[music] Mark Threlfall: Hello, and
welcome to Mark's Second hand TT Bike Upgrade. Now, as a bit of a recap, I bought this bike for just
£400 on eBay. It's the Boardman Team TT. It's a relatively basic bike, but it does work,
and it works pretty well. You might have seen Sam and myself already putting this bike through its
paces as we pitted it against my lovely Canyon Speedmax. The results from that were really quite
surprising, actually. If you haven't already watched that video, then I certainly recommend
you do that. I'm going to drop the link for that video in the description just down below.
Riding this bike around for the day did leave me wondering how much more it had to give with
the old tweak and upgrade. Now, I'm going to be very honest and admit that it was a
pretty uncomfortable ride. I certainly want to do something about that and improve its comfort.
Also, I wonder how much room there is or how much improvement there is to be had
in terms of its performance. Now, obviously, I bought this bike for just £400. I want to continue
on that theme of trying to upgrade this bike on a budget. At least,
I'm going to try to, as best as possible. What would you guys suggest? Would you
upgrade the aero bars? If so, with what? Let me know in the comments section just down below.
Perhaps I might look at doing some of them in the future. For now, here's what I've decided to do.
As I've said already, I am trying to upgrade this bike on a budget as best as possible. I have,
however, got one guilt indulgence that I will reveal later on. I've tried to semi-justify
it though, with some of the things that I've managed to hoard over the years and therefore
haven't had to buy. I've also managed to get some absolute bargains online. I've been trawling
eBay for far longer than I'd like to admit. If you have been selling anything on eBay lately,
then I do apologize if I've insulted you personally with any horrifically low offers.
Unfortunately, I am actually waiting on one or two of those items due to the joys of eBay. Hopefully,
you'll see them towards the end of this video. I would now though, like to run through very quickly
on just the bike as a whole and run through some of the bits of notes and things that I
would ideally like to upgrade. Starting with the frame, well, I can't really do
much to that. That is the foundation of the bike. I could look at doing a respray.
Quite an expensive thing to do unless I did an absolute bosh job myself. That's going to stay
as it is, but maybe something for the future. The groupset, we've got a very basic SRAM Apex
10-speed mechanical groupset. I would really like to make that 11-speed, if possible, just to give
me a little bit more range with the gears. I think it's going to have to stay mechanical,
though. I'm not sure my budget's going to quite extend to an electronic groupset.
For the chainrings, they're not too bad, really. It's a 53/39 ratio. I do like my dinner plate big
ring, so I reckon I can do better than that. The wheels, they're not too bad really, as a set of
training wheels. I'll certainly keep them for that. If I'm really serious about going fast with
this bike, then they're going to need changing. On that, we've actually got some 23mm tires. Are
we, what, stuck in the '90s? They're going to get changed. Saddle, previously, I had an older
sort of ISM saddle on there, which, personally, I just don't really get on with it. They're just
too big and bulky for me. I've swapped that out and nabbed one of the Selle Italia WATT saddles
off one of my other bikes, which I really like. Finally, the big conundrum was the aero bars.
It's a pretty big thing to upgrade, so do I even bother?
Having ridden this bike already, it was so uncomfortable, particularly through the aero
bars. There's so little adjustment in there, so I think they're going to have to get changed.
Let's have a look through what I have managed to pull together. Let's start
with trying to make this bad boy an 11-speed. Currently, this has got a SRAM groupset on there.
I did want to try and stick with SRAM because I'm a bit of a SRAM fan, really. Unfortunately,
I just couldn't seem to pick up any bargains with SRAM components, whereas I could with Shimano.
I managed to pick up these Shimano shifters for £15. 11-speed shifters. Guess what?
They're Dura-Ace, these should retail for £90. I think we're off to a pretty good start.
[music] Obviously, I need a front mech
and a rear mech to go with those shifters. I had to decide as to whether I go for older but higher
spec or go for newer but lower spec. Do I go for Ultegra, Dura-Ace, or perhaps something like 105?
