bike v wheel upgrade

tippgod

just what to see what people think. i just cant decide

i own a Trek 1.5 (Tiagra group set).

i have a choice or either upgrading the bike to a Giant defy carbon 2 with a sram apex groupset or spending 500-600 on wheels

what would people recomend.
Its either upgrade the wheels later or upgrade the bike later:D

codie

What kind of wheels are on the defy.Is it Psl1 wheelset?

tippgod

codie wrote: »

What kind of wheels are on the defy.Is it Psl1 wheelset?

no its the P-R2 wheelset. Not many reviews about them.

i am not a racing cyclist but i always do a good few sportifs during the year

codie

:

tippgod wrote: »

no its the P-R2 wheelset. Not many reviews about them.

i am not a racing cyclist but i always do a good few sportifs during the year

The psl-1 is an upgrade set which I find only alright.I put them under a bike I picked up few weeks ago for the winter.I bought a Tcr this year ,I upgraded the wheels to zondas.Result different bike.Even if you buy new bike you will probably end up upgrading wheels anyway.

tippgod

codie wrote: »

:

The psl-1 is an upgrade set which I find only alright.I put them under a bike I picked up few weeks ago for the winter.I bought a Tcr this year ,I upgraded the wheels to zondas.Result different bike.Even if you buy new bike you will probably end up upgrading wheels anyway.

just wondering how did you mean a different bike?. The trek is really my first ever road bike. i read that a wheel upgrade is the most important upgrade but does it outweigh a frame and groupset upgrade? The wheels on the giant are fairly stock and i suppose are probably the same that is on the Trek 1.5

codie

just found it improved the bike so much .Zondas are middle of the range in terms of price but I think they are a good solid wheel.The pr2 are probably coming in at approx 2kg.The psl1 are 1750 the zondas are I think 1550.Having said that I also put on Continental 4000 s which are the best tyre I have ever come across.Felt they gave me way better rolling speed so maybe the stock tyres on the giant are crap.

fat bloke

New wheels is a great feel-good upgrade. Always worth it.

Ryder

Old bike V new bike.....less of a difference than old bike and new wheels. Much less.

nice wheels, lighter, with a better rolling speed will transform your ride

tippgod

Ryder wrote: »

Old bike V new bike.....less of a difference than old bike and new wheels. Much less.

nice wheels, lighter, with a better rolling speed will transform your ride

can you explain the first line again. My brain is running slow this morning:)

seamus

Not even €500-600, I spent €160 upgrading the stock bontrager wheels (same as yours) to Aksiums, and the difference in the ride was quite incredible. No doubt it's 75% psychological, but it only cost me €160.

You're going to buy a new bike at some point, so I would recommend putting the rest of the money into the new bike fund and upgrading your wheels to a good entry-level race wheel like the Aksium.

tippgod

seamus wrote: »

Not even €500-600, I spent €160 upgrading the stock bontrager wheels (same as yours) to Aksiums, and the difference in the ride was quite incredible. No doubt it's 75% psychological, but it only cost me €160.

You're going to buy a new bike at some point, so I would recommend putting the rest of the money into the new bike fund and upgrading your wheels to a good entry-level race wheel like the Aksium.

thanks Seamus.
good to hear about the Askiums. i didnt konow if they would make a difference or not over the stock wheels. How did you find the ride different?. I used a pair of Fulcrum 3 once and found they rolled alot smother. The Trek and Giant stock wheels are similar according to the reviews. I was going to upgrade using Mavic wheels anyway as i am getting them through a relation of mine.

Santa might be getting a bigger list

Ryder

tippgod wrote: »

can you explain the first line again. My brain is running slow this morning:)

Meaining an upgraded frame and groupset wil make little difference to ride quality...the trek 1.5 is a decent bike, you really only notice a groupset while shifting. New wheels.....immediate difference. As Seamus said, 160e will buy you a lot of change - I have the akysiums on my trek 1200, big difference over the stock Bontrager wheels

tippgod

and would there be a big difference in going up to the ksyrium? I must admit, maybe due to my inexperence, but i find nothing wrong with the Tiagra groupset. The big swing for me was the carbon frame.

seamus

tippgod wrote: »

How did you find the ride different?.

