bike upgrade

(Dan) said:

I ride with local racing teams, but in sprints and climbs when really try to hammer my bike says
no. I was thinking of Mavic Ksyrium Elites or upgrading to
105. ANy suggestions would be really appresiated.

Will make zero difference in actuality. When the legs get going so will you.

Until 6 months ago I rode a 6 speed road bike from 88. Now I ride a Trek 2300 9 speed and find I've
gained about 1mph for the same effort. Based on what you're riding you might gain as much as another
1mph by getting a better bike.

"Dan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm a 16 year old who is in very good shape, but has very little money. I've scraped together
about 500. My current ride is a Fuji Finest AL with full Sora, with some other upgrades: selle
italia flite, carbon fork, and clipless pedals. I use my bike for training for speedskating, but I
am seriously thinking of getting into road racing as well. I'm comfortable in pacelines when I
ride with local racing teams, but in sprints and climbs when really try to hammer my bike says no.
I was thinking of Mavic Ksyrium Elites or upgrading to
105. ANy suggestions would be really appresiated.

"Paul Kopit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

(Dan) said:

I ride with local racing teams, but in sprints and climbs when really try to hammer my bike says
no. I was thinking of Mavic Ksyrium Elites or upgrading to
105. ANy suggestions would be really appresiated.

Will make zero difference in actuality. When the legs get going so will you.

I agree with this. Dan (original poster) what problems are you having on climbs and srpints? I could
see the Sora being an issue if you are having shifting problems, but the wheels are not going to
help you. Be more specific on the problems. Spinning out? Maybe a different cassette, bigger front
chainrings Shifting issues then new STI levers rear der can help. Bottom bracket flex - different
frame (I doubt it) How long are the cranks? What chainrings? 53/39 or some sort of triple Pedals?

The Finest is a nice frame. Steel, maybe a little heavy, but your 16 year old body is probably a lot
lighter than the rest of the riders you go with. If the bike fits stick with it and save your money
for the next bike that you will need when you grow more. That is more important, is to be ready for
the next frame size when your frame size lengthens! :-)

John Rees

Dan said:

I'm a 16 year old who is in very good shape, but has very little money. I've scraped together
about 500. My current ride is a Fuji Finest AL with full Sora, with some other upgrades: selle
italia flite, carbon fork, and clipless pedals. I use my bike for training for speedskating, but I
am seriously thinking of getting into road racing as well. I'm comfortable in pacelines when I
ride with local racing teams, but in sprints and climbs when really try to hammer my bike says no.
I was thinking of Mavic Ksyrium Elites or upgrading to
105. ANy suggestions would be really appresiated.

Get a lesser bike, more weight, DT shifters, heavy wheels, used, cheap. Ride your heart out on this
bike for six months, when you go back to the Fuji it will feel like the bike your looking for. It's
all about the legs don't let media hype fool ya into thinking you need a new bike to go faster, you
don't. Use the classic three step training method and you can't go wrong:

1. Ride your bike
2. Ride your bike
3. Ride your bike

Wes

I know that this is probably not the answer that you want to hear, but I don't think the bike, or
components, is holding you back. I know plenty of people who successfully race with worse stuff. If
you are having a problem with specific components then I would spend the money to upgrade the
component, not the whole bike.

Fast sprinting, and climbing, takes a lot of practice. Even though you are in great shape for speed
skating there is probably room for improvement in your cycling skills. I would suggest that you join
a local bike club. When looking try to find a club that puts emphasis on racing. Some clubs are much
more involved on social riding, and bike advocacy. I think that you will be happy with your results
after training with a club for a while. After some time you might also have a better idea of what
type of equipment changes that you want to make.

Happy Cycling

"Dan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm a 16 year old who is in very good shape, but has very little money. I've scraped together
about 500. My current ride is a Fuji Finest AL with full Sora, with some other upgrades: selle
italia flite, carbon fork, and clipless pedals. I use my bike for training for speedskating, but I
am seriously thinking of getting into road racing as well. I'm comfortable in pacelines when I
ride with local racing teams, but in sprints and climbs when really try to hammer my bike says no.
I was thinking of Mavic Ksyrium Elites or upgrading to
105. ANy suggestions would be really appresiated.