I decided to go for newer but older spec, so I got myself a 105 front mech, brand new, in the box,
for a whole £10. To match that, I've got a Shimano 105 rear mech that's only been ever so
slightly used. Unfortunately, I am still waiting on that. So far, I reckon I'm doing quite well.
For the front chainring, I've actually kept hold of one of my old 55-tooth chainrings. I
know it's SRAM, but it still works with Shimano. Fortunately, it does fit. That
came off one of my old bikes prior to my GTN days. Now, that will mean that I'm running a 55
outer with a 39 inner, which is actually what I used to do. It's not what you would,
or manufacturers would suggest, but it does work. It's quite a big jump, so I have also kept hold of
this chain catcher, which, again, I used to use on my older bike, just in case. It is a bit sloppy
changing between the 55 to 39. Obviously, I'll try it without first and see how we get on.
With that, I am going to have to change the chain because I'm going to need a slightly
longer chain for the bigger chainring. Now, you can't really, or you shouldn't really be getting
secondhand chains if you're really wanting to improve performance because they kind of wear
into the drivetrain. I am going to have to pay for whack and buy a brand-new chain. That's about £20,
so not terrible. To be honest, when I got this bike, the chain was so rusty,
anyway. I was probably going to have to do that and change that, regardless.
I have also managed to nab an aero water bottle off one of my other bikes. I'll be popping
that on the downtube. I also have some ever so slightly worn Continental GP 5000 tires, which,
honestly, they look pretty good to me. Both 25mm, so I'll be popping them on
front and rear. Now, for some of the bigger-ticket items. The wheels, I'm going to be totally honest,
I haven't fully decided what I'm going to do here. Obviously, I've got some nice wheels on
some of the other bikes that I ride. I could just swap them over, which is what a lot of you guys,
I guess, would do anyway. You would swap your wheels over when you get to a race. You keep
your nice race wheels spare and swap them in. I want to, if possible, avoid getting some
carbon deep-section wheels just for the sake of it, because if they're cheap and lacking in
quality and performance, that's not good. It's not just about looks with this bike; I do want it to
genuinely ride well and ride fast. I am keeping an eye out online for any bargains that are popping
up. You're going to have to wait until the end of the video to see what I finally decide with that.
Either way, you may well remember my homemade DIY disc wheel video, where I made
basically a disc wheel cover. I made these for £30, so whatever the wheels I get, they're still
going to be getting a semi-upgrade on top of that too. It's the bars that I've got to confess about.
Now, in my defense, they are so important to get right. Currently, they are far from right. They're
very uncomfortable, as I mentioned already. Let me introduce to you the Profile Design Aeria Ultimate
aero bars. Now, we actually featured these on the channel a few years ago. I remember at the
time thinking they were seriously cool. When I saw these pop up online, I had to inquire.
Now, I did actually hold off for a while, just because, obviously,
they were quite a lot of money, so much so that I realized they'd been up long enough that I could
try and barter the price down. I managed to get these for around £150, which is just a fraction
of the retail price for these. Now, they are fully carbon, carbon-based bar, carbon aero bars,
a ton of adjustability in them. They've been used, but they look almost new. They also come
with a stem, which they are an older model. They're not one of the new Aeria aero bars,
so it means that it doesn't have the integrated hydration system. If I do
want to make this a full triathlon rig, I might have to be a bit creative with a front hydration
system. I'm pretty pleased with these. I'm excited to get them on the bike. I think it's about time
I get building. [music]
Okay, that's the bike stripped down and nicely cleaned up. Now, time to get the parts on.
[music] Okay. It's not going too well right now, the joys of internal cabling,
and I didn't have any guides in the frame, has set me back a little bit. I have had to since remove
the crankset, the bottom bracket that I previously installed. I've been playing around with the Park
Tool wireless cable, guys, which have saved me massively, but I was trying my hardest not to take
the crankset off. Anyway, had to do that. I've gone back up a couple of stages to, hopefully,
go forward a few onwards. [music]
Good dotty, could you see me now? The carnage. There he is.
