i can’t get around not upgrading to fsa carbon cranks with the tt rings. i’ve been told that the upgrade would not increase performance. but, I think the carbon cranks would look nice. yes, i’m vain.
what do you think? would they look better than the old stock ultegra?
I went for non carbon FSA. They are black and compact. They are great and also have the MegaExo BB. But people keep saying to me are these carbon? I tell them no, there is no performance blaa, bla, blaaaa.
I say go carbon, you sepnd all this money, a little bit extra dosh to give you that F1 race carbon look will make you happier.
If you’re going to change to FSA, do external bearings. They will last much longer than ISIS drive. However, I don’t think that you should ditch your Ultegra’s. I’m a big supporter of keeping the drivetrain “pure”. Shimano stuff was designed for other Shimano stuff. Likewise with Campy. I tried putting an FSA TT ring on my othewise Campy setup. It shifted like crap. After a half-hour of tinkering, I put the Campy ring back on and it shifted perfectly. The TT rings look cool, but they won’t make you any faster. The way I thought about it was this- the potential aerodynamic gain for a 40k might be a couple seconds. Maybe. But the potential loss when you throw the chain off is going to be much more than a couple seconds. Also, you won’t be saving any weight- the carbon crank is lighter, but those TT rings are much heavier than your Ultegra rings. It’s you decision, but my opinion is that you should save your money and enjoy a nice shifting crankset that’s already on your bike. If you want to save weight, get Dura Ace.
okay. so no carbon. how about an entire drivetrain upgrade to ultegra 10sp? Has the technology greatly improved since 2001? My A races typically are on very hilly courses.
Also, I know if I change to ten i’ll need the cranks, rd, chain, cassette, shifters… but what about fd? does this need to be upgraded as well, even if i stay with a double?
just want the bike to be as fast as possible, without going all the way up to dura ace.
There are a numbers of great post about the difference in the archives. In an ideal world, I would steer you towards DA STIs though. MUCH smoother shifts. Otherwise, Ultegra 10 rocks.
Don’t upgrade. It won’t make you faster. Wait until you get your dream bike, and go all the way to Dura Ace. Ultegra 10 is nice by all means, but it won’t offer much, if any, of a performance gain over 9-speed. It will cost you a lot of money and time to make the switch (especially if you are paying a mechanic to do it- a full bike tear-down and reassembly will cost you $$$). Take the money that you would be using for Ultegra and put it in the bank. Or put it towards more race entries. THAT will make you faster.
I’m all for upgrading, but do it smartly. I am going all the way to Campy Record on my new bike. Yes, it is very costly, but I’m designing the bike from the ground up (and seemingly taking forever…), and it will be perfect. Wait until you know exactly what you want for every part and you can afford it. Until then, rock out on what you’ve got because you know that it’s just as fast as everyone’s (including me) $5,000 race bikes. Then when you’re ready, pull the trigger on your own sweet ride. Trust me- it’ll be worth it.
Nope- Record alloy. I don’t know how the TA rings shift (I’ve never used them), but I’ve heard that they’re good quality. Probably the next best thing to Campy’s.