BillX said:

Until 6 months ago I rode a 6 speed road bike from 88. Now I ride a Trek 2300 9 speed and find I've
gained about 1mph for the same effort.

That was my rough estimation when I made a full upgrade a while back from an older bike. More
important for me was the much higher desire to get out and ride a nice machine. The ease of
operation alone made it so much more enjoyable.

Doug

In article <[email hidden]>, Dan

Quoted message said:

I'm a 16 year old who is in very good shape, but has very little money. I've scraped together about
500. My current ride is a Fuji Finest AL with full Sora, with some other upgrades: selle italia
flite, carbon fork, and clipless pedals. I use my bike for training for speedskating, but I am
seriously thinking of getting into road racing as well. I'm comfortable in pacelines when I ride
with local racing teams, but in sprints and climbs when really try to hammer my bike says no.

What does that mean? What happens when the bike says no?

Quoted message said:

I was thinking of Mavic Ksyrium Elites or upgrading to
105. ANy suggestions would be really appresiated.

I'm not sure what problem you're having but I'm pretty certain that's not the solution.

Put the money in the bank. The current bike is good enough for you to wait longer. Spend when you
have $1000 or more, or the bike won't be a sufficient improvement over the Sora equipped Finest.
Keep the Fuji clean and sell it when you're ready.

--Paul

"Bob McBreen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I know plenty of people who successfully race with worse stuff.

Can you give us the names of a few?

Thanks,

JT

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Dan-<< I've scraped together about 500. My current ride is a Fuji Finest AL with full Sora, with
some other upgrades: >><BR><BR> << I'm comfortable in pacelines when I ride with local racing teams,
but in sprints and climbs when really try to hammer my bike says no. I was thinking of Mavic Ksyrium
Elites or upgrading to
105. >><BR><BR>

It's not your bike that is holding you back in sprints or climbs...

I would upgrade the shifters from Sora to something above that where you have the ability to shift
to smaller cogs in the drops.

Get a good anatomic bike fit from a fit person.

But your performance is mostly dependent on you, your fitness, your bike fit, etc. Equipment means
little in the bike/rider equation.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(106)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

Bill-<< Until 6 months ago I rode a 6 speed road bike from 88. Now I ride a Trek 2300 9 speed and
find I've gained about 1mph for the same effort. >><BR><BR>

How did you measure your 'effort'....

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

This was based on riding the same 38 mile training course that I've done for the past 8 years.
Since I'm 47 now I concluded that getting faster wasn't the result of "coming of age" ;-) I've
also competed in two triathlons this year and found I gained 1mph on fellow athletes I'd competed
with before.

"Qui si parla Campagnolo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bill-<< Until 6 months ago I rode a 6 speed road bike from 88. Now I ride

a

Quoted message said:

Trek 2300 9 speed and find I've gained about 1mph for the same effort.

Quoted message said:

<BR><BR>

How did you measure your 'effort'....

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

(Dan) said:

I'm a 16 year old who is in very good shape, but has very little money. I've scraped together about
500. My current ride is a Fuji Finest AL with full Sora, with some other upgrades: selle italia
flite, carbon fork, and clipless pedals. I use my bike for training for speedskating, but I am
seriously thinking of getting into road racing as well. I'm comfortable in pacelines when I ride
with local racing teams, but in sprints and climbs when really try to hammer my bike says no. I was
thinking of Mavic Ksyrium Elites or upgrading to
105. ANy suggestions would be really appresiated.

save your money and invest in injectable steroids?? why not try some other sport where the drug use
is less, such as football *snicker*.

no but seriously, if you have to chooose between investing in the frameset, componentry, or wheels,
the 1 lbs off the wheels is worth 2 lbs off the frame. About the only thing you might want to do to
your drive train is to get ball-bearing jockey wheels for your rear derailleur.

to be explosive in sprints you probably need to go hit the weight room. my sports are swimming and
biking, and in swimming i think i had better acceleration at age 30 because of weight lifting than
at age 20 when i was lettering on my college varsity team.

- Don Gillies San Diego, CA

IMHO doing steep hills is better for building strength and sprint speed. Weights are good but not
specific to the exercise like riding hills.

