Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Bike upgrade advice

Hello,

My current bike is an aluminium Cannondale Synapse and I'm thinking about upgrading in the new year. My budget is under £2000 and I'm trying to decide between buying a new carbon bike and keeping the existing one for winter or getting a better aluminium ride with a better component fit to use all year round...

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

http://veloviewer.com/SigImage.php?a=2765d2&r=3&c=5&u=I&g=p&f=abcdehgjij...

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

Add new comment

14 comments

Avatar
Nixster | 9 years ago
0 likes

I think it depends on what you're trying to achieve by 'upgrading'.

I went from an alloy Synapse to a carbon Supersix and it's lighter, stiffer and more responsive than the bike it replaced. Or less stable or comfortable, depending on your point of view.

If you want comfort, the Synapse is a comfortable frame, regardless of the fact it's alloy but you can get carbon bikes like that too, e.g. the Endurace. If you want stiffness and fast handling then you can get alloy bikes like that e.g. CAAD 10 or Kinesis Aithein.

If you just want to spend more money then there's nothing wrong with that but I suggest you should start with asking yourself what you want from upgrading the bike rather than what you want it to be made from. You might get a better outcome that way?

Avatar
glynr36 | 9 years ago
0 likes

Vulnerable to bumps?!
Carbon is perfectlu safe, don't fall for the naysayers it's a proven frame material now.

Avatar
scrimshank | 9 years ago
0 likes

Thanks for the comments.

Am looking at Cannondale, Canyon Ultimate/Endurace and Rose xeon CRS at the moment as a possible upgrade.

Although I'm riding an alu Synapse at present I'm still debating whether to go for Carbon or Alu on the next purchase. My knowledge of Carbon is pretty basic although I'm well aware of it's vulnerability to bumps etc. As the bike will be living in close proximity to the rest of their family and their variety of wheeled devices I'm tempted to stay with Alu especially as comparative weights on some of the Canyon And Rose Aluminum are comparable to their Carbon equivalents. Having never ridden a Carbon bike I should probably test ride one to see what the fuss is about, any thoughts out there on the advantages of buying carbon? Also any Rose Xeon CRS/RS Canyon Ultimate CF AL Owners out there with any advice?

Thanks,

Chris

Avatar
Simon E | 9 years ago
0 likes

Didn't realise you wanted a Canyon, it wasn't mentioned in the original post. The Ultimate CF SL 9.0 is one of Cycling Weekly's six 'Bikes of the year'.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/reviews/road-bikes/canyon-ultimate-cf-sl-...

If that's what you want then you might as well just go ahead and get it. I'm not sure the aluminium Canyon would be so much better than the Cannondale (whose alu frames have a great reputation), so I'd wonder what are you getting for the money.

Avatar
JoshCroxton1 | 9 years ago
0 likes

Get one of these from the Bike Shed: Cube Agree GTC Di2 SLT, then use the remaining £500 to treat your old bike to some upgrades, then you've got an all year round superstar, with a bargain Ultegra Di2 Carbon KOM hunter for the weekends!

Simples.

Avatar
The _Kaner | 9 years ago
0 likes

Using a CF (Ribble using 6700 Ultagra AND white wheels) for all year round use...may as well go the whole hog and stay with the bike I'm used to. (...no I'm not made of money but there is not too much of a cash difference these days buying online and 6700 is cheap enough IMO)

Avatar
glynr36 | 9 years ago
0 likes

It's not just the frame but the kit on the bike as well,
Running 105 over DA in the winter makes sense.
As well as a £250 frame not a £2000 frame, weather dictates you're more likely to bin the bike in winter, would you rather ruin a 105 rear Der. Or a DA one?

Avatar
Shep73 replied to glynr36 | 9 years ago
0 likes
glynr36 wrote:

It's not just the frame but the kit on the bike as well,
Running 105 over DA in the winter makes sense.
As well as a £250 frame not a £2000 frame, weather dictates you're more likely to bin the bike in winter, would you rather ruin a 105 rear Der. Or a DA one?

Don't see the point in thinking like that and thinking about coming off, If I did then I would not want to take the mountain bike out incase I smashed it up, I could easily bend the forks if I met a tree and that's £750 down the drain so why worry about a component on a higher level group set. You're just a likely the bend the bike in the summer when travelling at higher speeds as you are in the winter.

Avatar
glynr36 replied to Shep73 | 9 years ago
0 likes
Shep73 wrote:
glynr36 wrote:

It's not just the frame but the kit on the bike as well,
Running 105 over DA in the winter makes sense.
As well as a £250 frame not a £2000 frame, weather dictates you're more likely to bin the bike in winter, would you rather ruin a 105 rear Der. Or a DA one?

