The best upgrade for me, was the bike computer... I have the AL5, so I think it has the same heavy tires as yours did. I may have to upgrade this spring. Not too worried about the weight of my bike, more concerned about the weight of the rider.
100% agree about the weight, no point spending £1000's to save a few grams when I can just eat less and save 10's of kg... I actually bought the bike computer before the road bike! For a while I was riding my old hybrid bike with a Garmin that was more expensive than the actual bike, but yes I agree the bike computer is definitely worth the money 🤣
I pulled the trigger and bought some GP5000... OMG what a difference 2km/h faster for the same heart rate. Love them GP5000s. Maybe the stock tires are just bad. I also splashed out on the latex tubes. Thanks for your honest reviews. @@JMower
I've done tires gp500 too, wheels to carbon 60mm and bar from 38 to 40cm. The pedals i used the spd and swap it with road pedals (feel much better esp when sprinting). Next probably the groupset to ultegra.
Great info and tips. I changed spokes on a vintage bike from 2.0mm double butted to 1.5 mm ,2.0mmm double butted. At least 1lb of weight loss, plus improved performance. Just purchased the al 2,plan doing the same. Thanks for great info.
I would love to see some videos of you in a cycling group! :) I am still waiting for my domane al3 disc 2023 to arrive (next week) and I can't wait to ride it!
Honestly riding in a group seems quite scary to me, I'm worried about making a mistake and causing loads of people to crash. But i'll get over it some day and make some videos about group riding I hope 🤣
Great video. I have the AL 5. I prefer flat pedals so those are what I got (in the States they don't give you pedals). I'm thinking of raising the bars and also changing out the cassette since I live at the top of a hill and climbing it after a ride is a bear.
the tyres are hard to get on because they are tubeless specific. if youre going to run tubes, go with a standard clincher when you next change the tyres
Yeah that makes sense, I thought I'd go with the tubeless tyres just to have the option to go tubeless in the future. After a few tries taking them on and off it does get a bit easier though!
Nice upgrade especially the tires! In my opinion the tires is the only thing worth upgrading. Most bikes doesnt come with pedals so as you say you maybe need to spend 100 dollar for a set of SPD. I think the 34T cassett is on the Domane 5. You have a light weight bike. Myself I dont care so much about weight and the Bontrager Hard Case 38mm tires I use just the tires together weights just over 1kg. But the roll. Next bike you get save it for your next bike. One of my Domane SL5 from 2021 I bought second hand in mint condition for 1900 euro. Try carbon Gen 3 the double Isospeed and really nice frame in stiffness comfort and responsivness is fun, the weight is less important. I could put upgrades on my Domane SL5 so it weights 15kg and still think its a super responsive and comfortable bike. And not worse when my 2022 model is 2023 now. I see you take care of your bike, maybe you already tried Trek Carbon. Its about preferences too lets say bikes are different instead of which is better. Nice video
I would have upgraded to Shimano 105 mechanical shifters, 11-speed cassette and hydraulic brakes. The braking performance of mechanical disc brakes is no bueno. That crank is cool. I wasn’t familiar with it before. If money were no object, I’d throw on Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels for the weight savings and ride comfort of hookless, tubeless tires.
I have exactly the same bike in size 56 and after the upgrades mine weights 9.1 kgs! I replaced the whole Sora groupset for 105 (shifters, derailleurs, crankset, chain, cassette), pedals are Look Keo, wheels Fulcrum DB5 Disc, seatpost Enve carbon, seatpost San Marco Aspide Superleggera, brakes Juin F1 and tires Schwalbe G-One Allround 35 mm with RideNow 36 gram TPU tubes. Don't know what size is your bike, but my came stock at 10,2 kgs without pedals.
@@JMower 105 is a totally different tier. Shifting is precise and crisp and gear range perfect paired with 11-34 cassette. It also sheds some Sora weight. I upgraded only because i had the whole groupset on other bike so buying a whole groupset is not an option. It's better then to buy Domane 5 - even cheaper!
@@JMower Changing the seatpost to carbon one will make it more compliant and the ride will be smoother. I don't like carbon handlebars so I kept the alu one.
