bpcyclist

Hey, gang. I have decided that Santa is going to bring me a little upgrade to my SLR02. The bike is a 2018 and has 105 R5800 all around. I love the way it rides. I was initially going to upgrade the Aksiums on it, but then, the more I read, the less convinced I was that a 4-500-gram drop in weight would really mean a lot to me. I do climb and I weigh 180. I do no racing and my only competition is with me. The tires are Gator Hardshells and they will be on until the weather changes (May). This time of year, the premium is on flat-prevention. But going tubeless is a consideration.

I greatly respect the cyclists on this forum and anything suggested I am potentially up for. Oh--I do think my poc helmet and lights are all good for now. Last, I use a cheap LG phone along with Ulysses and RWGPS, both of which I like a lot.

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

WhyFi

If you're in to competing with yourself and you'll actually make use of it, I'd look in to a power meter. You should be able to pick up a 105/Ultegra single-sided meter (Stages, Pioneer, 4iiii, etc) on sale for under $500 right about now - I've seen some under $300 recently. The caveat is that I don't know if/how well these would work with your phone/RWGPS set-up. Many PMs are Bluetooth, but I don't know if RWGPS will pair with them or not. I'd recommend a dedicated computer, anyway, but maybe you could get by with that set-up for a while.

400-500g is a significant drop in wheel weight, though - it probably isn't going to change your ride times significantly, but lighter wheels certainly feel more lively and fun.

noodle soup

Is your bike disc or rim brake?

Some lighter/wider and tubeless wheels will improve ride quality noticeably, and be less fatiguing on longer rides. Rim brakes will limit tire width slightly, but 28-30mm tubeless tires work well on roads that are less than perfect.

jsigone

Wheelset around 1500-1550 grams
wahoo bike computer also uses RWGPS
stages power meter

pick one and get the next with upgrade

burnthesheep

Good lord, get rid of the hardshells and go go5000 and latex and gain 25w now! That’s almost the slowest tire there is.

That will be about $100.

Then, get a meter with the other $400.

Done.

bpcyclist

Yeah, it's rim.

02Giant 

Lighter weight wheels now, new rubber after winter.

noodle soup

you should still be able to use 28mm tires.

bruce19

Mavic Ksyrium Elite UST's

MoreLowGears

I agree with OP on the wheels: a 400-500g drop is like a .5% decrease in the total weight of you and the bike. Some will point out the decrease in "rotating weight" but the effects of that are insignificant even for larger drops in weight. Aero wheels make a difference, but that's out of your price range here.

Consider upgrading your existing wheels to tubeless and getting a faster training tire. It's less than $50 for the tape and tools, plus the cost of tires. The specific tire would depend on how bad your puncture risks are. The difference in speed would be really noticeable, much more so than with new wheels.

Flex/suspension seatposts are a good upgrade for most. Ride over potholes and railroad tracks with impunity! That's $150-300 for a nice one. Then there's the Shockstop suspension stem for $150 if you want to go all out.

As others mentioned, a power meter is useful, and used single sided ones aren't too expensive.

Or upgrade your consumables: treat yourself to some nice bar tape and compressionless brake housing

znomit

Consumables don't count as part of any upgrade price

500$? Thats a weekend or two away on a cycling vacation upgrading the motor.

dim

for $500 budget....

get a pair of Continental GP5000 clinchers (as wide as you can) and use lightweight tubes

a Garmin Varia Radar unit (assuming you have a Garmin satnav that you can connect to)

keep the change and save up for a new set of wheels (tubeless ready rims), and a powermeter

the GP5000 will be considerably faster than gatorskins, and the Radar unit takes away a lot of stress when riding (it's a 'must have' )

the biggest upgrade on a bike that makes a noticeable improvement are wheels and tyres

guadzilla

Powermeter, man.

Competitive Cyclist has 50% off Quarq. I have 4 of them and they're bullet proof (and i would recommend them over Stages, which i tried about a year or two after they launched, and Garmin Vectors, which my wife uses). And not just for racers.

Wileyrat

Wheels now, tires later.

dscoduc

Just upgraded my wheels to a lighter setup and I can say the difference was very noticeable.

zacster

I'd say wheels as well, but tires too. And having ridden a Spec Roubaix with the Future Shock recently for an entire day, I'd go with the Redshift ShockStop stem myself. Not the same system but close to the same effect.

bpcyclist

Would you mind sharing what the upgrade was? It's fine if you'd rather not.

bpcyclist

How does the Varia work in a busy city environment with tons of traffic?

WhyFi

It beeps like mad.

Some people don't really like running a Varia in the city, but I don't mind it. Yeah, the beeping can be annoying, but there are still enough gaps in the traffic that it's nice to know how many cars you have behind you and when they've cleared.

goenrdoug

This is much quieter:

WhyFi

Hard pass.

wirides

I'd like to know what wheels can be had fir $500 that would make a difference?

02Giant 

https://bicyclewheelwarehouse.com/Ro...Wheel-Set.html

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/prime-rr-38...cher-wheelset/

dscoduc

While not the lightest, these wheels are a great upgrade to what I had.

https://shop.fullspeedahead.com/en/ns-wheelset-4393

jadocs

Absolutely a Power Meter.