The WORST And LEAST Cost Effective Bike Upgrades

what are the worst upgrades you can make to your bike that you're still going to consider doing to your bike even though you know deep down it's not really worth it well man that is exactly what we're going to discuss boom let's do it I have no thoughts a bolt looks cool it's a bolt I'm running out of other good things strength I'm fuming about this why why are you angry so the following upgrades are still upgrades but they don't achieve a vast amount yeah it's more case of you kind of feel happier about making that upgrade rather than really thinking it's going to make a vast difference to your bik which I think for the majority of people particularly those that aren't racing that's perhaps good enough when it comes to doing an upgrade yeah I guess so but go on it leads us on to our first upgrade yeah super light bottle cages right okay let me put it out there I'm going to stick my neck on the line super low bottle cages I know they're not like a great upgrade but I literally always always do it I can't help myself I get drawn into it I go look how light it is look it's all carbon and then I buy it or like whatever and you just like let not change my bik no I think they look they look good yeah and if you are racing and you are trying to really really save like you got really be sa yeah obviously great upgrade for me now I am I could not give two donkeys two donkeys two donkeys what bottle cages I hold my bike a bottle cage is a bottle cage it's to carry a bottle I think yeah that is a really good point there's and actually let me give some examples here so some super lightweight bottle cages some are better than others some are actually really just crap at holding your bottle which is like the fundamental thing that it's supposed to do but there are still good ones out there that are lightweight so the ones that I've typically been using more recently the ones on my Pinella weigh 12 G each but I think they cost like 50 odd quid each and maybe even more on that um stuff so expensive to get this right they weigh 12 G each which is about the same weight as a 2B coin because they're actually really expensive to buy a pair of bottle cages that weigh 24 G in 2 Coins you have to have 720 G so like wait you really thought about that I have thought about it long and hard um so yeah maybe just spend £10 on like a nylon or plastic one it's going to be almost as light and probably going to do a job holding I think if you're you know a hell Climber you really care about that stuff just wouldn't have a BT cage you just wouldn't have one yeah true next on our list is one which I've put on the list but I feel like it's like triggering you I'm fuming about this why why are you angry you're going to say what it is first custom paint how is that not a good upgrade rubbish upgrade rubbish upgrade you know deep down it's a good upgrade no it's not you're telling me you don't want your bike custom painted I do but I don't think it's a good upgrade right why expensive AF oh it can be I did it myself and I'm blinking proud of how mine turned out okay it's expensive admittedly it is cool but tell me what is like what's it doing to your bike to make it's a great way of like personalizing your bike standing out from the crowd and I think especially when you put effort into painting it coming up with a design or you know working with someone else to come up with a design or whether you choose to do it yourself that hard work pays off whereas you know you're going out and buying carbon bottle cages yeah all right okay um I'm slightly backtracking here because you know what we let the the views decide is custom pain in your bike a good or a bad upgrade let us know in the comments and I think I know what most people are going to say all right let me backtrack slightly some if you um if you go somewhere that does a really good job of custom peny bik somewhere like fat Creations for example they put a lot of time care and effort into it sometimes I've seen on on some of their Instagram posts they do they can actually save a little bit of weight off of the frame yeah but my my um reservation God I got to be careful I say I don't annoy people my reservation about custom paint one it is particularly expensive two it's really only like special and unique to you so perhaps when it comes to like selling your bike I feel like someone else isn't going to put the same value to it as what you've maybe invested in it but I feel like if you're going to custom paint a bike when you go to custom painting you'll have an idea of do you want to keep that bike forever or do you want to sell it on and that'll determine what paint you'd go for like the one I did like I'm probably never going to actually ride it again I say it's more like you really wanted it and keep it yeah like that's that was my first ever track bike I crashed on it it's got massive dent in it by custom painting it and it looks really nice and well I mean stop on the wall now let's face it the title of this video is upgrades that are not that good but you still want and that's what I'm saying custom paint is something that's not that great but you still want it yeah there you go we can agree to disagree and next on the list I know that you're going to absolutely rip me for um custom bolt upgrade kits where you replaceing all the bolts with like aluminium or titanium ones I mean how cool is that save we um it's a bolt looks cool it's a bolt I'm running out of other good things it's a bol it's a bolt look I know um let's strength what let me explain let give me let me so you want to upgrade your bolts on your bike who's ever thought I'm going to I'm going to you know treat myself and I'm going to upgrade my bolts somebody has you I have you can get aluminium ones although they're not very strong you can get titanium ones which are strong and lightweight but super expensive and in the grand scheme of it it's not really going to change much of you but it's going to make it slightly slightly lighter plus you can get cool colored bolts which I actually love but I know the vast majority of people kind of hate cuz they clash and don't look cool share your thoughts please I have no thoughts on NOS I have no thoughts on this I've never never thought of upgrading a bolt well I think it is maybe