Need advice on upgrades

Joel said:

The existing parts
work ok so maybe I should just stop lusting after carbon pieces.

Then there's your answer. Unless you're losing races by a bike length
or two, swapping out perfectly good forks or cranks won't make any real
difference.

Give the bike a good overhaul- new tires, cables, chains, and
drivetrain. Replace any other worn-out parts. Then go out and ride.

On the other hand, carbon parts do *look* neat, and give you something
new ot talk about at rest stops. If that's what you're after, then have
at it.

Jeff

Joel said:

There are two upgrades I am considering. The first is changing out the
heavily built chromoly fork with a Reynolds Ouzo Pro tandem fork, cost
is about $500 plus a new headset because the old one is shot.

How, pray tell, is your fork "shot?"
Phil Brown

philcycles said:

Joel said:

There are two upgrades I am considering. The first is changing out
the heavily built chromoly fork with a Reynolds Ouzo Pro tandem
fork, cost is about $500 plus a new headset because the old one is
shot.

How, pray tell, is your fork "shot?"

Wasn't "plus a new headset because the old one is shot" fairly clear?

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

philcycles said:

Joel said:

There are two upgrades I am considering. The first is changing out
the heavily built chromoly fork with a Reynolds Ouzo Pro tandem
fork, cost is about $500 plus a new headset because the old one is
shot.

How, pray tell, is your fork "shot?"

Wasn't "plus a new headset because the old one is shot" fairly clear?

Who shot it?

;-)

-Bob

Hell and High Water said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

philcycles said:

Joel wrote:

> There are two upgrades I am considering. The first is changing out
> the heavily built chromoly fork with a Reynolds Ouzo Pro tandem
> fork, cost is about $500 plus a new headset because the old one is
> shot.

How, pray tell, is your fork "shot?"

Wasn't "plus a new headset because the old one is shot" fairly clear?

Who shot it?

Slow morning?

(Obligatory 🙂 goes here or I'll be called a meanie 🙂 )

To increase performance, practice riding up grades, not buying them.

Wayne

1) Get your fork here, http://www.chucksbikes.com/ , save $400 and send
me the money.

2) I have carbon cranks on one of my bikes and faux carbon cranks on the
other. I don't notice any difference. Well, except the carbon ("plastic"
as Sheldon says, harsh) ones make a hollow "tok" sound when you hit them
with soemthing. Maybe you could try that?

3) Chuck's has headsets and tandem cranksets too.

4) I'm not affiliated with Chucks's except that the frame, fork, stem,
headset, seatpost, and bar tape on my good bike came from there.

Charles

Joel said:

I have a Santana Sovereign tandem that is aroung 10 years old.
I am looking to upgrade some of the components, but I don't want to
spend a lot of money without getting some significant performance
improvement.
There are two upgrades I am considering. The first is changing out the
heavily built chromoly fork with a Reynolds Ouzo Pro tandem fork, cost
is about $500 plus a new headset because the old one is shot. I figure
it will save about a pound and possibly improve the ride quality. Its a
lot of money to spend to save a pround. The other upgrade is to change
out the Shimano 600 cranks and BB's for some FSA Carbon cranks, I don't
think it will save much weight or add much stiffness, I think this one
is somewhat cosmetic and again its a lot of money. The existing parts
work ok so maybe I should just stop lusting after carbon pieces.

Joel

Hell and High Water said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

philcycles said:

Joel wrote:

>There are two upgrades I am considering. The first is changing out
>the heavily built chromoly fork with a Reynolds Ouzo Pro tandem
>fork, cost is about $500 plus a new headset because the old one is
>shot.

How, pray tell, is your fork "shot?"

Wasn't "plus a new headset because the old one is shot" fairly clear?

Who shot it?

Y'know, a few years back we retired an ancient (computer) file server at
the office. I impressed on the tech guys that the disk needed to be
erased *really* thoroughly because even though we had deleted the files,
they were confidential and a bit sensitive - and we didn't know on whose
desk the machine might land as a hand-me-down.