Better.

It's kind of hard to explain. It felt less like I had changed the wheels on my bike and more like every road had been resurfaced. The bike instantly felt smoother while riding, accelerated better, stopped faster and turned better. As I say, probably 75% psychological, or more.

They do flex when climbing though so I had to tweak my brakes to avoid brake rub. Also bladed spokes make a cool sound when you're hammering downhill and while you're descending at 70km/h, you have split-second concerns about what would happen if you somehow got your hand caught in the wheel.

Ryder

tippgod wrote: »

and would there be a big difference in going up to the ksyrium? I must admit, maybe due to my inexperence, but i find nothing wrong with the Tiagra groupset. The big swing for me was the carbon frame.

About 5 years ago, I upgraded my Trek 1200 (alu and 105 groupset) with Ksyrium elite wheels....huge difference. Later, I built up a titanium bike, took the ksys and put akysiums on the trek. Swapping over bikes, makes little difference to ride quality......which is a roundabout way of saying that yes, I think you will see a difference with the ksyriums, but upgrading to akysiums will also lead to a noticable improvement. I think if you are planning to upgrade framesets and groupsets in the future, and you can afford it, get the ksys. They are a really good wheel and it would be hard to find a significant improvement over them without going to carbon

tippgod

Thanks to everyone for all the advise. I think i'll go with a Mavic wheel upgrade

Now i must decide between the Askiums,Equipe, Elites, cosmic elites. I cant afford the SL's

Any thoughts. Thanks again

RidleyRider

tippgod wrote: »

Thanks to everyone for all the advise. I think i'll go with a Mavic wheel upgrade

Now i must decide between the Askiums,Equipe, Elites, cosmic elites. I cant afford the SL's

Any thoughts. Thanks again

Whats the budgets max?

tippgod

RidleyRider wrote: »

Whats the budgets max?

well i have to stay with Mavic for the simple reason that i'm getting them cheap. i'm torn between the equipe and the elites. some reviews say there the same roughly and then others say there is a huge difference.

i could go for a different brand wheel but it wouldn't really make sense

RidleyRider

In that case I'd go for the elites, simply because they're lighter, not but much I know but i also think they are visually more appealling. That said, you're gonna be safe with either choice with Mavic being a very reputable brand.

NorthernRaider

Following this with vested interest as considering upgrading from Felt own-brand wheels (TTR4) on TT bike. Fairly sure I saw data on bikeradar.com that found wheels make hardly any difference in power (required) terms! There's plenty of qualitative data above - can anybody quantify the difference (power or RPE) in moving to Aksium or Kyrsium?

foxer3640

I upgraded my ridley orion with mavic ksyrium elites a few months ago and it really improved the feel of the bike. The bike feels much more responsive and i cant say a bad word about them. If you get the elites you wont be disappointed. Its a cheaper option than a new bike too....

Ryder

NorthernRaider wrote: »

Following this with vested interest as considering upgrading from Felt own-brand wheels (TTR4) on TT bike. Fairly sure I saw data on bikeradar.com that found wheels make hardly any difference in power (required) terms! There's plenty of qualitative data above - can anybody quantify the difference (power or RPE) in moving to Aksium or Kyrsium?

owning both, but not owning a powermeter, I'd say none. Aksiums are a good wheel, but qualitatively.......the kys roll well, and feel more responsive. I suppose they are the contact point with the road. If you could quantitatively measure handling and enjoyment, they would come out on top

shaka

Wel what did you go for ? Looking at doing same thing myself

tippgod

shaka wrote: »

Wel what did you go for ? Looking at doing same thing myself

i went for the ksyrium elites. i wont be getting them till the start of next month so i will let people know. i plan on doing a few small tests to compare them to the stock Trek wheels.

An experenced cyclist in work pushed me into going for a wheel upgrade saying basically that no point buying a new car if the wheels are flat (His saying )

shaka

Well how did you find the mavics?

I went for mavics as well on same bike so interested to hear your take !

Did my first spin since november during the week and thought I was free wheeling way better and able to keep up with the group despite not cycling in so long, even passed a few on drags.