I just don't think hard enough about I think it is a crap upgrade but I still do think there's people out there like me that kind of still think that they want it right next on the list is top tier chains like the Super Bling Super fancy expensive ones now this applies to all different manufacturers and Brands but I feel like if you're going to spend all of this money on an expensive chain you you're going to want something it back yes it might be ever so slightly lighter than the next one down yes it might shift a fraction of a second quicker or ever so slightly smoother but at the end of the day your change is going to get worn out exactly I think that's the hard thing to get on board with with spending a lot of money on change cuz they can how much is it like a really oh over 80 quid for a a lot for something that's just going to get get worse I'd much rather spend that 80 quid on a New Jersey or a new pair of shorts what new tires yeah yeah maybe yeah new like new tires would get you way more of an upgrade you can spend your money a lot wiser when it comes to chains yeah I think yeah like for arum say 80 north of £80 for the top tier chain whereas if you went for like a mid- tier one easily half the price and in no way is it half good you're not going to notice difference almost it's almost as good yeah you're not you're not going to be like oh I can tell that there's not that 440 extra in this chain I would bet a lot of money that not a single person in the world could jump on a bike and go oh that's a second tier chain that's not the top one maybe someone could prove wrong maybe someone has a special could we could we like almost generalize this into to group sets and other components as well definely yeah it's like 105 doeses the job does what you need to do you could go higher and it can be a little bit better again with wheels yeah like when you're looking at Wheels you've got all these different options and well I think in many cases the top tier one isn't really like it's a lot more money to gain a little bit of extra performance and I think a lot of these upgrades are if if you're like these are things that you do if you racing so like you would put car you might put carbon bottle cages on your bike if you're racing now like G it gives a damn yeah exactly I don't don't need to go fast than also get to a cafe faster though true coughing cake um right next on the list I think it's probably an upgrade that most people will be expec to talk about and that ceramic bearings be that in like hubs bottom brackets like oversized pulley Wheels with fancy bearings in again I think if you're are racing great upgrade to make for me now I don't I think don't think I need it yeah I think you're quite right I don't any nobody needs ceramic bearings need want different things I think these they fall into this like unique product category of like I don't think the nobody can really dispute that they are marginally better than a bog standard one that's like not up for debate but I think the the thing that people should be wary of is like the price tag versus the upgrade and the reward that you're going to get back from it cuz we've got like super high price and fairly low like reward and upgrade levels so if you're happy with that that's cool but please don't be one that thinks is going to like going to change your life it's going to revolutionize your bike because it's not and then final thing our list man on names on stickers like talk me through it what's your thoughts I'm names on frames not names on stickers yeah names on stickers that go on frames yeah yeah I'm I'm for it I'm for having your name on a bike and I think this comes from yes you don't need it because you know what your bike looks like and you're not in a pro cycling team where all the bikes are identical and it's really hard to identify what your bike is but I think it comes from you see Pros with it so you want it and that's why I want it so name sticker on your bike is a is a bad upgrade that you want I say it's a good upgrade it's it's a cheap cheap upgrade adds a bit of summon summon to your bike you you're picking it up now I'm trying to say it's a bad upgrade but whatever you say it's a bad upgrade no well I look I get your points I think who needs to know that it's your bike it it's your bike so you know you're not like oh I've lost my bike oh there it is it's got the sticker on I would have reom it otherwise like who cares I know but it's it's more than that isn't it there's only one person that needs to know that that's your bike and that's you and you know that because it's your bike yeah but it adds a little Pro ask me if I ask me if I've ever had a name sticker on any of my bikes have you ever had any name a name sticker on your bike yeah I've had quite a lot of even though I hate them you them a little bit yeah sorry to everyone who's got a name sticker on I know Ollie has actually yeah I think I don't have one actually yeah all right well anyway those are some of the worst upgrades that we think you guys might still want to do and to be honest let's face it we kind of want to do it as well um if there's any other upgrades you can think of that fall into this category let us know in the comments section down below and yeah like share your thoughts on it it' be a great place to have like a real like backwards and forwards of a bit of debate I might get involved in the bit list out the ones which you thinks are great and the ones that you think are absolutely awful and um yeah we might get involved as always if you did enjoy this video give it a thumbs up and um subscribe to gcn Tech if you help support what we do that's it see you see you

Channel: GCN Tech

Views: 83,468

Keywords: custom bike paint, ceramic bearings, bike bearings, bike bottle cage, bicycle bearings, bicycle wheel bearings, bike water bottle cage, bike chain, bicycle chain, chain bikes, bike improvements, bike build, bike spray paint, bicycle spray paint, aero bike upgrade, GCN Tech, GCNTech, GCN, GCN Cycling, Bike Tech, Cycling Tech, Cycling, Pro Cycling, Road Cycling, bike tech, cycling tech, cycling, tech, road, bike, road bike, bicycle, ஔ, 5276, ѭ, Ҫ, Ҁ, Ѿ, Ә, Ѩ, gc21s, ិ, ꗶ, n1, ፕ15, ଙ, ସ, 𑣬‎, f3, ሙ, ළ

Id: VmTRjsVkXO4

Length: 11min 37sec (697 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 16 2023