To upgrade or replace?

[Francois Pienaar]

I'm currently riding a Scott Spark 930 and I've upgraded it to a XT 1x11 and I have a XT stages power meter on it.  I really enjoy the ride and I'm considering a new set of wheels (American Classic Wide) or "maybe" carbon South Industries.  The issues comes in when you start looking at the numbers to upgrade VS buying new.

 

My core challenge I have with "upgrading" the wheels and perhaps other bits and pieces, brakes (from deore --> XT), is whether or not the "platform" as in the frame is worth it to upgrade on.

 

Considering costs, I'm looking at the following:

 

- Wheels 8-20k

- XT brakes 3k

- Misc (handlebar, stem etc) - R3k

- And we haven't discussed possible DI2 / 2x11 config.

- And and we haven't looked at the front fork.

 

So the upgrade costs (ex DI2) puts me in the R15k - R20k range to spend. 

 

Considering the bike is 18months old, I feel I could get R25k for it second hand, putting me in the R50k range to purchase new.

 

I'm a touch undecided on the path forward.  Any cool ideas or tips would be appreciate.

 

Cheerio

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

simple question:

 

Would spending 50k (even if you got 25k for the current bike) get you what you want?

 

I doubt it. 

 

What it would get you is scott's new suspension platform and a better fork, which is superior to what you have at the moment. The rest (wheels / drivetrain etc) will most likely need to be upgraded to what you want anyway. 

 

So - if you want the latest tech & frame - sell & buy new. If you're perfectly happy with the frame as it is, then upgrade, keep the current parts kits and then when you want to get a newer frame, buy frame only and carry the new bits over to the new frame. 

 

That's my thinking, at least. Yes, by buying new you'll have a "better" bike, but in order to meet your spec list you'd likely have to spend 80k or so. 

 

So - upgrade. 

[Cat2forLife]

You won't be able to buy a Di2 dual suspension with carbon wheels, a proper fork, carbon accessories for R50k.. So it might be worth upgrading rather.

[dave303e]

I am in similar situation at the moment...

 

4 year old hardtail 29er with over 20000km on it.

Rear derailleur just packed up and chain and cassette worn out.

Was also considering replacing all and upgrading wheels or just buying a new bike, as stated above, to get the parts you want you need to drop atleast 75-100k into a new bike, where you can pick and choose exactly what you want when just upgrading.

[ZakAttak]

Buying new high end bikes comes with a premium in this country due to certain Agents fixing prices and the like...

 

 

Pick and choose from the classifieds, online bike shops, or where you can find a bargain will save you so much than dropping a large amount of Moolas buying new...

 

Another fun fact, trying to resell your expensive stuff will not bring you even half of what you spent on it of a day's use.... So in my opinion, not worth it....

 

But thats just my opinion....