Thinking about a few upgrades for my bike

Triathlon Forum
1

Here is my bike - 2003 Cannondale R800 Double

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/03/cusa/model-3RR8D.html

It’s all stock except Michelin ProRacer2 tires, shorter FSA stem, aero bars and saddle.

Things I’m thinking of buying:

  1. I always get killed by my buddies on the hills. I have no problem riding on the flats with them. I go smallest ring on front, largest ring on back and I still have to push hard to go anywhere. It makes me wish I had a triple, but then I might as well buy a new bike. Could I go to a compact crankset? Change out the rear gear set? My bike has a 53/39 on front and 12-26 on back.

  2. New wheels/disc. I have been unable to locate any performance information on my wheels (Gipiemme Grecal Parade) on the net. I wonder if a rear disc or a new wheelset would increase my tri times by a non-trivial amount? I’ve been doing about 16.5mph the last 2 races. Can I do just the front or rear? Or do you really need the wheelset? How difficult is it to swap between training rims and race day wheelset?

  3. New carbon seatpost. Wondering if this would add some comfort to the ride. Absorb more road vibration?

  4. Upgrading the RD from 105’s to Ultegra or DA for smoother shifting.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.

2

Here is my bike - 2003 Cannondale R800 Double

http://www.cannondale.com/...usa/model-3RR8D.html

It’s all stock except Michelin ProRacer2 tires, shorter FSA stem, aero bars and saddle.

Things I’m thinking of buying:

  1. I always get killed by my buddies on the hills. I have no problem riding on the flats with them. I go smallest ring on front, largest ring on back and I still have to push hard to go anywhere. It makes me wish I had a triple, but then I might as well buy a new bike. Could I go to a compact crankset? Change out the rear gear set? My bike has a 53/39 on front and 12-26 on back. The only thing that will get you up the hills significantly faster is to get stronger. Do hill repeats once or twice a week in addition to what you already do.

  2. New wheels/disc. I have been unable to locate any performance information on my wheels (Gipiemme Grecal Parade) on the net. I wonder if a rear disc or a new wheelset would increase my tri times by a non-trivial amount? I’ve been doing about 16.5mph the last 2 races. Can I do just the front or rear? Or do you really need the wheelset? How difficult is it to swap between training rims and race day wheelset? SWAG: get ZIPP 404s or similar deep dish wheels and you might do 17.0 mph. But seems that your engine is your big limiter.

  3. New carbon seatpost. Wondering if this would add some comfort to the ride. Absorb more road vibration? If you spend the money, you will feel an improvement. However, if you were to do a blind test, you would not be able to tell the difference.

  4. Upgrading the RD from 105’s to Ultegra or DA for smoother shifting. You would need to be very discerning to notice the difference. I can’t tell the difference between my 105 and Campy R10 (2-3x cost)

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.

In general, upgrading drivetrain components, other than wheels, produces negligible performance improvement. Or in otherwords, the performance improvement comes at HUGE cost. For instance, spending $200 in equipment upgrades will have no measureable performance effect, but spending $200 to buy the time for one extra hour-long ride each week in which you do hill repeats or intervals will lead to big gains.
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3

The compact cranks a good idea. Besides that I would just ride more.

105 stuff is fine.

Carbon posts aren;t that effective at improving comfort, not like thicker bar tape, a cushier saddle or 10 less psi.

Wheels will help but I would hold off on them for now. Training will help more.

4

That or if you want to try something aero for your current wheelset, try this…

http://www.wheelbuilder.com/closeup.asp?cid=25&pid=185&offset=0