[music] Yes.
Pretty much done it now. Well, okay, I've still got a few bits to add, chain, wheels, that sort of
thing, but the hard bit I hope is done now. Cables all on, internally routed, which I'm slightly
embarrassed how long that has taken me to do, but that is bike maintenance for you. I've also
cleaned most of the setup because it's slightly embarrassing state I've had it in,
but hey, it's real. I'm sure many of you, when you're doing work at home, you have
Allen keys and all sorts everywhere. Right on with the finishing-ish touches.
Let's go. [music]
Oh, yes. I'm pretty pleased with this thing. What do you guys think? When you compare this to
the bike beforehand, let's remind ourselves. Yes. This thing looks the part. It looks mean.
I would be very happy turning up to a competitive race on this thing. It looks very cool. It looks
very aero. It looks like it's going to go fast. Yes. Been some hard work building this thing up.
I'm not going to lie, ran into a few issues along the way, partly due to my own errors. I
underestimated the complications of the internal routing on this bike.
Partly built the bike up then had to take it back apart, but thanks to Park Tool, they
saved the day with their internal routing tool. Obviously, the main thing jumping out to you guys
is going to be the wheels. When we last left off, I didn't have a set of wheels. I said I
was going to try and find some. None other than Ollie Bridgewood stepped in to save the days. He
has loaned me these Swiss Side 485 wheels. They're pretty old. They've got a carbon deep section to
them with an alloy rim braking surface to them, but he's kindly, indefinitely loaned them to
me. I'll at least be able to do what I need to with this bike before I hand them back.
You'll of course recognize this disc wheel cover that I made myself at home. Admittedly, I haven't
whacked on very well. I'm going to need to tweak that, but again, I think that really completes
the package here, completes the bike. A few other things on this bike that I didn't really mention
beforehand, the bearings, the bottom bracket, et cetera. I hadn't really taken those into account
or bought anything for them, purely because everything feels pretty good, anyway. I was
obviously slightly concerned that I might unearth some issues as I start to take parts off, but
fortunately, that wasn't the case. So, all good. The only issue I have got is these chainring
bolts. They're pretty badly corroded. I did my best to de-corrode them to an
extent and grease them up. It's not that they're going to break, or it's unsafe,
it's more that I might run them out on the next attempt to get them off. I will probably be doing
that sooner rather than later so they don't end up completely obliterated and corroded. Now,
obviously, I got the Shimano 105 front and rear mix. I'm sure some of you out there are going,
"Why? Try and get a second-hand Dura-Ace." I'm going to fight in my corner here a little bit.
I'm not making a road bike. I'm making a TT bike that needs to go fast,
and it needs to be aerodynamic. I don't need it necessarily to be light. I wanted shifting that
was crisp and worked well rather than getting some older Dura-Ace that's slightly worn out,
perhaps comes with some issues. These were pretty much box fresh and they work really well. Only
error that I have made here is that I underestimated the difference between
the short cage and the medium cage. Of course, I didn't get the long cage, but the medium cage
is probably a bit too long. I thought it would go well with the larger front chainring. It was
a good price. That was probably why. I think I would have been quite fine
with the short cage. It's almost like a cheap man's version of an OSPW jockey wheel system.
Anyway. Also, obviously whacked these Profile Design aero bars on. I really like them. I'm
going to obviously play around, get the position a bit better on them. Have got these little adapters
that I can whack in under here so I'll raise the aero bars up. Don't worry, I will be chopping this
part off. That's just as I was building it up. All in all, I'm pretty happy with this. Again,
let me know what you think in the comment section down below. Is there anything you would have done
differently, taking into account we're trying to do this on a budget, secondhand, and all that? The
next thing to do then is put this bike up against my Canyon Speedmax again and see how it fares this
time around. Well, I hope you guys have enjoyed following this. If you have, please do give it a
thumbs up, give it a like. Don't forget to give us a follow over on social media. If you're not doing
so already, give us a subscribe just down below. [00:17:11] [END OF AUDIO]