The bars, seat post and saddle offer significant further savings, you can drop 100 off each for a relatively low cost. I have an Al4, even cheap alloy wheels with GP's can take 1.4 kg off. I think i can get a shade under 9 which makes it a vwry good value daily ride
Compressionless brake housing - I installed them on all my bikes which are rim brake, and they make a signifcant difference. Well worth it. Plus they are about 40% lighter than standard housing. However, I installed them on a disc brake gravel bike, and I cant say I felt the improvement. So, I would say that that's where the problem lies, rather than the housing itself.
Interesting! Perhaps the difference really is only worth it for rim brakes then... I read about some other people combining it with the semi hydro disc brakes, and they said the performance is almost as good as the full hydro setups, so maybe that's worth looking into
@@JMower I have this setup with hybrid calipers. At the moment, I'd say I prefer my rim brakes for performance, so maybe I haven't optimised the disc brake setup properly yet.
I think tires/tubes are probably one of the best value for money and effort upgrades... I think you could save a couple of grams by chopping the chimney though lol
Agreed about the chimney, I'm keeping it on until I get a proper bike fit done, just incase the stem needs to be moved up a bit! The tires are such a massive difference, the level of grip on the new ones is insane!
Thanks for this vid, just bought one of these yesterday for my first road bike and wondered what upgrades people were putting on these. Are those crank arms carbon?
No problem! Not carbon, aluminium. I did a full video talking about the crankset, check it out if you're interested! ua-cam.com/video/wqvar2IBu2o/v-deo.html
I have the same bike - and like it. I find - unlike you - that compressionless housing on the brakes was a major benefit. Increased power and feel. Thought of buying new wheels, but unsure. Changed bar to a kitchensink, which is nice, Its a good value bike. Good upgrades in my opinion; gear and brake cables outer and inner, bars and tires. No reason to make a cheap good bike into a expensive good bike :)
Interesting! It's possible I didn't install the brakes optimally as it was my first time doing it. I'll definitely check them out and make sure it's done as well as I can manage. Definitely agree when it comes to tires. Out of curiosity I put some GP5000's on my old aluminium wheels and the difference in performance on the flat is tiny compared to the carbon wheels
Decent weight saving, but it's quite a heavy bike at 11.42kg to start. Maybe a 105 11 speed upgrade will knock off another 0.5kg. Good move on the tyres and latex tubes. Time for some carbon handlebars and seatpost next.
The weird thing is that on the Trek website it says the stock weight is 10.3kg. I realise I added the pedals and bottle cages, but I don't think that's anywhere near the 1.1kg difference. I'm thinking about trying out one of the cheaper chinese brand 11 speed groupsets, but really don't want to be fiddling with the cable routing again anytime soon, so perhaps that's an upgrade for next winter!
@@hoopdoggydogg If I were to buy a bike again I would definitely raise a fuss if it were that much over the specified weight. I checked again and the weight was for a size 56 and mine is 58 so that's probably something to do with it also
@@JMower hmm, I wouldn't have thought that 800g of weight is in one frame size up. Maybe 100-200g with an aluminium frame, and that's generous considering the technology of triple butting the tubes. 🤷🏾♂️ If anything, the paint could add half a kilo. And are you sure the weight quoted was with a Claris groupset, and not a Tiagra or 105? Anyway, it is what it is.
If you use latex innertubes anyway, no need to spend the extra money for the tiubeless-ready 5000 GP STR, just take the standard 5000 GP. And 1 kph faster just because of the deeper rims is a lot, but if it’s worth it, that’s surely a personal decision. And deeper rims are stiffer, and so cornering is much more precise and will give you a safer feeling. And they are more stable when going fast, especially noticeable when going downhill (when it’s not overly windy...).
I did end up upgrading to tubeless (finally), so it was worth getting the STRs. For the carbon wheelset, I probably wouldn't spend the money myself on them, as I very rarely do fast group rides where the extra 1kmh makes a difference, but they're definitely a lot better than the stock ones, but just not worth it for the type of riding I usually do.
