Upgrades to CAAD 9 Ultegra

crosbie

Hi all. Have recently purchased the following:

http://www.cannondale.com/gbr/eng/Products/Bikes/Road/Elite-Road/CAAD9/Details/1450-0RA91C-CAAD-9-Ultegra-Compact

In matt black. I am considering upgrading some of the components and was wondering if you have any suggestions.

As it stands at the moment I have a Fizik Arione saddle and am upgrading the standard wheels (suggests which won't break the bank please!!)

Thanks in advance.

niceonetom

I would suggest that if you don't know what to upgrade you probably don't really need to upgrade it.

It's a good bike and well spec'd. Put a few hundred km on it and see how you feel about it - maybe you'll find that you need a different length stem, or think you'd get on better with bars with different bends or drop...

The caad9 has a rep for being awesomely stiff (certainly my caad5 frame is very "communicative"), if yours has all alu finishing kit (seatpost, bars etc) then moving to carbon might take some of the high freq buzz out of it while conveniently disposing of several hundred unnecessary euros.

I wouldn't recommend wheels without asking what, specifically, you intended to do with them.

ednwireland

you so need some of these



http://www.jedi-sports.de/product_info.php/info/p1289_Mavic-Cosmic-Carbone-SLR-2010-incl--2xPro3Race-bartape-tubes.html

actually i have no idea maybe if you told us whether you want to race , ride european sportives, go to the shops etc, etc

crosbie

niceonetom wrote: »

I would suggest that if you don't know what to upgrade you probably don't really need to upgrade it.

It's a good bike and well spec'd. Put a few hundred km on it and see how you feel about it - maybe you'll find that you need a different length stem, or think you'd get on better with bars with different bends or drop...

The caad9 has a rep for being awesomely stiff (certainly my caad5 frame is very "communicative"), if yours has all alu finishing kit (seatpost, bars etc) then moving to carbon might take some of the high freq buzz out of it while conveniently disposing of several hundred unnecessary euros.

I wouldn't recommend wheels without asking what, specifically, you intended to do with them.

Thanks niceonetom. Don't worry im not a weight junkie,,,,, so ill only be stocking carbon components if I think they are needed!!!

At the moment I have about 200 ks on d bike and have upgraded d saddle. I am leaving the fulcrum 7's on d bike for ordinary use and spins and will prob get either d fulcrum 1's r zeros for race day.

As regards d stem the length is fine but the stock FSA ST-OS-150 LX seems to add a bit of unnecessary weight to the front end. I was thinking of a 3T, which I usually use, but not sure as there does not appear to be too much difference in weight between the two.

The compact bars are really comfortable, so wont b changing those. Maybe upgrading eventually to carbon but as it stands 250-300 quid seems a bit mad. I did add some specialized roubaix tape and that gets rid of a lot of d road buzz already.

A carbon seat-post, prob specialized with zert inserts, would cut out much of d road buzz... I would think.

Out side of that I love d bike especially the stiffness and really prefer it to the entry level carbon BeOne I had before.

What do you reckon, any glaring errors or misconceptions?

Thanks for the comments.

crosbie

ednwireland wrote: »

you so need some of these



http://www.jedi-sports.de/product_info.php/info/p1289_Mavic-Cosmic-Carbone-SLR-2010-incl--2xPro3Race-bartape-tubes.html

actually i have no idea maybe if you told us whether you want to race , ride european sportives, go to the shops etc, etc

Nice alright..... but a divorce would be costly too!!!;)

papac

I recently bought a set of these
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=29086
and (though I've only got 1500km on them) I am well impressed.
Not for the brand snobs however.
Perfectly true out of box and have taken some abuse on my local potholed roads.
I really should keep em for Sunday best and train on my 36hole open pros but I can't bring myself to take em off the bike..
http://www.pro-lite.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=49

How are you finding the Caad9. I have the frame on my shortlist for a build.(Hard to get frame only though).

but a divorce would be costly too!!!

Just spend all the money on bike stuff before her lawyers freeze your assets.

crosbie

papac wrote: »

I recently bought a set of these
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=29086
and (though I've only got 1500km on them) I am well impressed.
Not for the brand snobs however.
Perfectly true out of box and have taken some abuse on my local potholed roads.
I really should keep em for Sunday best and train on my 36hole open pros but I can't bring myself to take em off the bike..
http://www.pro-lite.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=49

How are you finding the Caad9. I have the frame on my shortlist for a build.(Hard to get frame only though).


Just spend all the money on bike stuff before her lawyers freeze your assets.

I was looking at these wheels alright but a friend of mine talked me out of it. He does ironmans and is a really good cyclist and for the most part his advice is good. He had a pair and complained that when pushing hard there was way too much flex in the wheels - hes not a big guy either. Have you experienced any of this??

