equipment upgrade advice

[boianchimoon]

as a relatively new road rider (the falls hurt more and more on the MTB) have been riding a Bianchi 928 C2C Veloce equipped for a year now and was wondering
a) what is the best performance upgrade would be
b) i am using spiuk MTB shoes with SPD clips (which seem a tad heavy are road shoes cleats appreciably lighter?
c) would stiffer lighter wheels be appreciably noticable? if so what would recommendations be for a 20/30 mile a night rider occasional 100milers?

thanks in advance - alan

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

a) Wheels
b) Yes lighter. For what you're using them for do you really need to save a few grams in your shoes and pedals? More rec riders do mtb shoes for road riding simply for the ease of walking into a shop, cafe, or bar.
c) Yes. Check out ROL, and Williams for decent affordable wheels.

 

[boianchimoon]

I take it carbon would be seen as 'overkill' for non racing use? and good quality all purpose wheels such as campy Euros would the way to go. Another question is what would the main difference be over my present Khamsins? - thanks alan

 

[eurotrash]

Caveat: I am an old and bitter retired road racer. How old? Well when I started racing everyone's shifters were on the downtube!

I think aftermarket wheelsets for training is the worst idea ever. When I ride the last thing I want to worry about is getting a flat or breaking a spoke (and if I break a spoke I want to be able to finish my ride no problem and be able to easily replace it without it ruining my wheel). I like to ride all sorts of roads and don't want to be a *** if it isn't fresh tarmac.

So, I ride Dura Ace hubs laced to mavic open pros, 32 spoke 3x with conti 700x28 tires. Bomber!

I'll add that when I did race I always had race wheels. Back in the day it was 24 or 28 spoke mavic gl280s/gl330's and then later on I had carbon zipps or similar. Always tubular, vittoria corsa CX, always.

I googled your bike. It looks really nice for someone of your ability level. What type of (higher) performance are you looking for? I think you'd notice a difference in higher quality shifters and derailleurs before anything else.

ET

 

[rgmerk]

as a relatively new road rider (the falls hurt more and more on the MTB) have been riding a Bianchi 928 C2C Veloce equipped for a year now and was wondering
a) what is the best performance upgrade would be
b) i am using spiuk MTB shoes with SPD clips (which seem a tad heavy are road shoes cleats appreciably lighter?
c) would stiffer lighter wheels be appreciably noticable? if so what would recommendations be for a 20/30 mile a night rider occasional 100milers?

thanks in advance - alan

It depends.

Do you want to race, or do you already race? Are you comfortable (as one can be) when you go on a long ride? What terrain do you ride on?

My first priorities for improving my bike were a professional bike fit, shoes, gloves, bibs and saddle. Only once I'd got that sorted did I do anything else.

Other cheap and easy improvements include brake pads (Kool-Stops are way, way better than stock Shimano pads, but I dunno with Campy) and tires (road bikes typically come with very cheap and nasty tires, the difference with good tires is night and day).

 

[richwagmn]

It depends.

Do you want to race, or do you already race? Are you comfortable (as one can be) when you go on a long ride? What terrain do you ride on?

My first priorities for improving my bike were a professional bike fit, shoes, gloves, bibs and saddle. Only once I'd got that sorted did I do anything else.

Other cheap and easy improvements include brake pads (Kool-Stops are way, way better than stock Shimano pads, but I dunno with Campy) and tires (road bikes typically come with very cheap and nasty tires, the difference with good tires is night and day).

Second on kool-stops. Shimano pads pale in comparison. You can break with one hand where shimano pads would require two.

 

[PCutter]

If you are going to ride for longer durations (which is normally the case on road vs MTB) investing in road shoes/pedals is a good idea. Road cleats can allow for a little horizontal play (around 5 deg depending on the cleat) which is a good idea for most riders. While some have perfect ergonomic pedal strokes, most don't. The 'play' in the cleat relieves stress on the knee and ankle joints which should improve your enjoyment levels. MTB shoes generally don't have this 'play' (presumably to allow faster release under pressure of running into a tree, or at least in my case).

 

[boianchimoon]

thanks for the replies, after years of mtb'ing then buying a road/city hybrid for a couple of road coast to coasts i decided the time was right to get a 'proper' looking machine. Not sure what you mean by " It looks really nice for someone of your ability level." I ride 20/30 miles on an eve with occasional 60/80/100 milers at weekends and the relaxed geometry of the C2C suits me nicely all fits well. Interested in the shoes quote, i do get occasional knee aches so that could be a solution. was i guess hoping for a compelling reason to get some new wheels rather than the relatively basic khamsins. I don't race and have never done club group rides, my basic aims are fitness enjoyment hopefully increasing the average from 18mph over 30 plus miles (i'm a 14 stone 52 year old) - thanks again alan

 

[eurotrash]

Not sure what you mean by " It looks really nice for someone of your ability level." I ride 20/30 miles on an eve with occasional 60/80/100 milers at weekends and the relaxed geometry of the C2C suits me nicely all fits well........ I don't race and have never done club group rides, my basic aims are fitness enjoyment hopefully increasing the average from 18mph over 30 plus miles (i'm a 14 stone 52 year old) - thanks again alan

Exactly. I mean that you could put Fabian Cancellara on it and he'd still win Paris Roubaix, so it is more than enough bike for you.