@@JMower Well, if tubeless is an option, the STRs are the way to go... I found that the wheels, tires and inner tubes are much more important for the ride feel than anything else, including the frame. For beginners it's kind of strange to spend so much money on things that should just come with the bike. But its the easies area where bike companies can get cheap to get prices down.
I have the same bike for 3 years now, Just change the tyres, now I am hesitating between changing the wheels (but for aluminium one) or changing the group set to SRAM axs as it possible to get 12s on that same free hub, with my budget I can afford just one of those change. Not sure if an upgrade aluminium wheel for alu wheel would be worth. Also not sure I need another group set but feel like it would be nice to have hydrolic disk brake and more speeds. And SRAM made that lastest groupset really affordable >
Hey mate, I recently swapped the groupset to sram axs rival. However you DO need to swap the free hub. You can run shimano 12s, but not SRAM 12s as they use different free hubs. I wouldn't recommend changing to another set of aluminium wheels, the stock wheels are quite good, and really only upgrading to carbon would be worth it. The upgrade to sram axs was good, but a lot of money for what it is. It shifting is slightly nicer, but to be honest the stock shifting is 95% as good. The hydraulic brakes are the by far the biggest upgrade, if the budget is tight i'd recommend looking for a mechanical groupset that has hydraulic shifting such as shimano 105. Another option would be to get a gravel wheelset, I bought another aluminium wheelset that are a bit wider and use them for some light off road.
@@JMower I was under the impression that you could get a SRAM 12s casette of their lower tier as soon as it as a 11 tooth minimum because they use the same free hub, but then you need to get a mtb rear derailleur which is compatible with sram axs. but you are right going for 105 might be just a cheaper upgrade. Need to consider ! thanks for the feedback
Jeez I didn't realize how heavy entry level bikes are! 11.5kg is crazy! My Aeroad came in at 7.2kg and I considered that to be on the heavier side being an aero bike and all 😅
Yeah I was looking at some bikes from about 10 years ago, and it seems the weight of bikes has actually been going up for some reason. I'm not too bothered though, once I slim down I'll start to care more about the bike's weight I'm sure!
Hey mate, 11/34 is the biggest the trek website says is supported. It might be able to go a bit higher, but I imagine the shifting wouldn't be as good. If you want an easier climbing gear you could change the crankset to a smaller one.
I'm planning to get AL3, just question, did you upgrade the stock brake from mechanical to hydraulic? what can you say about the stock brake of AL3? Thanks
Hey mate, I've found the stock brakes to be fine so far. Just need to make sure they're clean and well adjusted. They're able to lock up the tyres easily enough. No plans to upgrade to hydraulic brakes. To be honest I think upgrading to hydaulics is quite a big job, probably need to change the whole groupset so might be worth just getting a higher tier bike to begin with if you really want hydros
@JMower Thanks mate for the info! Actually, that is the only thing I'm concern with on this model, but seems to be OK. So probably I will go for AL3. BTW, I'm transitioning from MTB to RB, I think this model fits me as new to RB. Thanks again and ride safe.
On the pedals: I'd recommend SPD-SL (or look keo) instead of SPD. They're meant for road bikes, and I definitely notice a difference in power transfer/feel. SPD easier to clip in and out, but it's def worth the road cleats for power/feel.
UPDATE - The 2023 Domane al3 has been released, and I'm 99% sure it's the exact same bike. So everything in this video should still apply. Thanks
The best upgrade for me, was the bike computer... I have the AL5, so I think it has the same heavy tires as yours did. I may have to upgrade this spring. Not too worried about the weight of my bike, more concerned about the weight of the rider.
100% agree about the weight, no point spending £1000's to save a few grams when I can just eat less and save 10's of kg...
I actually bought the bike computer before the road bike! For a while I was riding my old hybrid bike with a Garmin that was more expensive than the actual bike, but yes I agree the bike computer is definitely worth the money 🤣
I pulled the trigger and bought some GP5000... OMG what a difference 2km/h faster for the same heart rate. Love them GP5000s. Maybe the stock tires are just bad. I also splashed out on the latex tubes. Thanks for your honest reviews. @@JMower
I've done tires gp500 too, wheels to carbon 60mm and bar from 38 to 40cm. The pedals i used the spd and swap it with road pedals (feel much better esp when sprinting). Next probably the groupset to ultegra.
