Last year I got myself a cheap road bike My road bike. I only use it for 2 weeks a year on holiday in the French Alps doing various famous tour climbs.
So for this years trip I thought I would upgrade it a little.

The brakes were dire so I’m thinking of upgrading the whole calipers to Ultegra 6800 as I believe my levers are compatible.

I was also thinking of upgrading the tyres. I haven’t ridden on tubes for years, can you get a Stans kit for road bikes and what tyres would I need? Or is it best to use tubes on the road, if so what tube and tyre combo would be best for not stupid amounts for money?

Im also going to stick a 32 tooth cassette on the back to give me a little bit more of a spinny gear for the long climbs. Do I need a new medium cage mech and a new chain?

Last thing Superstar do a £100 wheelset that will be lighter than I currently have are they any good? or wouldn’t the weight loss really matter.

Over to you lot.

The photo on the link above looks like it’s a medium cage already. The shimano docs say 27 tooth max, so 32 is probably pushing it.

Why do you want to switch to tubeless?

You will probably be able to use a 32 tooth cassette, just. I’ve fitted one to the other half’s bike that has a short/medium cage 105 mech and with a bit of fiddling with the b-screw it works fine

You want to switch to tubeless when “I only use it for 2 weeks a year on holiday in the French Alps doing various famous tour climbs.”

Why?

I can understand the brakes but the tyres I’d do when the current ones wear out (in about 20 years in your case 🙂 )

You will probably be able to use a 32 tooth cassette, just. I’ve fitted one to the other half’s bike that has a short/medium cage 105 mech and with a bit of fiddling with the b-screw it works fine

Newer shimano kit is built for bigger sprockets. e.g. 5700 105 is supposed to work with up to 30 so 32 is less of a stretch. The choice between short and medium cage is more about total capacity rather than sprocket size. e.g. the Tiagra RD on the OP bike has a max sprocket size of 27 in both short and medium cage, but has a total capacity of 37 in medium cage and 31 in short cage.

In my humble experience, it’s usually best to make what you have work as well as it can – rather than expecting a transformation from upgrades. I’d be especially wary of £100 wheels, no matter how light!

I wouldn’t have thought it would really be worth upgrading the bike much if you don’t intend to ride it more. There must be zillions of people out there riding lower spec bikes for far more miles!

Look up the Shimano compatibility charts, but I think it’d need to be Tiagra 4700 to be compatible with Ultegra 6800 and, to be honest, doubt you’d get much benefit simply from going up a groupset or two if they’re Shimano bits that are compatible.

In what way are they not feeling up to much? Are you braking from the hoods or the drops (you’ll get far better braking from the drops).

Fast tyres would be worthwhile, probably not worth the hassle of tubeless although there is a slight advantage, also I’ve not seen a single tubeless road tyre for sale anywhere… There are other threads talking about road bike tyres.

Lightweight tubes will be a bit faster, latex the fastest (but in both cases you’ll have to pump them up more frequently).

The biggest upgrade you can probably do is ride it a bit and get used to a lower position – this will take time and probably a few tweaks to seat and control positions.

You’re all basically saying dont spend money on bike upgrades. Are you feelin ok?

The brakes take a lot of pulling for not a lot of stopping (maybe i’m to used to one finger braking with 203 rotors). I was thinking of the Ultergras because they have this double pivot thing.

Tyres etc im just trying to make it as easy as possible for a fat middle aged bloke to get up big hills.

Oh also check compatibility charts if you’re going to change the rear mech, new groupsets have different pull ratios for brake and gear cables.

Yep, just ride it until bits wear out. A mate of mine has just got a full Ultegra groupset minus wheels for about £450 if you want the full upgrade and another £250 for Ultegra wheels and tyres

I’m unlikely to ever wear anything out on it. Maybe the odd brake pad.

The brakes take a lot of pulling for not a lot of stopping (maybe i’m to used to one finger braking with 203 rotors).

Stick some better brake pads (I like Swiss Stop) in them before splashing out on new calipers…

OK, brakes are worth a look, Ultegra or 105 offer the same mechanism and are better. Good pads can make the world of difference too.

Add some good tyres, Ribble’s twinpack deals are always good value, and some lightweight tubes and you’ll be sorted.

It all depends what you want to spend, but an entire 105 5800 groupset can be had for about £280 on Ribble at the moment (use code SHOP5). That might not be much more expensive than buying brakes calipers, a cassette and rear mech. (Plus you can eBay you current groupset)

I’d go with Conti GP4000S tyres, and you If you can handle the faff, latex tubes.