As for the CAAD 9 frame.... its brilliant, much better that any carbon you could get for the same price. It is super stiff tho and its easy to see how so many riders used it for sprinting in tdf in the past.
There are some heavy components on the bike as stock but when I took the frame and the carbon fork out of the box I couldn't believe how light they were. One of my mates who is a bike mechanic, weighed the caad 9 105, the next model down, against the 6 105 and the caad 9 was about 20 gramms lighter - or so he says.
All in all im very happy with it.

I think you simply need to go to a bike shop which is a registered dealer for cannondale to get d frame. I know at present cannondale r moving production from usa to the far east and there have been some severe lags in getting some stock.

ipodrocker

crosbie wrote: »

Hi all. Have recently purchased the following:

http://www.cannondale.com/gbr/eng/Products/Bikes/Road/Elite-Road/CAAD9/Details/1450-0RA91C-CAAD-9-Ultegra-Compact

In matt black. I am considering upgrading some of the components and was wondering if you have any suggestions.

As it stands at the moment I have a Fizik Arione saddle and am upgrading the standard wheels (suggests which won't break the bank please!!)

Thanks in advance.

where you get the cannondale from?

crosbie

ipodrocker wrote: »

where you get the cannondale from?

I bought it from Cycleways on Parnell Street. Found them quite good to deal with.

BostonB

I asked cycleways about them recently and they said supply was a problem.

Lumen

crosbie wrote: »

Don't worry im not a weight junkie...the stock FSA ST-OS-150 LX seems to add a bit of unnecessary weight to the front end

Aha, the sickness has taken hold. To misquote the medical acronym, your wallet is CTD. :pac:

ednwireland

crosbie wrote: »

As for the CAAD 9 frame.... its brilliant, much better that any carbon you could get for the same price. It is super stiff tho and its easy to see how so many riders used it for sprinting in tdf in the past.

you should be banned for that statement alone , you just cant go around here saying things like that

papac

way too much flex in the wheels - hes not a big guy either. Have you experienced any of this??

I personally have not noticed any flex issues with the wheels. I am 75 kilos atm (due to giving up fags a few months back:)) and no track sprinter. I do a bit of low cadence hill repeating for strength and fairly heave on the pedals on a regular basis. No noticeable flex.
I have seen reports of bad flex issues in other Prolite wheels. Are you sure he had Braccianos (sp?)

I had a set of Ksyrium sl's on loan earlier on in the year with a view to buying a set.. Lovely wheels but I bought the Prolites and built a set of OpenPro/Hope 36s. Two sets of wheels- less money.FWIW I couldn't see that the sl's are better than the Prolites.(Certainly not 400euros better anyway:))
I stress that I can't speak for their long term durability of course.

crosbie

BostonB wrote: »

I asked cycleways about them recently and they said supply was a problem.

True tbh i was waitin quite a while for mine... about 2 months. To be fair to CW they tried their best to sort it out but cannondale were very mixed up.... i think they a\re movin operations to far east and all over the place....
well worth d wait tho!!

crosbie

papac wrote: »

I personally have not noticed any flex issues with the wheels. I am 75 kilos atm (due to giving up fags a few months back:)) and no track sprinter. I do a bit of low cadence hill repeating for strength and fairly heave on the pedals on a regular basis. No noticeable flex.
I have seen reports of bad flex issues in other Prolite wheels. Are you sure he had Braccianos (sp?)

I had a set of Ksyrium sl's on loan earlier on in the year with a view to buying a set.. Lovely wheels but I bought the Prolites and built a set of OpenPro/Hope 36s. Two sets of wheels- less money.FWIW I couldn't see that the sl's are better than the Prolites.(Certainly not 400euros better anyway:))
I stress that I can't speak for their long term durability of course.

not sure if it was that particular model he was talkin about.... will check it out and post d ans here when i get it...

true d pro lites seem to get rave reviews for the price so might just have a punt!!

crosbie

Lumen wrote: »

Aha, the sickness has taken hold. To misquote the medical acronym, your wallet is CTD. :pac:

Im in d process of cuttin up d credit cards just in case!!!!!:D

estariol

I have the tiagra version and agree very nice stiff frame, stock saddle is awful though, so changed that to the Selle Italia Flite, with a Easton EC90 seatpost. Made a tremendous difference to the ride quality. Changed the stem to carbon (easton again) but have since gone back to stock cannondale which feels better somehow.
Kysrium Elites finished off the upgrading! though may swap the stock bars for carbon if I find a good deal.

crosbie

estariol wrote: »

I have the tiagra version and agree very nice stiff frame, stock saddle is awful though, so changed that to the Selle Italia Flite, with a Easton EC90 seatpost. Made a tremendous difference to the ride quality. Changed the stem to carbon (easton again) but have since gone back to stock cannondale which feels better somehow.
Kysrium Elites finished off the upgrading! though may swap the stock bars for carbon if I find a good deal.

What colour did u go for?? That Easton seatpost looks gook but at $200 - where did u get it?..... maybe ill just get some bib shorts with a thicker chami (ha ha).

Nice upgrades tho and interesting that you made the exact same adjustments to the components that I am thinkin of.