"Donald Gillies" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

to be explosive in sprints you probably need to go hit the weight room. my sports are swimming and
biking, and in swimming i think i had better acceleration at age 30 because of weight lifting than
at age 20 when i was lettering on my college varsity team.

- Don Gillies San Diego, CA

gillies-<< no but seriously, if you have to chooose between investing in the frameset, componentry,
or wheels, the 1 lbs off the wheels is worth 2 lbs off the frame >><BR><BR>

I thought you said 'seriously'...1 pound off anywhere is worth 1 pound anywhere else. By taking
weight off the wheels doesn't somehow repeal the laws of nature. 'Rotating' weight or the so called
flywheel affect is so small as to be almost not measureable.

<< About the only thing you might want to do to your drive train is to get ball-bearing jockey
wheels for your rear derailleur. >><BR><BR>

Yikes...YGBSM...

<< to be explosive in sprints you probably need to go hit the weight room. >><BR><BR>

At last, a suggestion pointed to where the rider will see the most good and improvment...improving
the rider...not his 'Speedos'..

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

"Qui si parla Campagnolo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

At last, a suggestion pointed to where the rider will see the most good

and

Quoted message said:

improvment...improving the rider...not his 'Speedos'..

Peter Chisholm

True, but the bike *can* make a difference. I've built up my last 3 bikes and I think I finally have
learned what works best for me. This last bike I put together is an evolution of frame size, angles
, stems etc that I've learned from other projects. While this has not made the bike and I any faster
in a sprint or a climb, what it has done is make the bike more comfortable for the course of longer
rides. That is where I really notice
it. The last 10 miles. Reaching this is probably impossible at 16 years old, for no other reason
that the lad is still growing. But I think this is where learning what you need and what makes
you comfortable is important.

John Rees

(Qui si parla Campagnolo) said:

I thought you said 'seriously'...1 pound off anywhere is worth 1 pound anywhere else. By taking
weight off the wheels doesn't somehow repeal the laws of nature. 'Rotating' weight or the so called
flywheel affect is so small as to be almost not measureable.

Besides, the more the better, anyway. Sure, acceleration's longer, but so is deceleration. More
weight on the wheels means an immeasurably smoother ride with less acceleration and deceleration
over small bumps, so less shifting. Can't be anything but good.

Jasper

In article <[email hidden]>, Dan

Quoted message said:

I'm a 16 year old who is in very good shape, but has very little money. I've scraped together about
500. My current ride is a Fuji Finest AL with full Sora, with some other upgrades: selle italia
flite, carbon fork, and clipless pedals. I use my bike for training for speedskating, but I am
seriously thinking of getting into road racing as well. I'm comfortable in pacelines when I ride
with local racing teams, but in sprints and climbs when really try to hammer my bike says no.

Its your legs that are saying no, not your bike. It happens to all of us.

Quoted message said:

I was thinking of Mavic Ksyrium Elites or upgrading to
105. ANy suggestions would be really appresiated.

More expensive gear doesn't make you appreciably faster. If you have heavy wheels, light ones will
make a small difference when making jumps. If your current derailleurs don't miss shifts then
changing to new ones won't make you faster.

It takes a while of training to be able to hang with racers on climbs or sprints, even for athletic
adults. Being 16 you probably don't have the muscle mass that the people you are comparing youself
with have got. You'll also need to learn when to rest and when to hammer.

Keep at it and save your money for tires and later on, traveling to races.

If you have to get new wheels anyhow, go for hand built wheels with reasonably light rims (i.e.
Ritchey) on Ultegra hubs... nearly as light as Krysiums, especially at the rim where it counts, more
durable and much cheaper.

Eric

Eric

My suggestion is to try some lightweight racing tyres with some good inner tubes. Then experiment
with tyre pressures. Rolling resistance does'nt always get smaller with higher tyre pressures.

Dan wrote

Quoted message said:

I'm comfortable in pacelines when I ride with local racing teams, but in sprints and climbs when
really try to hammer my bike says no. I was thinking of Mavic Ksyrium Elites or upgrading to
105. ANy suggestions would be really appresiated.

Fill your tubes with water and a little bit of air for a week. The extra mass will carry you over
bumps and through the wind better. When you fill it with air again, you'll ride differently. It's
not about the bike, right? Matt