out it’s the same bike that I bought 18 months ago.

Road bike, I only changed the saddle, but it was Ultegra groupset & wheels so not much reason to “upgrade”
MTB, I have never bought a complete bike, always frame plus combination of old/new kit to complete it

Stuff like grips and bars- really?

you find the idea of changing one of your few contact points to something that is more comfortable strange – really?

3yr old road bike is on original frame and groupset everything else has been changed for comfort and/or weight/performance. Most of the old stuff is in use on other bikes in our household so very little has been “wasted”.

I was tempted to buy a new bike this summer, but went with some deep section carbon wheels instead…

CX bike bought a month ago – changed to my preferred saddle, and after a couple of rides changed to a 10mm shorter stem. Lighter wheels I already had, having previously upgraded my CX/gnar/commuter, which has had it’s stock wheels re-fitted.

Depends on the bike.
Sometimes I’ll buy it knowing that I need to change parts and other times I’ll buy it because it’s spot on.
I only changed the tyres on my Whyte, whereas I changed almost every component on my 456 SS.

The first one or two bikes generally get ridden around unchanged because you don’t know any better

After that you’re a pro and you know what works and what doesn’t so you barter with the shop

Then you buy a bike purely for the frame and ebay the rest of it

Then you get a frame or two and build them up

Then you stop because every bike you see is worse than yours

I’m in the buy it, ride it camp.

Nerve AL is completely stock 6 months later, apart from the tyres which shredded fairly quickly and the chain which snapped.

Arkose is changed a bit – needed a new BB after 3 months, so I swapped it out for 105 + attendant crank change (FSA seemed to be made of cheese and was much more expensive). I also have a set of Aksium wheels for commuting, the originals have the gnar tyres on so it’s easy to swap out for canal rides with the Mrs.

you find the idea of changing one of your few contact points to something that is more comfortable strange – really?

Well, OK, obviously if something was causing me discomfort I’d change it. But I guess what I find strange is that grips are anything you’d even notice!
Like I said though, I’ve never had a problem with any saddle and grips are even further down the list of things I’m likely to have an issue with.

Each to their own, but speccing, building and modifying bikes is part of the fun for me. It’s certainly being made a lot harder by the proliferation of new “standards” though. Whether that is deliberate or not I don’t know, but it’s a pain.

Yes and no for me really. Just bought a complete road bike and swapped the wheels, bars, stem and saddle straight away. The rest of my bikes have been frame up save for my first road and mtb which were stock until broken. I’m at the stage where I have a pool of components and a pool of rolling chassis to stick them on, when I get a full bike I’ll chop and change bits from my existing stuff and put the swapped bits on different bikes. So like with the new bike the bars went on the winter road bike, the saddle and stem to the mtb and the wheels will make up a turbo bike. So no extra money spent but just re-ordering so the ‘best’ stuff is on the ‘best’ bikes and the less nice stuff is filtered to hack bikes.

Iain

Swap tyres and contact points. OEM tyres are always a way manufacturers save money, road or MTB and probably the most cost-effective upgrade you can make. Road saddle is a Fizik Arione, which is nice, because the new Propel came with one. MTB grips are Ergon and are swapped immediately. Brakes, gears, bars, all stock.

Swap tyres and contact points.

Snap. OEM tyres were rubbish, peddles were needed anyway, and I wanted wussier grips.

When bits started to fail I replaced. Eg, Avid Elixirs worked well for quite a while, but then started to get sticky and needed a bleed. Couldn’t be bothered getting the kit or LBS on the job. Just bought some Deores.

I do scratch my head when I hear, “I love my new bike and have already upgraded the SLX chainset to XT”!

However, a new fork can transform a bike. If someone has an entry level hardtail with a rubbish fork, then sticking a decent second hard fork can really extend the ability/interest of the bike.

Each to their own, but speccing, building and modifying bikes is part of the fun for me.

Agree. I love putting together bikes, building wheels, generally messing about and changing things.
In that regard my choice of rigid/SS is a bit of a let down as I am missing out on many opportunities

i’ve only ever bought 2 full bikes. first was a gt palomar..a real bargain basement bike…i didnt bother changing anything on it as i was skint and was still paying off the money i splashed out on my Marin that had got stolen.
the other bike is the current commuter bike which i got through cycle 2 work…i’ve only made a few changes to this…new carbon bars and seat post and a comfier saddle…other than that everything else is standard although i may look at trying to reduce the weight further with some carbon forks in the future.

Wheels, tyres, bars, stem, seatpin, saddle.

They always seem to be fairly low grade on anything remotely mid range as they have to be able to hit the price point with as much snazzy kit as possible, like the rear mech, chainset.
So I always budget a bit extra if I buy stock, so I can swap the OE versions for (at least) a halfway decent (lighter/stiffer/better shape/whatever) replacement.

If I was in the market/budget for a bike which DIDN’T have crappy OE kit on it, I’d build my own.

Oh, brakes, I’ve never worked out why anyone would fit Avids to a bike, every single one I’ve ever had has failed, at last count, that’s 14, 7 pairs. 4 that came on bikes, and the 3 warranty sets that replaced them. So I buy something that works, and just accept that i’ll have to lose money selling the brand new, unused, Avids on eBay.

“Am I alone in just buying a bike and riding it until something wears out then I swap it? “

Have we burnt the heretic yet?

I bought one with the intention of swapping at least the brakes, saddle, wheels and the tyres. Rode it, it felt great, didn’t touch anything.

Another bike I bought because the spec looked perfect. A few years later, I’ve changed everything except for the brakes, saddle and seatpost!

MTBs for me have to be built up from scratch. I know exactly what I want to get the balance of cost/performance on different parts and some parts are picked just because that’s what I want.

Buying a new bike and instantly swapping parts does seem a bit odd unless it turned out this was the cheapest way of getting what you wanted.

The road bike on the other hand was just pick a bike for £500 and live with it.

Yes.

Just replace bits when needed…mostly like for like.

I don’t change the spec until something breaks, wears out or isn’t working.

Road bike (6 years old !!) is completely unchanged
Full Suss was unchanged until a wheel, brake and drivechain refresh after 5 years – old bits put on a cheap rigid SS
Hardtail was a custom build so no changes there.

Planning a new roadbike that will equally be unchanged unless I need to swap the stem (planning on getting a proper bike fit)

HtS, Every time i see your arse flying through the air, into a ditch I wonder why the hell you’ve not got a dropper post 😀