Bang for Buck upgrades - that you've done!

[JessicaAlba]

Absolutely loving the new (2nd hand) Dura Ace 7850 hubs in my RS80 rims! They just roll sooo smoothly, pedal effort is noticeably reduced and climbing hills just feels like a whole new, improved, ball game.

At $200 for the hubs, plus post, I cannot think of a cheaper way to have ended up with what are essentially a new set of wheels and such a fantastic upgrade to my bike.

And this has got me thinking...what other upgrades have people done to their rides that qualify as true bang for buck? I am not talking trading your $10K Casiti for an $8K Foil Team Issue here, I mean actual bits that you've added to your bike that have instantly paid off in performance, comfort or other real world results.

Get sharin'!

[trailgumby]

Losing a couple of Kg from around the middle has been the best performance upgrade I've ever done. Cheap too

[gabrielle260]

Losing a couple of Kg from around the middle has been the best performance upgrade I've ever done. Cheap too

True too!!
But the best upgrade for me is tyres, always. Going to a top quality tyre changes the feel of the ride.
To a lesser extent going from Butyl to Latex tubes improves the ride noticeably too.
Finally - for bigger bucks - upgrading wheels makes a huge difference.
Andrew

[trailgumby]

Losing a couple of Kg from around the middle has been the best performance upgrade I've ever done. Cheap too

True too!!
But the best upgrade for me is tyres, always. Going to a top quality tyre changes the feel of the ride.
To a lesser extent going from Butyl to Latex tubes improves the ride noticeably too.
Finally - for bigger bucks - upgrading wheels makes a huge difference.
Andrew

Very true on tyres. Tubes ... I'd prefer to ditch entirely, but that's much more of a challenge with roadie tyres than off-road.

[Rob74]

Comfort for Road bike
1) BBB Bar Tape Synthetic Cork BBHT-05 (don't settle for BBHT-01) + Cinelli AVS Gel Pads I put mine along the top bar around the outside towards the hoods where my hands normally sit.
2) Continental gp4000 700 x 25c reflective with Michelin 700C Presta A1 Ultralite 700X18/23 80g buytl rubber tubes (comfort & safety)


Rob

[Duck!]

Picked up a brand new Rockshox Reba fork off another forum that the seller had not read the specs on properly & wound up with the wrong thing, and replaced my old Recon. 400g weight reduction right there, and a better-performing fork to boot. Makes the front end of the bike a stack more playable in rocky stuff, being easier to lift, it tends to float over the lumps rather than ploughing in. $260 well spent. At the same time I did some smaller tweaks - bar, stem, seatpost & pedals, which combined with the fork pulled about 700g out of the bike, but the fork is the one that had the biggest impact on the handling.

[g-boaf]

Some titanium skewers from another wheel set. I thought they were cheap rubbish things and never used them...

How silly! The things are really light. Saved a lot of weight quickly.

Further improvements involve a lot of money or rather a lot of training. I'm already light...

[michaelten]

Schwalbe Ultremo tyres. I had Vittoria Rubino Pros on my bike and bought the Schwalbes for racing but I love them so much I haven't taken them off! The ride is so much smoother and faster, I'm surprised they made as much difference as they have.

[you cannot be sirrus]

Strava, Premium member for as long as I can remember and it hasn't cost me a penny yet, adds so much more to my riding experience.

[trailgumby]

Picked up a brand new Rockshox Reba fork off another forum that the seller had not read the specs on properly & wound up with the wrong thing, and replaced my old Recon. 400g weight reduction right there, and a better-performing fork to boot. Makes the front end of the bike a stack more playable in rocky stuff, being easier to lift, it tends to float over the lumps rather than ploughing in. $260 well spent. At the same time I did some smaller tweaks - bar, stem, seatpost & pedals, which combined with the fork pulled about 700g out of the bike, but the fork is the one that had the biggest impact on the handling.

Hmm. Off-road.

Speaking of suspension forks, the upgrade to the 2013 MY damper in the Lefty on my commuter bike, I kept on blowing up the lockout on the DLR hitting potholes with my 700x23c wheelset fitted while the lockout was on.. For $50 more than it was going to cost to fix the lockout, RLC Sport in Brisbane replaced the entire damper with the current model yeaer unit, which has a blowoff valve. No more busted lockouts, and a bit more slow speed damping to boot so its easier to pedal out of the saddle, and the PBR mechanism for the lockout is so much better than the twist lever.

Prior to that, hands down it was going tubeless. Besides the (minor) weight loss - maybe 200g net - the improvement in traction and riding confidence was astounding. Cost me $60 to set up the rims. NOt counting tyres as I'd have replaced them anyway and I initially used non-tubeless tyres.

Another high bang-for-buck improvement was getting nutrition on the bike right.

[ldrcycles]

When I was building up my first XC race bike I dropped the front trigger shifter for a plastic friction thumb lever I got off a K mart bike at the tip. Zero dollars for half the weight of SRAM XX!

[toolonglegs]

Warranty frame upgrades ... big bang, zero bucks .

[singlespeedscott]

My Geoff Scott frame. Current road bike out fitted with 10 speed Campagnolo. Picked it up on eBay for $150. Had a mixed Nuovo/Super Record groupset. Kept the bits I wanted sold the rest. $150 outlay parts I sold made $850. I still had a great frame and $700 in the hand.

[Dan]

For me, it has to be the transition from stock wheelsets to hand built. Dropped about 300g out of each bike, purely by building wheels that I know will support the kind of riding I do.

At less than $300 per set for ~1620g, very happy.

I also stopped carrying the second bidon I never used...

[familyguy]

1. Finding good 'compromise' tyres, not too easily cut, not too heavy.
2. Swapping to Arione seats on my three main bikes.
3. Buying a $35 eBay runabout for riding with the kids.

Jim

[Cruiserman]

Losing a couple of Kg from around the middle has been the best performance upgrade I've ever done. Cheap too

True too!!
But the best upgrade for me is tyres, always. Going to a top quality tyre changes the feel of the ride.
To a lesser extent going from Butyl to Latex tubes improves the ride noticeably too.
Finally - for bigger bucks - upgrading wheels makes a huge difference.
Andrew

Very true on tyres. Tubes ... I'd prefer to ditch entirely, but that's much more of a challenge with roadie tyres than off-road.

Not hard at all haven't had a tube in my roadie for two years now. Don't actually still own a tube that holds air. Dont carry a pump, CO2, a tube or patches. Dont swerve to miss glass either. Had two punctures in 12k that caused problems - both from trying to get to the holidays on the old rear tyre. Once damaged it on the edge of a sharp pothole and the other I stuck a 5mm twig through it when I ran over a stick. Had lots of punctures that were sealed up by the sealant doing its job and a few where I stuck a piece of old inner tube in through the cut - old school style car tyre fix - all done by the comfort of my desk at work.

To quote an advertising line - JUST DO IT

[munga]

drinking coffee at home

[Dan]

drinking coffee at home

Don't forget the generic brand froot loops.

[drpants]

Upgrades in terms of value, from best to worst:

Bike fit, tape, saddle, tyres, wheels, frame, gruppo

If you're chasing weight, these are the best value:

skewers, tubes, wheels, tyres, brakes

[Dimis]

I found best performance upgrade was going from running shoes, to my first cycling shoes and clipless pedals.
To be able to "cycle" my pedals, rather than just push down perceivably meant I went faster for longer
After that, wheels, wheels, wheels... but there's no bang for buck there. So I'll go with Sleep, Sleep and more Sleep for the money value.