Maelochs

Having spent decades assembling bikes from other bikes picked from teh trash, to buying bikes at yard sales and upgrading them with parts from the trash and from other yard s-sale bikes, to upgrading yard-sale bikes with new parts, to upgrading new bikes, to assembling bikes entirely from new parts bought online ... I can say that No it is no longer possible to upgrade bikes economically----based on personal experience.

There was a glorious time when one could shop through mail-order (remember actual mail?) and online and find decent take-off or lightly used parts cheap, and new parts also fairly cheap. After a while .... somewhere between 2015 and 2018 in my experience) sellers started realizing that there were folks out there who would pay good money for good bike parts. Suddenly the online auctions had higher minimum bids, and even when they didn't, there were people who would pay a lot of money for parts---sometimes as much or more than a new aprt might cost---yo know how people get at auction---they want to win, and sometimes lose all sense of reason.

In any case, it got harder and harder to find anyone selling parts for reasonable prices.

Then Shimano changed its global pricing structure---I am sure many of us remember when one could buy Shimano parts retail from the UK for the same price US bike shops were paying wholesale. When those things changed .... building bikes was no longer an affordable hobby.

The upside---there are lots of almost certainly Shimano knock-offs selling for ridiculously low prices on Ali-Baba and such .... good luck with all that.

I used to be able to build an Ultegra-equipped lightweight CF bike, about 16 pounds, fully road-ready, for about $2000. Now the frames alone cost more than half that and the drive trains have doubled (at least) in cost. Right now that same bike would cost me $2300 or so without wheels, tires, cables, barrel adjusters, cockpit, saddle, bottom bracket, headset (some frames include the headset ... )

On top of that, I don't see a lot of "take-off" lower-tier parts (sub 105) --- I assume because people who buy bikes can do the same math I can---it costs more to buy the parts after the fact than to save up for the bike that has the parts .... and frankly, modern Sora is so good I doubt a lot of people are overly eager to upgrade. The more "serious" riders (define that any way you want) probably see 105 (and whatever the SRAM analogue might be) as the starting point, and don't mess with anything less ....

That is how (as best I can figure) bike shops and bike manufacturers want it. The manufacturers want buyers to buy bigger bikes up front because that is, obviously cash ... and the bike shops want people who want to upgrade bikes to have to buy their parts at bike shops, because again, that is cash. Only consumers want to be able to buy cheap parts online---and I don't think the upgrade market was all that big to begin with.

It seem s to me riders fall into a couple imprecise categories---"Buy and Ride" and "Tinker." The tinkerers it seems, are often racers on a budget or just people who want to ride hot-rods. The tinkerers will generally swap wheels--and spend small fortunes on them---as well as saddle and maybe cockpit parts, but they can see that economically it is wiser to upgrade and already hot bike with stuff like wheels than to build a bike from scratch (I say this having built enough to know .... )

The Buy-and-Ride crowd .... don't care enough about the stuff to do the research, spend the money, buy the tools and learn to use them .... which means that if they were to drop $800 on a group set they would then have to drop another several hundred on mechanic's fees .... and nobody wants to spend $1200 to upgrade a $1200 bike.

Of course, when I say "nobody" I don't mean that ... I have not interviewed every single person on the planet. I myself, if it were not for budget constraints (as well as time and health constraints which keep my from riding all the bikes I have already built and/or upgraded) would prefer to build a bike from scratch than buy one pre-built ... but the cost was never much lower than an equivalent bike new, and of course, the home-made bike had zero warranty .....

I put CF wheels on my Fuji, and that really changed the bike .... but I had a set of CF wheels which I had bought cheap a few years prior for an unfinished product. Since it came with 105, what would I really gain by going to Ultegra? Experience has taught me that functionally the two systems are almost identical. I suppose i could upgrade to electronic shifting, and use the old 105 on another bike .... But considering the cost of electronic shifting ... I suppose I could upgrade one of my other bikes to electronic as well ... but I cannot see where one extra cog and electronic shifting would add That much to my riding experience.

Even if the OP bought a Triban unless it had discs already ... I guess i would suggest 105 calipers .... that would be a cheap swap and I am sure they would be stiffer and better-built than whatever it cam with ... otherwise, what would he upgrade? If he could get Sora or Claris .... sure but look at the price differential.

Triban 100 with a cheesy seven-speed freewheel (https://www.decathlon.com/products/t...er-xl-u307028?) $599

Triban RC520 (https://www.decathlon.com/products/r...sc-105-rc-520?) with 105 and Microshift, with TRP Hy/RD mech-hydro brakes (https://www.decathlon.com/products/r...ct-information) $1,699.00

So let's visit Amazon ....... $125 for the crank set, $300 for the brifters (rim-brake brifter … not sure if they work with the HY/RD brakes), $55 for the cassette, $30 for the chain, $100 for the derailleurs, $25 for the bottom bracket …. $635 on Amazon---assuming it is all actually Shimano stuff … and the guy needs to be able to do his own work. And if the brifters don’t work with the brakes? I don’t know about all that.

On top of that, the 100 has a steel fork, while the 520 has a carbon fork with an aluminum steerer —but if you trust it, you can get a CF fork for $80 on Amazon … what could possibly go wrong?

Also, the 520 comes with Jagwire anti-compression brake cables—about $50 on Amazon. Now the bill is $765. And that is before shipping on each piece, another couple hundred. $30 for cables, $10 for barrel adjusters …. About $1000 to have all the parts delivered to your door. Hope you have the tools and expertise needed to install them.

Both bikes come with an Al frame listed at Four pounds.

Funny …. All that adds up to about $100 less than getting the already-assembled and warrantied bike.

On top of that the 520 has better wheels. The Triban 520 comes in a couple pounds heavier. The Triban 100 weighs 25 …. I assume due to the wheels and fork, as the frame is the same.

So … for about what it would cost to buy an assembled 520, with 105 and tubeless-ready wheels, you could Not upgrade a Triban 100 to the same levels as the 520.

On another hand, one can get a Giant Contend AR-3 with Sora, mech discs, CF fork and steerer, tubeless-ready wheels, for $1350 … it already works when you get it. The bike weighs about 22 pounds, according to online reviews. For $2000, you can get the AR-1, with 105, hydro discs, tubeless-ready wheels, at under 21 pounds. (https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/contend-ar-3-2021)

No way you could get the Triban 100 to be as good a bike. Not for any money

And …. I’d bet, for a beginning rider, the Triban 520 or the Giant Contend would be completely satisfactory bikes …. No need to upgrade.

Not saying I am “right,” but I have done this math many times, with my own money hanging in the balance ….