Boardman upgrade - what would you buy?

[slowwww]

Under our Cycle2work scheme I bought a 2010 Boardman Team Carbon last year and with this being the first experience of a road bike in nearly 20 years have been very pleased with it.

Other than adding Ultegra clipless pedals and a carbon bottle cage, the bike is standard.

We're about to move house and funds will be tight thereafter, but I’ve just discovered £300 in an old account that I’d forgotten about. I was pondering spending this on the bike now rather than telling my wife, as if I did this will be ‘absorbed’ never to be seen again!

How would you spend the money? Aero bars?, new wheels?

As an alternative I also find that on descents I’m pedalling as fast as I can but can’t get the bike above 42mph as I’ve run out of gears. As I’m crap as hill-climbing (i.e. too fat and not fit-enough!), I don’t want to increase the small chain ring as well otherwise I’ll come to a stand-still on the upslope, and so is it possible to simply replace the large chain ring without fiddling with the front mech and if so how much of my upgrade budget is this likely to take? This is the standard SRAM jobby

 

[PpPete]

I take it this is a 50x34 compact ? Not a lot you can do with that, short of changing to a triple.

The 2011 spec has Aksium wheels - not sure if yours does. Good - but not great. I'd put the £300 into new wheels.

 

[Beaker39]

It would have to be wheels all day long for me.

 

[Trickydicky]

Under our Cycle2work scheme I bought a 2010 Boardman Team Carbon last year and with this being the first experience of a road bike in nearly 20 years have been very pleased with it.

Other than adding Ultegra clipless pedals and a carbon bottle cage, the bike is standard.

We're about to move house and funds will be tight thereafter, but I’ve just discovered £300 in an old account that I’d forgotten about. I was pondering spending this on the bike now rather than telling my wife, as if I did this will be ‘absorbed’ never to be seen again!

How would you spend the money? Aero bars?, new wheels?

As an alternative I also find that on descents I’m pedalling as fast as I can but can’t get the bike above 42mph as I’ve run out of gears. As I’m crap as hill-climbing (i.e. too fat and not fit-enough!), I don’t want to increase the small chain ring as well otherwise I’ll come to a stand-still on the upslope, and so is it possible to simply replace the large chain ring without fiddling with the front mech and if so how much of my upgrade budget is this likely to take? This is the standard SRAM jobby

From what i can understand is ur riding S350 compact (34/50) at the moment. The only people i know who can get away with a jump of more than 16 teath on the front derailer are the pro's. This is due to having a piece of metal on the bike the stops the chain from dropping off when u shift down. So yes it is possible but u need to be able to understand bike mec pritty well incase it goes wrong. Also u may find that the chain regularly slips off.

Would spend the money on new wheels, something like this,
You will also need a shimano lock ring removal tool to get the cassette off of the rear wheel you currently have.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Wheels. Best investment you can ever make in terms of instant performance payback bang for buck.

Nice choice of c2w bike btw.

 

[PpPete]

OK - so everyone says wheels....

here is an alternative idea:

Put the £300 towards a fixed wheel bike. This will make your legs stronger (on the uphills) and faster (on the downhills).

Spinning at 130 rpm will give you another 5 mph

 

[adscrim]

If it's a not telling the wife thing, new wheels are easier to hide than a new bike. I'd go for the wheels - you can always change the cassette if you want an extra gear. An 11t at the back makes quite a difference.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

OK - so everyone says wheels....

here is an alternative idea:

Put the £300 towards a fixed wheel bike. This will make your legs stronger (on the uphills) and faster (on the downhills).

Spinning at 130 rpm will give you another 5 mph

and then upgrade the wheels on it?

 

[PpPete]

and then upgrade the wheels on it?

 

[l4dva]

I have the same bike… recently got myself a set of mavic ksyrium elites… I couldn’t tell you how good they are or how much improvement they will be as I haven’t got around to fitting them yet, but they look brilliant!



I had put new tyres on before this upgrade though, and found them to be a big improvement, mainly on ride comfort and less punctures and they are def lighter than the standard ones that came with it soo they must be a litter fast too.



I’m not sure the weight of the ritchey wheels that the boardmans come with but my new mavics are light weight so I should hopefully see a much more noticeable improvement with them on…

 

[lejogger]

I got the 2010 Team carbon on the C2W last year too... Great bike.
If you switch the rear cassette to an 11-25 instead of the 12-25 it will give you a bigger top gear (I think) than if you changed your big chain ring to a 52. You can probably get one of those for less than £30?? But you'll need a chain as well.

Then you can put the new cassette on your new wheels and keep your old wheels/cassette/chain for winter!

 

[Carbon]

Fulcrum Racing 3 Wheelset (Black)

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fulcrum-rac...le&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=products#more

Slightly over your secret £300 budget :-)

Have them on my Boardman Team Carbon and they are terrific !!!

Money well spent.......

But don't tell the wife

 

[Globalti]

Sell the old wheels for £100 and you can et some £400 wheels and tyres!

 

[chrishodges]

I also have the bike on the cycle to work scheme.
The 2 parts that I have looked at replacing and have also been advised to replace are the wheels and the brakes.
I personally find the brakes are more pressing than the wheels, but if as someone above suggested you sold the current wheels you might get away with replacing both!

Let us know what you go for and how you get on with the new parts.

Chris

 

[Fletch456]

+1 For new wheels. After the frame the most important thing on the bike. Compare weights and you could potentially instantly knock half a kilo off the weight of your bike.

Cycling Plus, March 2011..had this copy at hand so thought I'd share some with you in case it's of use to you... said "Better wheels make a huge difference to how your bike rides. We've tested 13 wheelsets, between £300 and £700, that you might consider for your 'first serious upgragde'."

The two Editor choices were
1. from Lancashire based Hope (nice to buy english perhaps) - Hope Hoops Pro 3 RS-Mono £315 per pair
"Lightweight no-nonsense, bombproof wheels with excellent hubs" 9/10
2. Campag Neutron Ultra £680
"Sexy, fabulous wheelset for racers." 9/10

The other 9/10s were:
Mavic Kysrium Elite £464
Fulcrum Racing 3 £490
American Classic 420 Aero £500