Great info and tips. I changed spokes on a vintage bike from 2.0mm double butted to 1.5 mm ,2.0mmm double butted. At least 1lb of weight loss, plus improved performance. Just purchased the al 2,plan doing the same. Thanks for great info.
Super useful video thank you! This bike is currently on sale and you may have just convinced me to pull the trigger.
I would love to see some videos of you in a cycling group! :) I am still waiting for my domane al3 disc 2023 to arrive (next week) and I can't wait to ride it!
Honestly riding in a group seems quite scary to me, I'm worried about making a mistake and causing loads of people to crash. But i'll get over it some day and make some videos about group riding I hope 🤣
Great video. I have the AL 5. I prefer flat pedals so those are what I got (in the States they don't give you pedals). I'm thinking of raising the bars and also changing out the cassette since I live at the top of a hill and climbing it after a ride is a bear.
the tyres are hard to get on because they are tubeless specific. if youre going to run tubes, go with a standard clincher when you next change the tyres
Yeah that makes sense, I thought I'd go with the tubeless tyres just to have the option to go tubeless in the future. After a few tries taking them on and off it does get a bit easier though!
Brilliant video. 👌 excellent detail.
Nice upgrade especially the tires! In my opinion the tires is the only thing worth upgrading. Most bikes doesnt come with pedals so as you say you maybe need to spend 100 dollar for a set of SPD.
I think the 34T cassett is on the Domane 5. You have a light weight bike. Myself I dont care so much about weight and the Bontrager Hard Case 38mm tires I use just the tires together weights just over 1kg. But the roll.
Next bike you get save it for your next bike. One of my Domane SL5 from 2021 I bought second hand in mint condition for 1900 euro. Try carbon Gen 3 the double Isospeed and really nice frame in stiffness comfort and responsivness is fun, the weight is less important. I could put upgrades on my Domane SL5 so it weights 15kg and still think its a super responsive and comfortable bike. And not worse when my 2022 model is 2023 now.
I see you take care of your bike, maybe you already tried Trek Carbon. Its about preferences too lets say bikes are different instead of which is better. Nice video
I would have upgraded to Shimano 105 mechanical shifters, 11-speed cassette and hydraulic brakes. The braking performance of mechanical disc brakes is no bueno. That crank is cool. I wasn’t familiar with it before. If money were no object, I’d throw on Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels for the weight savings and ride comfort of hookless, tubeless tires.
Another great video. You've got me subscribed!
I have exactly the same bike in size 56 and after the upgrades mine weights 9.1 kgs! I replaced the whole Sora groupset for 105 (shifters, derailleurs, crankset, chain, cassette), pedals are Look Keo, wheels Fulcrum DB5 Disc, seatpost Enve carbon, seatpost San Marco Aspide Superleggera, brakes Juin F1 and tires Schwalbe G-One Allround 35 mm with RideNow 36 gram TPU tubes. Don't know what size is your bike, but my came stock at 10,2 kgs without pedals.
How is 105 compared to sora? Worth it?
Thinking about changing the seatpost too.
Mine is 58, not sure why mine weighed so much, very strange
@@JMower 105 is a totally different tier. Shifting is precise and crisp and gear range perfect paired with 11-34 cassette. It also sheds some Sora weight. I upgraded only because i had the whole groupset on other bike so buying a whole groupset is not an option. It's better then to buy Domane 5 - even cheaper!
@@JMower Changing the seatpost to carbon one will make it more compliant and the ride will be smoother. I don't like carbon handlebars so I kept the alu one.
in the U.S., when you buy a bicycle in a brick-and-mortar store the pedals are not included.
