Specialized Turbo Creo - serious upgrades

[seabeckrowingfast]

This is seabeckrowingfast and it's my first ever post... anywhere, so I may make mistakes...

I've been both a serious rough water rower and a mtb-road cyclist for over 55 years...(66 years old)

I have a 2021 Specialized Turbo Creo Comp Carbon that's been upgraded to S-Works plus specs...

The reason that I didn't start with an S-Works, was that I got the Comp Carbon at a $2000 discount and thought that it's specs were good enough for me.
After about a month with the bike I got restless, so here are all the upgrades my LBS made for me:
1) S-Works Carbon Hover Drop bars to reduce harsh vibrations & drop a few ounces
2) Specialized S-Works Power with Mirror saddle for comfort
3) Crank Bros Eggbeater 11 Titanium pedals
4) Cane Creek eSilk+ suspension seatpost
5) Shimano XTR 11 speed cassette
6) Shimano RX815 GTX Di2 1x 11 conversion upgrade
7) Specialized power mode handlebar remote control buttons
8) Roval Terra CLX wheels, with Continental GP5000 S tires & Tubolito tubes
9) Roval C38 wheels, with Specialized S-Works Pathfinder gravel tires & Tubolito tubes
10) Lizard Skins 3.2mm bar tape
11) Shimano XTR 11 speed chain
12) Specialized Range Extender batteries (2)
13) Relevate Shrew seatpost bag & Jerry can top tube bag
14) Specialized S-Works Recon MTB shoes
15) Nite Rider 600 bike ligh
16) Garmin Edge 1040 non-solar computer

I got the wheels, batteries, XTR cassette at 20% - 25% off, after extensive searching for discounts

The Tubolito tubes are insanely expensive, yet are as light as latex, with twice the puncture resistance of butyl tubes & ride feel is amazing.

Even more amazing is that there is negligible pressure loss, even after 3 months.

Yes, the upgrades were expensive, yet I splurge on very few things...

 

[Zoe Johnson]

Welcome aboard

snaptube vidmate​

 

[Deacon Blues]

There's something to be said for modifying a car, motorcycle, or bike, and half the fun is doing the research and planning.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[John from Connecticut]

There's something to be said for modifying a car, motorcycle, or bike, and half the fun is doing the research and planning.
Welcome to the forum.

Agreed, An e-bike mode can be as simple as a bell, mirror an grips or can be 'full boat.' To the each
individual owner it's all special and unique.
John

 

[seabeckrowingfast]

There's something to be said for modifying a car, motorcycle, or bike, and half the fun is doing the research and planning.
Welcome to the forum.

Thank you for the comments and thanks even more for the welcome!

Although my LBS did all of the labor and provided all of the Shimano drivetrain components, it was really hard not to pass up on big discounts at some of the bigger bike shops that have a much bigger online presence for the fairly expensive items, such as cassettes, wheels, seatpost, pedals etc.

Plus, I did originally purchase the bike from my LBS.

If anyone has questions about where I got some of the bigger purchases, feel free to comment and I'll be happy to share my knowledge.

 

[JimiC]

I would be interested in the deals you found for wheels. I'm thinking of upgrading the wheels on my 2021 Carbon Comp and just starting to research the options.

 

[Dazmanturbo]

Nice any very similar to what I do with my original Creo Carbon Comp. Couple of thing I would recommend are change the chainring. The Praxis one is heavy and can drop the chain. I use the Garbaruk chainring which has been excellent, many also recommend Wolftooth. Secondly, your brake rotors. I found that those version of the rotors with full fins, in the wet they sweep all the crap right into the braking surfaces. The later version made the fins smaller due to this, so when they need replacing, go for the one with less fins. I would also recommend ceramic pads. Put the on mine and oh my days they are good !!!

Finally, the Praxis cranks arms between alloy and carbon is actually very small so stick with the alloy and save the cash for other upgrades.