swap frame, new build or just buy a new bike?
Discussion
So decision time is fast approaching...
Now my CX is finally here, finally working (pretty much...) and is now taking over day to day duties as my winter runabout, I'm thinking about sorting my nice bike.
I've got a 2010 Boardman pro-carbon, I love it.
It is however a little big for me so I succumbed to a new frame in the right size on -currently boxed in the living room.
I've got a couple of choices.
1 - Just swap the frame. Keep the force 10 group set and maybe add some red 10 bits if I find them sensibly priced. Replace finishing kit with carbon. Sell the old bits piecemeal and service the current wheels. Cost - couple of hundred, maybe more if there's temptingly priced red kit.
Upgrading piecemeal however has never struck me as a sensible way to do it... Overall its going to cost more.
2 - Rebuild a new bike on the new frame, sell the old to defray some of the cost. I'd be thinking force 22 (or red 10), upgraded wheels, carbon finishing kit. I'd be scouting bits out on eBay, sales etc for the next couple of months till I have the lot. Plus lots of annoying "what wheels" threads.
Bonus it will be mine, never anyone else's, look just how I want it etc etc
3 - I can't see getting step 2 done with a lot of change from £1500... In fact its likely to snowball further than that. I could just buy a new pro carbon SLR for £1300 ish... It wouldn't be quite as high spec but frankly I'm not fast enough for it to make that much difference.... (However I prefer SRAM shifting)
Or one of the elite 2013 range (or 2014 but my inner Yorkshireman likes the current discounts)
So perhaps 3 is "just buy a new bike and join in the "what bike for 2k" thread" and pick one of those...,
Now my CX is finally here, finally working (pretty much...) and is now taking over day to day duties as my winter runabout, I'm thinking about sorting my nice bike.
I've got a 2010 Boardman pro-carbon, I love it.
It is however a little big for me so I succumbed to a new frame in the right size on -currently boxed in the living room.
I've got a couple of choices.
1 - Just swap the frame. Keep the force 10 group set and maybe add some red 10 bits if I find them sensibly priced. Replace finishing kit with carbon. Sell the old bits piecemeal and service the current wheels. Cost - couple of hundred, maybe more if there's temptingly priced red kit.
Upgrading piecemeal however has never struck me as a sensible way to do it... Overall its going to cost more.
2 - Rebuild a new bike on the new frame, sell the old to defray some of the cost. I'd be thinking force 22 (or red 10), upgraded wheels, carbon finishing kit. I'd be scouting bits out on eBay, sales etc for the next couple of months till I have the lot. Plus lots of annoying "what wheels" threads.
Bonus it will be mine, never anyone else's, look just how I want it etc etc
3 - I can't see getting step 2 done with a lot of change from £1500... In fact its likely to snowball further than that. I could just buy a new pro carbon SLR for £1300 ish... It wouldn't be quite as high spec but frankly I'm not fast enough for it to make that much difference.... (However I prefer SRAM shifting)
Or one of the elite 2013 range (or 2014 but my inner Yorkshireman likes the current discounts)
So perhaps 3 is "just buy a new bike and join in the "what bike for 2k" thread" and pick one of those...,
I would have got for option 4 and bought a shorter stem!! Both my bikes are a touch too big and that's what I did on one!
I would just swap the bits onto the new frame and get riding, upgrading the odd thing here and there, the other options sound like a ballache. Job Jobbed.
Sometimes you have to draw a line under analysing every last component and just get on with riding.
Im all for new bits and upgrading , but when it starts to eclipse the time spend actually riding you gotta draw the line.
I would just swap the bits onto the new frame and get riding, upgrading the odd thing here and there, the other options sound like a ballache. Job Jobbed.
Sometimes you have to draw a line under analysing every last component and just get on with riding.
Im all for new bits and upgrading , but when it starts to eclipse the time spend actually riding you gotta draw the line.
Is a medium that was adapted by the previous owner to fit them, they were about my height.
Besides I already have the other frame - it was a bargain and should fit perfectly (medium vs small) and I've gone through all the measurements....
However little things like 42cm bars vs 40cm etc add up to make a big comfort difference and the 60cm stem it has at the moment makes it a little twitchy...
The difference between perfect and "can make do". I made do for the summer, loved the bike, but the niggling wrist and lower back pain I developed on it vanished when riding my CX -which fits like it was tailored.
Besides I already have the other frame - it was a bargain and should fit perfectly (medium vs small) and I've gone through all the measurements....
However little things like 42cm bars vs 40cm etc add up to make a big comfort difference and the 60cm stem it has at the moment makes it a little twitchy...
The difference between perfect and "can make do". I made do for the summer, loved the bike, but the niggling wrist and lower back pain I developed on it vanished when riding my CX -which fits like it was tailored.
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