Why you can't upgrade your entry level road bike

hello YouTube Chris here today I want to talk to you about why you can't upgrade your entry-level road bike well the truth is you can but the real question is should you and is it worth it so let's get started what I have in front of you here is a Cannondale CAD Optimo this is an entry-level road bike one that we sell here in the store and it's a fantastic bike there is absolutely nothing wrong with this road bike for a beginner cyclist you could buy this bike take it out do group rides heck you could even race this bike it's plenty capable for all those things now this bike eight 49.99 and I'll tell you if you walk into a bike shop and you have eight hundred and fifty bucks to spend this is a fantastic bicycle the reason I'm making this video is I sell a lot of bikes like this and the problem is people come to me in a year after they've tested the waters of road cycling and they want to upgrade it and they can upgrade it but the question is should they upgrade it so let's dig in first to what's on this bike what they're trying to accomplish and what that entails first of all this bike is equipped with Shimano klaris that's going to be Shimano klaris 8-speed meaning two rings in the front eight in the rear it's going to be klaris throughout Clara's front derailleur 8 speed crank set klaris rear derailleur eight speed cassette and a nice package with some wheels that are capable for eight speed now most people get this bike ride it love it get into the sport and they want it to be 11 speed because they go to their group rides they go to the races whatever they're doing and the people who are a little more serious have been doing a little longer are typically riding 11 speed so they figure well not too difficult I just got to upgrade a few parts to change my 8 into 11 well a little easier said than done over on this side of the work stand I have another Cannondale this is a Cannondale CAD 12 a very popular bike a little higher price point this bike sells for 1500 99.99 this is what most people are trying to make out of their $850 bike it's got Shimano 105 11 speed throughout the entire bike it's a little nicer build more gearing options little wider spread and the gears in the back and a little bit more up-to-date with what modern race bikes are riding now let's go through why this is kind of difficult to do most people's belief is I change out that rear derailleur and that cassette and I'm good to go well unfortunately that's not the case yes you need a rear derailleur yes you're going to need an 11 speed cassette that also requires an 11 speed chain the chains are different widths so you need a brand new chain the crank set now if you were going from 8 speed to 9 speed this wouldn't be a big deal or 9 to 10 you could probably even just change the chain rings on the crank set unfortunately to 11 speed the chain rings start to get a lot narrower in spacing you need an 11 speed crank set on the front derailleur that just does - right - is - whether it's 11 8 9 10 wrong the front derailleur it's got a different spacing - its wider made for wider chain is an 8 speed front derailleur so you're gonna need a front derailleur as well as a crank chain rear derailleur cassette and of course shifters probably the most expensive component on the bike these shifters are only eight speeds means they've only got 8 clicks I need 11 clicks well 10 clicks I guess so let's replace the shifters - so now we're talking shifters crank front throw your rear derailleur cassette chain and that's it right now what about the rear wheel this is a rear wheel with spacing four eight nine or ten speed 11 speed cassettes are much wider so we need a new rear wheel that's gonna cost you and most people don't just buy one wheel they want a wheel set then that matches so now we're talking basically replacing a cassette a chain a rear derailleur a crank set a front derailleur shifters and a wheel set well what's remaining on the bike the frame stem handlebars headset seat post saddle and the brakes unfortunately when a manufacturer builds a bike they give you a nice sweet little package deal and they put that all together for a nice low price of $850 and if you piece it out it's a lot more expensive so we're going to go through what it would cost to make this into an 11 speed bike okay so let's break down what each of these components is going to cost and at the end what you're paying and what you're really getting first off shifters here if we're gonna replace those with the set of 105 shifters that parts about three hundred dollars now keep in mind these prices are kind of rough I just pulled some stuff together here you may be able to bargain hunt around and find stuff for Less but then you also run the risk of getting the wrong parts the wrong cage length Road rally er the wrong front throw at the wrong crank set the wrong cassette size there's a million things you can do wrong in this if you don't know what you're doing do it through a bike shop don't try to do it yourself next we've got our cassette here 65 bucks our chain another forty bucks and this is all for Shimano 105 crank set $200 and we change cranks to a 105 crank that bottom bracket isn't going to work that's a square taper so we need a new bottom bracket it's another 20 bucks rear derailleur $80 front derailleur $55 wheels well that's a big question mark you know as well as I do you can spend as much or as little as you want on wheels I'd say a good wheel set you're probably looking at 350 bucks or so for something decent that'll at least work well and look well with what you are putting on the bike now on top of all that you got to pay someone to install it unless you're real handy and real good with a bike labor doesn't come cheap in my shop I'd charge you 150 bucks to put all that stuff on the end of the day parts labor to make this cat Optima into a Shimano 105 bike you're looking at a hunt one thousand two hundred and sixty bucks total now let's look at that yes-huh 1,260 bucks is a lot more than you paid for the bike eight hundred fifty bucks and it's getting pretty close to what you could buy this bike for it's $1,600 especially if you add it with the 850 now you're well over there at the end of the day what are you getting - you're getting up I expect very similar to this bike with a lower end frame this is a lighter frame a stiffer frame a better frame and it's a brand new frame so if you were to reinvest some money and buy a new bike they're gonna do a lot better trading this bike keep it as a backup bike do whatever you want with it but taking that time and money to put into this bike to make it up to date with the other one put up the spec it really ain't worth it for that 1,200 bucks or so get a new bike use this one as a backup sell it recoup some of that money whatever you want to do but when the manufacturers put together a bike you know it's real common people to say hey I'll just buy the entry-level and I'll upgrade it as I go you used to be able to do that a little bit more when there weren't as many drivetrain options you know there are a lot of eight speed nine speed ten speed well as they've added more and more speeds every level of componentry adds more speeds so your Shimano klaris is eight speed if you bought a Sora bike that's one step up maybe four 950 or a thousand that bike is gonna be nine speed if you bought a Tigre bike which is two steps up maybe 1,200 bucks that's ten speed and then a Shimano 105 11 speed and the beauty of all of it none of its compatible so I'm creating these bikes is very difficult nowadays because you have to replace literally everything on the bike the parts that you can save are minimal the parts you can save besides the frame are really small potatoes compared to what you're paying for the entire group set so something to keep in mind when you're thinking about upgrading your bike you might consider just getting a new bike or when you go to buy your first road bike this is why I often recommend people jump to that 105 level yes it is more expensive but the long-run you're doing it right once and that's a bike you'll be happy with for many more years until you start to look at the next level bike but that's gonna last you more in a season if you get into riding 50 dollar bike it ain't gonna last you very long you're gonna want to upgrade so hope that was helpful hope you learned something here if you have any comments questions concerns please leave them down in the comment section if you liked this video please subscribe I'm going to make some more similar to this and thanks for watching

Channel: Chris Enockson

Views: 535,363

Rating: 4.3272171 out of 5

Keywords: shimano 105, entry level road bike, upgrade entry level bike, upgrade bike, upgrading road bike, road bike upgrade, shimano claris, shimano 105 build, shimano 105 upgrade, caad optimo, caad 12, CAAD Optimo, CAAD 12, Caad Optimo upgrade, caad optimo upgrade, cannondale road bike, cannondale caad 12, cannondale caad optimo, cannondale upgrade, cheap road bike, bike upgrade, 2020 entry level road bike, best entry level road bike

Id: q01k1ZBpOco

Length: 10min 24sec (624 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 09 2020