The necessity of road bike upgrades and cost-effectiveness ranking must be read before modification! (Part 1)

1. Wheelset - one of the three major parts, must be upgraded

 

Necessity of upgrade: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Weight reduction: 300g-800g
The wheelset is placed in the first picture, and its importance is beyond doubt. As one of the three major parts of a bicycle, it controls almost 25% of the bike's weight, as well as the starting rigidity and lateral rigidity, and is also responsible for shaping the bike's aerodynamics. The frame is the core, and the kit is the basis of the speed change and acceleration of the road bike. Then, the wheelset is the gain item for everything. I give it five stars because it is not only so important but also the cost-effectiveness is not that low. In fact, in many cases, the cost-effectiveness of wheelset weight reduction is higher than that of many small accessories. It’s just that the price ceiling of wheelset upgrades is high, which often makes people feel that it is not so worthwhile. But SUPERTEAM has many cost-effective solutions for you to choose from. At the same time, from another perspective, it can be said that it is a part that almost any road bike can upgrade, and the comfort and speed will be improved. This does not mean that every wheelset can do it. It is mainly a comparison of upgrading from aluminum wheels the hands of many riders to good carbon wheels. Needless to say, the improvement in appearance is self-evident. The higher rims make your bike more handsome, so the necessity of upgrading is 5 stars.

2. Tires--Road feel, anti-puncture, and speed, all depend on it

Upgrade necessity: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Weight reduction: 70g-150g
Tires are often not an upgrade item for riders, but they are still very obvious for novice entry-level road bikes. First of all, the simplest, if the novice entry-level road bike often punctures, but does not want to change the bike in a short time, changing to a pair of good anti-puncture tires may solve most of your problems. At the same time, if your current road feels feedback is too clear, you can use wider tires based on the wheelset. GCN's test is very counterintuitive. Wider tires actually bring lower rolling resistance, and even improve your cornering control at the same time; finally, if you want to increase the speed, choosing tires with lower rolling resistance is also a good choice to save a few watts.
In addition, there is no such high ceiling for tires. $140 is the maximum, and usually, $100 a pair is already very good. However, sometimes changing tires may not necessarily reduce weight. Don't worry too much about this. The most important thing about tires is to bring a good road feel. However, because many top road bikes already have very good tires, and many times it is difficult to change tubeless tires, the necessity is not fully pulled, and it is given 4 stars.
Superteam has recommended ten tires. If you need to change, you may wish to take a look at our suggestions!

 

3. Cheap inner tube + significant weight reduction = must upgrade

Necessity of upgrade ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Weight reduction 40g~100g Price range $5-10
Why there is no improvement in comfort and speed, but some inner tubes now have some pink valve cores and are given a little more points? One important reason is that they are cheap! Whether it is latex or TPU, $10 can basically get a pair of very good and light inner tubes, and the weight reduction is extremely cost-effective, so it is still recommended that especially for beginners of road bikes, it is time to change, this weight reduction is simply not a waste.
The inner tube is so cheap because the inner tube is almost consumable, so who among the experienced riders does not have a few pairs of inner tubes at home? Even if you change to the best outer tube, it is still impossible to guarantee that there will be no flat tires. However, here, my personal feeling is not to use TPU inner tubes. Latex inner tubes are enough, and they also reduce a lot of weight, but the durability is better than TPU. But of course, you can also choose to spend more money to use vacuum tires.

 

4. Flat pedals or clipless pedals, one of the important parts of human body contact

Necessity of upgrade ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Weight reduction 30~100g Price range $30~1280 (including power meter)
Why is the necessity of upgrading pedals or clipless pedals given 4 stars? Because in most cases, even if you buy a good road bike, it will not come with a top-level clipless pedal, but a 300g entry-level pedal that is better than nothing. Therefore, upgrading pedals or clipless pedals is a must for every road bike. This is an indisputable fact. The improvement from upgrading pedals to clipless pedals is huge. After locking, you will feel that all the power is used in the circular action of pedaling to improve the speed. In many cases, it is very easy for novices to improve 2km/h. However, for those who have been using clipless pedals for a long time, upgrading clipless pedals, although the pedaling rigidity will indeed be upgraded with the improvement of the material, the foot feel will be obvious, but the speed will usually not change much. In addition, many cleats are the choice of cyclists to install power meters, because power cleats are very convenient, and you don’t even need to go to a bike shop to install them yourself. They are very flexible, but they are not so accurate (compared to the power meter with claws).

5. Chainrings and cranks--An extension of the 3-piece set, invisible rigidity enhancement, the best choice for power meters

Necessity of upgrade ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Weight reduction 50~400g Price range＄70~2200 (including power meter)
Why should a chainring and crank be upgraded? There are four reasons: 1. Generally speaking, the chainrings and cranks are the ones that are most likely to lose weight. Top-level bikes may lose tens or hundreds of grams, while entry-level bikes can easily lose hundreds of grams by upgrading, and the weight reduction is almost as great as that of the wheels; 2. The improvement in rigidity is very obvious. From aluminum cranks to carbon cranks, the foot feel is very obvious; 3. The best identification position for the power meter is the claw between the chainrings and cranks, which is the most accurate sampling and the basis for power training; 4. Whether it is an entry-level or top-level bike, there is room for upgrades. Pogacar is using Cvbrei GP-3 cranks, which shows that both beginners and Pros need to upgrade. (In fact, UAE uses the GP3 crank because of the SRM kit). The entry-level reduced-profile version can be replaced with the original version (such as the original 4720 and 105, the dismantled parts are very cheap), or the kit level can be upgraded (such as the rival chainrings and cranks are too heavy, upgrade to the red version), and you can buy chainrings and cranks of some accessory brands with a stronger rigidity-to-weight ratio.

This is the PATR1 in this article. We will share the rest with you later. If you are interested, please follow us and share your upgrade plan to share your road bike memories.