A week later they brought me the disk platters full of bullet holes -
"Is that erased well enough for you?"

(Obligatory bike reference: There's a mountain bike website somewhere
that tested an allegedly "bulletproof" suspension fork by shooting it
full of holes. IIRC, it didn't live up to its billing)

Mark

Mark Janeba said:

Y'know, a few years back we retired an ancient (computer) file server at
the office. I impressed on the tech guys that the disk needed to be
erased *really* thoroughly because even though we had deleted the files,
they were confidential and a bit sensitive - and we didn't know on whose
desk the machine might land as a hand-me-down.

A week later they brought me the disk platters full of bullet holes -
"Is that erased well enough for you?"

There's places in the US government that disks only get out of after their
platters have been thrown into a melting furnace.

Jasper

Joel said:

I have a Santana Sovereign tandem that is aroung 10 years old.
I am looking to upgrade some of the components, but I don't want to
spend a lot of money without getting some significant performance
improvement.
There are two upgrades I am considering. The first is changing out the
heavily built chromoly fork with a Reynolds Ouzo Pro tandem fork, cost
is about $500 plus a new headset because the old one is shot. I figure
it will save about a pound and possibly improve the ride quality.

Hard to beat the ride of a well made steel fork and 1 pound on a tandem
is a pretty small amount(Small on a /12 bike).

Its a

Quoted message said:

lot of money to spend to save a pround. The other upgrade is to change
out the Shimano 600 cranks and BB's for some FSA Carbon cranks, I don't
think it will save much weight or add much stiffness, I think this one
is somewhat cosmetic and again its a lot of money. The existing parts
work ok so maybe I should just stop lusting after carbon pieces.

Joel

Answer questions, solve problems with new bike stuff. Upgrade the
riders or the places you ride or clothes...if the other stuff works
well, not worth the $ IMO-

JeffWills said:

Joel said:

The existing parts
work ok so maybe I should just stop lusting after carbon pieces.

Then there's your answer. Unless you're losing races by a bike length
or two, swapping out perfectly good forks or cranks won't make any real
difference.

I agree 100% on the below...but if yer losing a race by a bike length,
no amount of equipment will make it so you will then win.

Quoted message said:

Give the bike a good overhaul- new tires, cables, chains, and
drivetrain. Replace any other worn-out parts. Then go out and ride.

On the other hand, carbon parts do *look* neat, and give you something
new ot talk about at rest stops. If that's what you're after, then have
at it.

Jeff

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

JeffWills wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Then there's your answer. Unless you're losing races by a bike length
or two, swapping out perfectly good forks or cranks won't make any real
difference.

I agree 100% on the below...but if yer losing a race by a bike length,
no amount of equipment will make it so you will then win.

Why not? There's no question that over the course of a race, very minor
differences can add up to a few bike lengths. Even if the problem is
simply psychological, the new equipment can help there as well.

Jasper

Jasper Janssen said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

JeffWills wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Then there's your answer. Unless you're losing races by a bike length
or two, swapping out perfectly good forks or cranks won't make any real
difference.

I agree 100% on the below...but if yer losing a race by a bike length,
no amount of equipment will make it so you will then win.

Why not? There's no question that over the course of a race, very minor
differences can add up to a few bike lengths. Even if the problem is
simply psychological, the new equipment can help there as well.

Jasper

Guess the word to note is 'can'...may, may not. Way to many riders,
racers and sales people make promisses with equipment that cannot be
kept. No single or group of component changes, like the one mentioned,
a carbon fork, is going to 'make the difference' between winning and
losing.

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Jasper Janssen said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

JeffWills wrote:

Quoted message said:

> Then there's your answer. Unless you're losing races by a bike length
> or two, swapping out perfectly good forks or cranks won't make any real
> difference.

I agree 100% on the below...but if yer losing a race by a bike length,
no amount of equipment will make it so you will then win.

Why not? There's no question that over the course of a race, very minor
differences can add up to a few bike lengths. Even if the problem is
simply psychological, the new equipment can help there as well.