Tyres will make the biggest difference. Everything else essentially will be shaving the odd gram or possibly adding the odd ratio, unless you go to town in which case a full bike would probably be more cost effective.

You probably won’t feel much of a difference ‘upgrading your groupset, similarly the frame – though that is no reason not to – i’m a sucker for an upgrade for the sake of it. I would think the best upgrade you can to that you are mostly likely to notice are wheels and tyres. Though not sure going tubeless is an ‘upgrade’, but I guess stuff like that is personal.

I’ve got a tiara 11 – 32 cassette and Tiagra medium cage rear mech I keep meaning to stick on eBay. The rear mech has only been used for one 72 mile ride and the cassette has a total of about 180 miles on it. The rear mech is medium cage so good for 34T on a 2×10 setup and 32T on a 3×10 setup. Not worth alot at all as you can get it brand new for less than £50.

Also on brakes, not sure if a calliper change will affect your braking – again the callipers only push the pads against the rim – its the brake blocks that actually do the braking, so maybe a brake block change would be a more cost effective improvement to your braking issues?

See if you can get some of the older ultegra or 105 brake calipers which are plug and play (5700/6700). Sjsc, wiggle or crc might have some, or ebay. The stock pads on ultegra are good. Not sure what the 105s are like. New cables (inner/ outer) will also help.

Looks like that bike comes with a 30T sprocket anyway? Buying a 32 won’t be that noticeable. And as for budget superstar wheels for 2 weeks every summer…… not with my money. The fulcrums are a known, and reliable brand. Budget superstar is dicing with death.
Some decent tyres/tubes would be nice though. You’ll probably find that the stock ones are the absolute arse end of nowhere budget versions of that tyre and retail at about £4.99……. tubeless will be far to much faff for no noticeable benefit.

Oh. Better calipers tend to have stiffer arms and better bearings/bushings. So more effort goes into squeezing the pads against the rim. Instead of overcoming drag and bending stuff.
At any price point shimano are pretty much the benchmark standard that everyone else tries to emulate.

Wobbli I could be interested in taking them off your hands. Drop me a mail on hall – s at sky .com. I’m not to far away from you being a Ilson lad.

Gearing: fit a 32 if you like it’lll work fine and as you know every tooth counts in the hills but a 30 is usually enough.
Wheels: get some Zondas, bang for buck the cheapest lightweight wheels worth owning.
New brakes: sure the best shimano you can afford.
Tyres: tubeless is a pointless faff, get somethng expensive or Lithions you’ll be fine.

Fresh cables, clean up the rims and fit new pads, maybe fit the 32t cassette if you really feel you would benefit…

Lighter wheels are a good upgrade but not at the expense of reliability, low spoke count and cheap? Beware IME…

But the best thing would probably be to ride the thing a bit more before you go and get a bit more used to it…

Nothing much wrong with your bike to be honest. I’d upgrade the tyres to something a little nicer and lighter such as Schwalbe Ones (stock Luganos will be wire beaded). I would not bother about running tubeless. If the braking is truly poor, swap pads not calipers as the stock calipers are already dual pivot.

Since you are riding in the big hills, a lighter set of wheels would be where I would place my investment, but you’ll need to aim for 1300 g, alloy rims and novatec hubs, and about £500.

As for lower gears, 34×32, is a very low gear indeed.

no one click the link in the OP?

OG spec is a medium cage rear mech with a 10 speed 12-30 cassette

Legspin – i’ve dropped you an email but not sure if i’ve got the right email address. Let me know if i’ve not got it right.

Thanks all

So I will upgrade the tyres and buy some metal backed pads for the brakes.

What are the recommended replacement pads? links anyone?

SwissStop BXP
http://www.swissstop.ch/rimbrakes/flashpro/bxp/

I’d disagree and get the 5800 brakes, alex r475 wheelset with extra 25% off from superstar and some schwalbe ones. The new Shimano brakes will work and are noticeably better and two hundred grams off wheels will feel quite nice as well plus the deeper section rims will be nice and stiff and look nice.

*Update*

I took the bike out for a test ride before our Alps trip in a few weeks yesterday.

In the end I went for some clearance Superstar 1500g wheels, Conti GP4000’s, light tubes and a 10 speed 11-32 XT cassette. This has shaved over 800 grams over what came fitted with 500g + off the back wheel.

The bike rode like I always thought a road bike should. Before it was nearly as much hard work as my lightweight MTB. Yesterday it felt really quick even though I had done 50 miles the day before off road.

A great upgrade for under £300 quid, roll on the Alps

And thanks for the input, even the ones I have ignored.