Which upgrades for my Cannondale Caad8 Tiagra ?

[Ryan Day]

Hi all :

I recently bought the Cannondale Caad8 Tiagra. A great bike for the price but soon i would like to upgrade some components. As someone who will mainly be doing Sportives,Charity rides,Long rides out and hills etc. What upgrades would you do,reccomend or advise please . My budget is not huge but it would also not be too cheap. Middle of the peleton so to speak. What has crossed my mind so far that i'd like to upgrade are, wheels,saddle,brakes/levers and gearing. I have read good things about Sram but any advice is welcomed please : thanks in advance

 

[Rob3rt]

Tyres are the most cost effective upgrade. Followed by wheels.

Saddle is a good place to shave weight, but ultimatelly you won't notice much so unless your current saddle doesn't suit you, I would say leave it alone. I found the finishing kit on my CAAD9 to be flexy and really didn't like it, so in my case, switching out the seatpost, stem and handlebars was a good investment if only to allow me to be more confident with the robustness of the kit!

As for the groupset, that will end up costing you a fair bit for not a lot of gain! You would need to jump up like 2 tiers to get an appreciable advantage.

If you aren't careful you will end up spending multiples of the bikes initial cost in upgrades.

 

[Ryan Day]

Thanks Rob : appreciate some good advice. I'm going to look around and not rush into buying too rashly. I have seen a few saddles that caught my eye too. Thanks again.

 

[zizou]

Tyres and wheels are the first places to look. Also a decent set of brake pads like SwissStop or Koolstop

Personally i dont really look at saddles as an upgrade it is more of a preference - if you have a saddle you get on well with, the weight, price, brand, looks are all secondary. You may be lucky and get on great with a saddle that costs £20 - upgrading to a fancy one at 10x that price will be money wasted if it doesnt suit as well.

 

[400bhp]

STOP

Ride the bike.


When stuff wears out then replace.

It sounds like you've just got into cycling by the sounds of it so by the question you've posed will see little to no difference between swapping stuff around.

Tyres if you must. Saddle if it starts to get uncomfortable. Spend a bit of money on the right clothing (good quality bib shorts for example)

Threads like this remind me of stuff people used to parp on about for performance gains in a car, from people who didn't understand the vehicle dynamics.

This isn't meant to be a sleight on the OP.

 

[zizou]

400bhp makes a good point, a caad8 with tiagra is a good bike and it does make sense to upgrade when things need replaced - particularly with winter coming up.

 

[Rob3rt]

I have been riding a CAAD9 Tiagra as stock for 3 years, so for sure no need for the OP to upgrade. Only just started upgrading due to wheel issues, scary flex in bars, snapped saddle etc.

Also as zizou says, it is winter, you don't want to be buying new wheels and running gear, only for the grit etc to take its toll by the time the good weather comes.

My strategy is buy bits as and when they are on offer over the winter, then drop them in a box and wait for spring! By then I should have a full DA or SRAM Red groupset ready to go on, but putting them on now would be certifiable!

 

[black'n'yellow]

Can someone explain the logic behind buying a bike and then immediately spending more money on 'upgrades'..? Surely it would be better to spend the additional cash on buying a higher spec bike in the first place..?

 

[Rob3rt]

I agree ^^ Although things like tyres and saddles are a personal thing and people will want different things.

 

[Cyclist33]

Hi all :

I recently bought the Cannondale Caad8 Tiagra. A great bike for the price but soon i would like to upgrade some components. As someone who will mainly be doing Sportives,Charity rides,Long rides out and hills etc. What upgrades would you do,reccomend or advise please . My budget is not huge but it would also not be too cheap. Middle of the peleton so to speak. What has crossed my mind so far that i'd like to upgrade are, wheels,saddle,brakes/levers and gearing. I have read good things about Sram but any advice is welcomed please : thanks in advance

Your money of course but what's wrong with the stock bike? I thought its spec was great.

 

[Nearly there]

Id get some wear out of the stock tyres n wheels then upgrade just those