Groupset - worth upgrading?

crumliniano

I've got an entry level Lapierre alu frame with carbon forks and a decent set of wheels (Zonda).
I'm not really in the market for a bike upgrade right now. I noticed my cassette is fairly worn in places. I've got Shimano 2200 groupset 3 x 8 speed. So changing the cassette means another 8 speed. I've been thinking about upgrading parts anyway - is it worth putting a decent groupset like Ultegra or Rival or Chorus on a bike like that? My thinking is that all I'll have left to upgrade at that stage is Frame (+ Pedals, Headset/bars and seatpost I suppose).
So my question is - Is it worth putting a good groupset like that on an Alu frame?
Secondly, what kind of improvement in feel or performance should I expect. When I upgraded wheels there was a noticeable improvement in smoothness, roll, weight I thought.
Finally, at that level/price is there much of a difference to recommend Rival over Ultegra (or vice versa)?

CheGuedara

Which grouppo - Shimano, Sram or Campag? You'll hear it often described as an almost religious argument and it kinda is - people will often fall on one side of the fence and never change (I'm a campag man myself)

But with the bike in question I'm not sure I'd go to the expense of putting Chorus on it - it's an expensive group, much more so than ultegra and rival and on a relatively basic ride wouldn't necessarily improve it much more than the other two. Of Ultegra and Rival it would be up to you - I've ridden Ultegra SL and it was nice, fast and slick, but I havent ridden a SRAM equipped bike to compare it to.

What I will say though is if you've saved enough to even consider Chorus (batting around e900), would it be worth your while to invest in a new entry level carbon bike with another bit of saving instead? There's plenty options in the e1000 to e1250 range and some would have ultegra/SRAM groups on them included in the price

Quigs Snr

Waste of time my friend. As previously mentioned, sell your bike, add that to the cost of that Chorus groupset and you should be able to get yourself a nice Ultegra equipped carbon machine. I hate being the guy to bring up the Ultegra Planet X, but someone has to. Buy it, put your Zonda wheels on that, take the wheels that came with the planet X, put them on the Lapierre (if the 8 speed fits the freehub, it should but I am not 100% on that offhand), sell the Lapierre (you could also get the Boardman Carbon with Rival if you prefer and the same applies). It will sell fast at this time of year with all the first timer triathlon folks looking for bikes as long as you price it right.

The Lapierre is a respectable starter bike but putting any of those gruppos on it is like putting lipstick on a pig and is not very economically viable either.

crumliniano

Thanks Che - yeah I kind of figured that with Chorus. I was thinking more Ultegra/Rival which should be about 500/600. Still better off to hold out and save more? To be honest nothing saved yet - just wishing and planning.

crumliniano

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Waste of time my friend. As previously mentioned, sell your bike, add that to the cost of that Chorus groupset and you should be able to get yourself a nice Ultegra equipped carbon machine. I hate being the guy to bring up the Ultegra Planet X, but someone has to. Buy it, put your Zonda wheels on that, take the wheels that came with the planet X, put them on the Lapierre (if the 8 speed fits the freehub, it should but I am not 100% on that offhand), sell the Lapierre (you could also get the Boardman Carbon with Rival if you prefer and the same applies). It will sell fast at this time of year with all the first timer triathlon folks looking for bikes as long as you price it right.

The Lapierre is a respectable starter bike but putting any of those gruppos on it is like putting lipstick on a pig and is not very economically viable either.

Thanks Quiggs - you type faster than me. Good advice - nuff said alround I reckon.

blorg

As Quigs said you are better off selling it and getting a complete new bike, for what you sell it for plus the price of the group (and don't forget the price of fitting it) you have a nice new carbon bike with Ultegra or Rival.