downhillmaster

harrisonk

Dean V

+1
If you are concerned about weight why did you start with a Pinarello Gan?

harrisonk

It is true that I'd like something on the lighter side, however, that was not a determinative factor when selecting the bike. I was originally torn between the Cervelo R5 and S5. The R5 didn't sing to me in person, and the S5 seemed impractical (certainly not a bike to climb up Mt. Washington with). I decided that I wanted a good "all around" race bike, i.e. not something climbing specific or aero specific. I decided on the Pinarello or a Bianchi Oltre XR3 (for many years I've admired the Italian brands such as Pinarello, Bianchi, and Colnago). The Pinarello was a better fit for my body. Thus, I selected the Pinarello without regard to the weight. Now that I happily own it, I'm looking to make a few upgrades for both performance and weight-saving reasons.

carlos danger

Imo i either woundn't "upgrade" anything or upgrade everything including the frame. now i build all my bikes from scratch. i have about 20k in bikes now. its just not economically sound to upgrade anything on a bike except from building a new one from scratch. since the "upgrade" gives you basically jack shyt. dont get me wrong eveything xtr or da is nice to have but to be honest a tiagra rear derrailleur works just as good as DA. it just weighs like 20 grams more.

20 years ago the da/xtr was better but now its just lighter.
hubs are cool though.
I have true precision hubs and those are instant engagement. and thats nice. but compared to dt with 36poe upgrade or shimano slx with 32 poe its not a big deal to be honest. the TP is like 400 bucks and the slx is 35 bucks though.

imo: either you build durable/light/whatever from the start or you live with what you have and replace when stuff breaks. because you will have to upgrade exactly eveything to lighten stuff up significally. just saying.

personally I would upgrade the carbon frame to an italian lugged steel frame (or lynskey ti). but i'm probably alone with that upgrade.

carlos danger

anyway I see you thinking about saddles.

saddles work like this: they have different shapes. and only one shape will suit you!

for me its selle italia slr series. these are basically flat saddles seen from the side. and wtb banana "v" shaped ones suit me very badly. many people swear by wtb "v" saddles. but for me its total crap. its the wrong shape. for you this could be good though. kinda doubt it though.

I guess is what I'm saying is that you use this bike to find out what you really want then sell it and build the next one from scratch. with what you really want.

harrisonk

Berk Lupina installed. It rides really well. No soreness or numbness anymore. I'm a little worried about durability as the saddle weighs only 70 grams. I also bought new shoes--Specialized SWorks Road shoes. Big upgrade from my entry -level Specialized road shoes from 2006! I like the saddle a lot more than the shoes. My feet aren't accustomed to such stiff shoes yet. Next up are pedals and then I'm done building the bike for a while, other than incrementally lowering the stem and ultimately cutting the tube.