I looked around briefly and wanted a fresh take on my specific bike and situation.
I was recently able to get a 2021 cannondale topstone 3, on their site it's listed as just above their base model. I plan to upgrade most, if not all components in the future and wanted some up to date opinions and recomendations on parts.
I will be doing mostly road riding to places, possibly commuting, but live only about 5 miles from a park with dirt trails, so, like just about everyone, I want to be a weight weenie and get this 23lb bike as light as possible but still make it a usable and abusable gravel bike. Investing in quality components but not spending an arm and a leg if possible.
- It doesn't come tubeless ready, so first i'd like to talk about the wheelset. 700 or 650b? The bigger size seems to make more sense for mostly road riding, but the as the aluminum topstone doesn't have suspension of any kind, I've heard people say the extra cushion and traction the 650b gives made all the difference in comfort and ride quality. I have seen some great light aluminum rims from WTB, would carbon really be better? are there affordable carbon options out there? What hubs do you recomend that wont cost $500 for the set?
- i plan to most likely keep the shimano sora components and probably ugrade the brakes to TRP spyre for simplicity's sake, but would eventually upgrading my shifting and braking components to hydraulic and electronic save me reasonable weight on my bike?
- Lastly but certainly not least, the bike does not come with an external bottom bracket. I will definitely be wanting to upgrade this in the future, along with the basic cranks it comes with. Any crankset/cassette recomendations here? Some people change the bike to a 1x, not sure if I feel the need to but my mountain bike (santa cruz hightower) is 1x so if it makes sense based on recomendations, then I don't why not.
I use to ride a cannondale track bike and other fixed gears in high school to commute around my city so I don't have much experience with upgrading shifting comonents, cassets, brakes, etc, as my mountain bike was more of a ''one and done'' type of purchase when I bought it. Any advice this community has will be much appreciated and I hope my questions aren't too repetitive. I haven't been a part of a bike forum for at least 10 years
My first suggestion is get to know the bike and ride it a bit. Addressing the weight weenie compulsion won't get you anything like working on your bike engine will.
You can't beat the value of OEM components so if you want higher end parts all over consider asking your dealer to just return it for a higher end model. The parts you have work well. I know them on competing bikes. We've had that level on our family fleet.
Wheels are something you can move to another or upgraded bike so if you're getting different wheels right away that might be an area worth some spending.
Try the different wheel sizes on other bikes. If a bike is designed for big diameter that's my preference but you should get that sense yourself. I'm sure that bike will accept 40 mm or more tires that are really awesome for versatility. They have rollover, some plush, but they're also great for a long and faster ride. You did say mostly road riding. I'd say that's a really good argument for the 700C x 35-40 mm tires.
I'm sure others will have opinions but my strong ones are know what you have, try stuff, and know how you get diminishing returns as you spend. I'm guilty of spending a lot recently but it was for fit more than anything else.
IMHO you can get a lot more for your money by buying a bike equipped as you want than by upgrading. That advice excludes cockpit items (saddle, bar, pedals) and wear items (tires, brake pads, bar tape).
I agree with imwjl that a second wheelset can be helpful.
As the other folks said, if you're planning to upgrade everything it's probably best to look for a higher level bike(Topstone 1?) to start with. If that's not an option... Ride it first. Get the fit dialed in. Play with tire pressures -- it's amazing the difference a few psi makes. You may be able to convert the stock wheels to tubeless. Wheels: Spinergy GX or Boyd CCC are two options, there are many more. Crankset/BB: Any external bearing setup is going to be more than 9-speed, which means replacing your whole drivetrain. That's really expensive. A GRX RX600 groupset is approx. $1,100. A 105 hydraulic groupset is approx. $800. You may not save any weight.
I bought a Topstone 105 in 2019 and set it as a go anywhere (within reason) bike. Wheels upgraded to Hunt Carbon 650b outfitted with Terrene Elwood 47mm. Swapped out stock handlebar and seatpost with carbon from a road bike no longer in use. I also ride a Raleigh Roker with similar set up except it is 1x and the wheel set is lightweight aluminum (i9 650b). I am very pleased with both bikes. My typical rides include mix of hilly pavement, gravel, and 4th class. It's not unusual to add a bit of single track. I really like the stability, cushion and riding options the 650b and wide tires combo gives me. I thought I would be switching from the 700c to 650b and back as desired but I can't remember the last time I did. Can't say I can tell the difference between the carbon and aluminum rims. I will keep the 2x on the Topstone since I plan on bike touring sometime in the future.
