forgive me my fairly newbieish question. I have an aluminum road bike (it's a DeVinci autobahn with 105 components) that I have 'accessorized' over the past few years (new tires, seat, shorty aerobars) and which fits me fine and works well.
The main beef I have with it (besides the wheels which could definitely be nicer) is the drivetrain: I am running a 52-39 in front and a 12-23 in the back, it's an 8-speed Shimano 105 and while it's working it's definitely not as smooth or precise as some other components I've had the luck to see/try (ok, it was a 10-speed DA, so I'm spoiled ;).
The biggest problem though is the gearing selection: I prefer to spin rather than to mash and due to my location I often have to contend with some significant sustained uphills where a 39-23 is really not short enough to be able to hold my usual 90-100rpm cadence. Given that it's an 8-speed it seems it's really hard to find cogsets with a good low end (say, a 27-28) without uncomfortable 'jumps' between the other gears (not to mention that being 8-speed nowadays the only cassettes I can find seem to be mtb ones for some reason).
I have been toying for a while with the idea of changing the whole drivetrain to ultegra with a triple front (say, 53-42-30) and a 9-speed 'close' back (say, 11-21) in order to have an ample gear selection but when I told this to friends etc. people keep telling me that it's not worth to spend that kind of $$$ given the fact that my frame not that special and blah blah blah.
I've been looking around quite a bit but I've never been able to find out anything about my frame and/or if it is 'low end' or not (how can you tell by looking at it?).
I have also been thinking about just keeping my bike as-is and buying a Cervelo Dual or something but it seems kind of an overkill to go to a completely new ride just because I'm unhappy with the drivetrain also considering that I'd rather wait another season to buy a tri bike and maybe spring for something nicer (say, p2k-p3k).
I was wondering if people here could chime in about what you think would be the best route for me to follow and what would be a reasonable price for a complete drivetrain (I'd expect to spend $500-$600 tops but maybe I'm being too conservative, OTOH I wouldn't want to be fleeced by my lbs).
The main beef I have with it (besides the wheels which could definitely be nicer) is the drivetrain: I am running a 52-39 in front and a 12-23 in the back, it's an 8-speed Shimano 105 and while it's working it's definitely not as smooth or precise as some other components I've had the luck to see/try (ok, it was a 10-speed DA, so I'm spoiled ;).
The biggest problem though is the gearing selection: I prefer to spin rather than to mash and due to my location I often have to contend with some significant sustained uphills where a 39-23 is really not short enough to be able to hold my usual 90-100rpm cadence. Given that it's an 8-speed it seems it's really hard to find cogsets with a good low end (say, a 27-28) without uncomfortable 'jumps' between the other gears (not to mention that being 8-speed nowadays the only cassettes I can find seem to be mtb ones for some reason).
I have been toying for a while with the idea of changing the whole drivetrain to ultegra with a triple front (say, 53-42-30) and a 9-speed 'close' back (say, 11-21) in order to have an ample gear selection but when I told this to friends etc. people keep telling me that it's not worth to spend that kind of $$$ given the fact that my frame not that special and blah blah blah.
I've been looking around quite a bit but I've never been able to find out anything about my frame and/or if it is 'low end' or not (how can you tell by looking at it?).
I have also been thinking about just keeping my bike as-is and buying a Cervelo Dual or something but it seems kind of an overkill to go to a completely new ride just because I'm unhappy with the drivetrain also considering that I'd rather wait another season to buy a tri bike and maybe spring for something nicer (say, p2k-p3k).
I was wondering if people here could chime in about what you think would be the best route for me to follow and what would be a reasonable price for a complete drivetrain (I'd expect to spend $500-$600 tops but maybe I'm being too conservative, OTOH I wouldn't want to be fleeced by my lbs).