Don't see the point in thinking like that and thinking about coming off, If I did then I would not want to take the mountain bike out incase I smashed it up, I could easily bend the forks if I met a tree and that's £750 down the drain so why worry about a component on a higher level group set. You're just a likely the bend the bike in the summer when travelling at higher speeds as you are in the winter.

There is every point in thinking it like that, wet greasy roads and ice dictate it.
I can really push it in the summer and progressively feel when I'm about to loose the bike, with winter road conditions there is no warning usually (I've found this over the last 8-9 years, binned it twice in summer conditions in that time, and a fair few more in winters).
And even if you ignore the crash potential, would you like the road salt etc. that you state is damaging to alu components, to ruin a DA mech over a winter? or a 105 one?

Avatar
Shep73 replied to glynr36 | 9 years ago
0 likes
glynr36 wrote:
Shep73 wrote:
glynr36 wrote:

It's not just the frame but the kit on the bike as well,
Running 105 over DA in the winter makes sense.
As well as a £250 frame not a £2000 frame, weather dictates you're more likely to bin the bike in winter, would you rather ruin a 105 rear Der. Or a DA one?

Don't see the point in thinking like that and thinking about coming off, If I did then I would not want to take the mountain bike out incase I smashed it up, I could easily bend the forks if I met a tree and that's £750 down the drain so why worry about a component on a higher level group set. You're just a likely the bend the bike in the summer when travelling at higher speeds as you are in the winter.

There is every point in thinking it like that, wet greasy roads and ice dictate it.
I can really push it in the summer and progressively feel when I'm about to loose the bike, with winter road conditions there is no warning usually (I've found this over the last 8-9 years, binned it twice in summer conditions in that time, and a fair few more in winters).
And even if you ignore the crash potential, would you like the road salt etc. that you state is damaging to alu components, to ruin a DA mech over a winter? or a 105 one?

A simple solution is to look after the bike in the winter. I have a spray by Duck Smart, I just spray that on the bike and it protects the bike or you can also use Fenwicks silicone spray. It really isn't that hard and over time is far cheaper than running multiple bikes.

Avatar
Shep73 | 9 years ago
0 likes

Never understood the point of a winter bike. People will put a carbon bike away but use an ali one in the winter, salt and ali do not mix but there is no issue with carbon and salt, road grime. Worked in metals and alloys most of my life and now an engineer for Honda. And I would rather use a carbon bike in winter as will not be affected by salt like ali will be.

I would go the carbon route, or at least try it. I went straight to a carbon road bike even though I have only ever had ali mtb's. When I tried a few ali road bikes after testing carbon bikes, I thought they were horrible, definitely feel the vibrations more. I have a Stevens Izoard and tested it against some road bikes by Specialized, Cannondale and Stevens ali/carbon bikes. Have to say the Izoard was a dream compared to the others, I have always had Specialised/Cannondale mtb's so there was no bias towards the Stevens.

I'm now planning on a Bianchi Infinito CV Dura Ace but I'll still use the Stevens.

Avatar
scrimshank | 9 years ago
0 likes

Thanks guys,

Dutch, after considering another Cannondale and Cube I'm pretty keen on Canyon, so much positive feedback can't be without good cause. I think keeping the present bike and getting a carbon frame (Ultimate CF SL 9.0 being my pick) is the best option. The only snag is that with only a shed to store them and two young rug rats space is at a bit of premium. For this reason I'm looking at the Ultimate AL as an all year round ride, advantages are better components for the money but still a reasonably light bike. Just trying to figure out if there are any disadvantages of opting for the aluminium frame rather than the Carbon...

Simon, thanks for the links, I've been down to Dave Mellor's quite a bit, great shops do my first port of call for all things bike related. The thing is as I'm increasingly keen on getting hold of a Canyon it didn't seem appropriate to burden them with my dilemma, although I suspect they wouldn't mind in the slightest.

At the moment I'm tempted to get the Ultimate AL and put my old wheels and gruppo on come the winter months...

Avatar
Simon E | 9 years ago
0 likes

Six of the best £2,000-£2,500 bikes - http://road.cc/71676

Bike reviews - http://road.cc/show/review-section/road-bikes/35

I wouldn't want to put a nice bike through the muck and salt of a UK winter but there are plenty who are happy to do that.

You could do a lot worse than popping in to http://www.davemellorcycles.com/ and kick some tyres, chat with Dave and his team.

Avatar
Dutch25 | 9 years ago
0 likes

I kept my old aluminium bike for a winter bike and put mudguards etc on. I then bought a Canyon for the summer bike. You can get a full carbon, 11 speed ultegra Canyon CF SL for £2000 which weighs less than 7kg. Only issue is how you feel about buying direct from Canyon without trying the bike. I just got my measurements sorted beforehand.

Latest Comments