6 road bike upgrades you don't actually need

This year I upgraded from a mechanical Ultegra rim braked, alloy wheeled bike to an all singing all dancing 2022 superbike on which I have now done around 3000km, so I have a view on some of the comments. 

I have the luxury of 300 days per year of sunshine, and when I am not climbing Cols, I am descending Cols, so I understand brakes. That said, the first thing I would dearly love to see the back of is my disc brakes. For around 40,000km my old Ultegra rim brakes on alloy rims stopped me quickly, efficiently, and quietly every time. My new, top flight discs stop me, equally efficiently, sometimes silently, sometimes waking every cat for miles around, or more often somewhwere in between. Each time I pull the brakes, I wait to see which sound, if any, I get this time. I have friends riding a range of Shimano and SRAM setups, and they all seem to have problems at some point. So for me, discs have a net disadvantage and are a solution to a problem I never had. 

Power meter on the other hand is great. I smiled at the comment above where a poster said "I know what effort feels like". We certainly know what torque feels like, and we know what cadence feels like, but I'm not sure our bodies are very accurate at multiplying torque by cadence and giving a reliable answer.  It is not in my case about winning races as I don't race, it is about getting to the top of an hour plus long climb with the optimum time/fatigue balance. Nobody needs a power meter, but using one daily, understanding the effect a different gear and cadence have on power,  improves that understanding.

Internal cables -and integrated headsets, look great, but a real faff. Just wait until you get a cable rattling over every bump in that hollow carbon frame.

I'd add to the list wireless groupsets. When you get your bike home from the shop with SRAM AXS, it will immediately tell you to individually upgrade firmware in RD, FD, and each shifter, where a simple wire would make only one firmware load necessary. Then you have the state of 4 batteries to track. Not sure I see any advantages in wireless except making intial bike build easier. 

My jury is out on carbon wheels. Round my area we don't wear out wheels due to rim brakes, but we do fatigue spoke holes in alloy wheels with fast descents. My new carbon wheels come with a lifetime guarantee against fatigue, so let's just wait and see!  

Best close the Road.cc website down then because you won't have anything to review

Wholeheartedly agree with this list. You don't need any of the upgrades on this list as a recreational rider. Sure disc brakes are better in the wet and allow for nice fancy wheels. But you don't need them. Yes, a power meter is great if you're regularly training or participating in racing. But you don't need one.

Don't get me started on OSPW. Biggest con to part a fool with their money. Same with ceramic bearings.  
Top end group sets should really be for professional riders as you stated the huge cost isn't worth the very minimal weight savings but if you've got the money, good on you.

One other thing I think you should have on the list is carbon wheels. Sure the look very nice and can be more aero but you don't need them.

Im on the fence with tubeless tyres. They have their merits on any surface other than smooth tarmac. 
Integrated bar/stem cables are only there for looks. Certainly don't seem to be worth the faff and issues they cause. 

On holiday this year I used a basic rim-braked MTB that was stored in the garage of the house we rented and had some great fun rides on it, including the ascent of a local col.

I had no helmet, rode in trainers, a T shirt and shorts.  

Made me wonder the extent to which we think we need all sorts of fancy-pants fandangled gear, but really do not.

If you ride on rubbish roads, full of potholes and gravel strewn, then wider tyres are the way to go. And that means disc brakes and tubeless tyres.....

I doubt there are many rim braked bikes that can fit 32mm+......

Quote:

here are 6 upgrades you don't need to enjoy a bike ride

A road bike

*runs and hides*

The main advantage of discs for me is the ability to ride nice rims all year round without fear of grinding the brake tracks to bits with road gunk/salt/mud/sand. With a good set of sealed hubs, it means that a decent set of wheels will last (in theory) a lifetime with no wear other than cheap consumable bits like rotors and bearings.

I guess in terms of spend, the stuff I see that people have that they don't need is the performance monitoring upgrades, power meters for cranks being the most extreme, when you are not racing or time trialling seriously.

There was a point where having cadence and heart rate had some use as I learned to ride long distances, but I junked them some the ago once I learnt how effort felt, and trained myself to ride at a more effective cadence. Which in turn means on the bike computer I want tracking and navigation, but I really don't want any performance monitoring over the simple stats that Strava can produce for general interest.

Tubeless and disc brakes don't belong on this list as although they're not "needed", they do provide significant benefits to justify their price.

One thing that often gets forgotten about with disc brakes is that they enable wheel designers to optimise the rim for strength/lightness/aerodynamics as they don't need the brake track.

Liam: I would have agreed with you on disc brakes until I built up a gravel bike with Campy's new Ekar group. The modulation and reliability of the brakes has changed the way I ride.

Probably doesn't matter if you live somewhere flat, but if you live where it is hilly or mountainous, the discs allow you to comfortably carry more speed into downhill corners. 

Now, you could probably add "gravel bike'' to the list of things "you don't really need.'' What is it after all? Little but a cross bike designed a little more toward comfort than racing with room for even bigger tires.

One could probably say the same about 13-speeds and one shifter. The 2 X 10 on my old cross bike and my weight weenie road bike worked fine and still does.

Then again, if i were honest, those two bikes could now possibly be added to the things "you don't really need" because I find myself inevitably hopping on the gravel bike for any sort of road riding even though it is several pounds heavier than my "road bike.''

And yes, it's got tubeless tires. But then I went tubeless on the mountain bikes before it became trendy (or as convenient as it is now) and all that experience makes the hassle of going tubeless a lot less hassling in the here and now.

But you just wrote this to cause a discussion, right? Because I'm sure most riders of road.cc have a house full of bicycle crap they "don't really need,'' as I do.

Oversized pulley you say? Doesn't need to cost much - would £13.49 do?

From a recreational rider standpoint I'd admit that my opinion probably doesn't add up to much. But there is one so with this time I'll add it:

Oversized pulley systems? I'll never buy one since what is stock or comes with a sensibly priced system works fine for me.

Integrated cockpit? never had one until purchase of newest ORBEA and Coefficient RR bars and while it's not needed I do like the appearance.

Top end groupset? My TIAGRA gruppo is fine but that ULTEGRA RD I have that was used to make the SS Sormchaser a 1X 11 and is capable of 11/28 will eventually go on the ORBEA which has an 11/34 wich is a MTB cassette. While I'm at it, might as throw on a ULTEGRA Crank for a bump up from stock 50/34 to max 53/39. 

Ceramic Bearings? $$$, NAH! not worth it in my riding world.

Disc Brakes? Suppose I would've purchased my last bike if it came in the right frame size and it had rim brakes. Riding in the flats of the desert doesn't need much more than a rim brake; usually dry and flat! Unfortunately as noted here it's a trend so they'll last since all stops are quick with no downhill stress. Rode for years with rims and they worked well whenever used and can't imagine much has changed since my Cannondale C600?

Tubeless is definitely more hassle than tubes and requires some ongoing maintenance, but I've not had a single puncture in more that 8 years of MTB tubeless and 5 years of road tubeless. For me it is well worth the time spent in the garage and much preferable to fixing punctures at the side of the road. It also apparently reduces rolling resistance...

Likewise I wouldn't go back to rim brakes for any amount of money saving. The hydraulic disk brakes are practically zero maintenance, totally predictable in any weather and don't wear down your rims. I've never once thought "I wish I had rim brakes"