Guess the word to note is 'can'...may, may not. Way to many riders,
racers and sales people make promisses with equipment that cannot be
kept. No single or group of component changes, like the one mentioned,
a carbon fork, is going to 'make the difference' between winning and
losing.

Well, *if* the ride is significantly more up than down, a pound of weight
might for a given total power output make a few bike lengths difference.
If the weight loss is significant enough to make it easier to stick with
the other riders in order to draft (heavier riders with the same power
output go slower up hills and coast down faster), I suppose it could work
as well.

But sure, it's not going to win the race for you automatically. But it
might help. Anyone that is *not* racing, or at the very least riding
competitively in a large peloton on semi-recreational rides, should just
ignore all the marketing hype.

Jasper

Jasper Janssen said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Jasper Janssen said:

On 20 Sep 2005 06:56:35 -0700, "Qui si parla Campagnolo"
<[email hidden]> wrote:
>JeffWills wrote:

>> Then there's your answer. Unless you're losing races by a bike length
>> or two, swapping out perfectly good forks or cranks won't make any real
>> difference.
>
>I agree 100% on the below...but if yer losing a race by a bike length,
>no amount of equipment will make it so you will then win.

Why not? There's no question that over the course of a race, very minor
differences can add up to a few bike lengths. Even if the problem is
simply psychological, the new equipment can help there as well.

Guess the word to note is 'can'...may, may not. Way to many riders,
racers and sales people make promisses with equipment that cannot be
kept. No single or group of component changes, like the one mentioned,
a carbon fork, is going to 'make the difference' between winning and
losing.

Well, *if* the ride is significantly more up than down, a pound of weight
might for a given total power output make a few bike lengths difference.
If the weight loss is significant enough to make it easier to stick with
the other riders in order to draft (heavier riders with the same power
output go slower up hills and coast down faster), I suppose it could work
as well.

But sure, it's not going to win the race for you automatically. But it
might help. Anyone that is *not* racing, or at the very least riding
competitively in a large peloton on semi-recreational rides, should just
ignore all the marketing hype.

Jasper

Agree-ohhh were it to be so tho-

In article <[email hidden]>, Jasper Janssen

Quoted message said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Jasper Janssen said:

On 20 Sep 2005 06:56:35 -0700, "Qui si parla Campagnolo"
<[email hidden]> wrote:
>JeffWills wrote:

>> Then there's your answer. Unless you're losing races by a bike length
>> or two, swapping out perfectly good forks or cranks won't make any real
>> difference.
>
>I agree 100% on the below...but if yer losing a race by a bike length,
>no amount of equipment will make it so you will then win.

Why not? There's no question that over the course of a race, very minor
differences can add up to a few bike lengths. Even if the problem is
simply psychological, the new equipment can help there as well.

Guess the word to note is 'can'...may, may not. Way to many riders,
racers and sales people make promisses with equipment that cannot be
kept. No single or group of component changes, like the one mentioned,
a carbon fork, is going to 'make the difference' between winning and
losing.

Winning bikes races all depends first on the rider -- what's your CAT?
If you're below CAT 5, then don't hope for any equipment upgrades to
help you move from that to CAT 3 or 1. Incidentally, most of the
people who think about upgrades are recreational riders with a power
output of a mere 150 watts or below and those are the ones who will
benefit from anything from a $1000 wheels to a lighter bike simply
because, the longer the rider spent on the road, the benefits of the
upgrades will provide. Americans are content in buying speed rather
than to train hard to get it. But don't, under any impression, believe
any upgrades will suddenly allow you to generate 200 to 350watts these
CAT racers can muster. If you have a 4 banger engine, don't expect to
out race a V8 or V12 anytime soon.

As riders improve their power output, these upgrades will be
meaningless to them -- they will only improve a few seconds off your TT
or hill climb. Definitely not worth the cash you need to shell out,
unless ofcourse, you need to qualify for a national spot and you've got
serious competition to beat in order to get in.

David.