The bars, seat post and saddle offer significant further savings, you can drop 100 off each for a relatively low cost. I have an Al4, even cheap alloy wheels with GP's can take 1.4 kg off. I think i can get a shade under 9 which makes it a vwry good value daily ride
You can also lose 3 pounds of body mass in two weeks easily and for free. Exact same effect. 😉
Compressionless brake housing - I installed them on all my bikes which are rim brake, and they make a signifcant difference. Well worth it. Plus they are about 40% lighter than standard housing.
However, I installed them on a disc brake gravel bike, and I cant say I felt the improvement. So, I would say that that's where the problem lies, rather than the housing itself.
Interesting! Perhaps the difference really is only worth it for rim brakes then...
I read about some other people combining it with the semi hydro disc brakes, and they said the performance is almost as good as the full hydro setups, so maybe that's worth looking into
@@JMower I have this setup with hybrid calipers. At the moment, I'd say I prefer my rim brakes for performance, so maybe I haven't optimised the disc brake setup properly yet.
I think tires/tubes are probably one of the best value for money and effort upgrades... I think you could save a couple of grams by chopping the chimney though lol
Agreed about the chimney, I'm keeping it on until I get a proper bike fit done, just incase the stem needs to be moved up a bit! The tires are such a massive difference, the level of grip on the new ones is insane!
I own one that is gray with red graphics so I put red and black camouflage on my bike will probably change the handlebars
Thanks for this vid, just bought one of these yesterday for my first road bike and wondered what upgrades people were putting on these. Are those crank arms carbon?
No problem! Not carbon, aluminium.
I did a full video talking about the crankset, check it out if you're interested!
ua-cam.com/video/wqvar2IBu2o/v-deo.html
Bar tape is a good upgrade
I have the same bike - and like it.
I find - unlike you - that compressionless housing on the brakes was a major benefit. Increased power and feel. Thought of buying new wheels, but unsure. Changed bar to a kitchensink, which is nice, Its a good value bike.
Good upgrades in my opinion; gear and brake cables outer and inner, bars and tires. No reason to make a cheap good bike into a expensive good bike :)
Interesting! It's possible I didn't install the brakes optimally as it was my first time doing it. I'll definitely check them out and make sure it's done as well as I can manage.
Definitely agree when it comes to tires. Out of curiosity I put some GP5000's on my old aluminium wheels and the difference in performance on the flat is tiny compared to the carbon wheels
@@JMower I used Jagwire Pro cables.
If you lack power you can run the inner cable on the top of the anchorpoint on caliber instead of under.
Decent weight saving, but it's quite a heavy bike at 11.42kg to start. Maybe a 105 11 speed upgrade will knock off another 0.5kg. Good move on the tyres and latex tubes. Time for some carbon handlebars and seatpost next.
The weird thing is that on the Trek website it says the stock weight is 10.3kg. I realise I added the pedals and bottle cages, but I don't think that's anywhere near the 1.1kg difference. I'm thinking about trying out one of the cheaper chinese brand 11 speed groupsets, but really don't want to be fiddling with the cable routing again anytime soon, so perhaps that's an upgrade for next winter!
@@JMower that is really disappointing. I would've complained and asked for some kind of compensation.
@@hoopdoggydogg If I were to buy a bike again I would definitely raise a fuss if it were that much over the specified weight. I checked again and the weight was for a size 56 and mine is 58 so that's probably something to do with it also
@@JMower hmm, I wouldn't have thought that 800g of weight is in one frame size up. Maybe 100-200g with an aluminium frame, and that's generous considering the technology of triple butting the tubes. 🤷🏾♂️
If anything, the paint could add half a kilo. And are you sure the weight quoted was with a Claris groupset, and not a Tiagra or 105?
Anyway, it is what it is.
If you use latex innertubes anyway, no need to spend the extra money for the tiubeless-ready 5000 GP STR, just take the standard 5000 GP.
And 1 kph faster just because of the deeper rims is a lot, but if it’s worth it, that’s surely a personal decision.
And deeper rims are stiffer, and so cornering is much more precise and will give you a safer feeling.
And they are more stable when going fast, especially noticeable when going downhill (when it’s not overly windy...).
I did end up upgrading to tubeless (finally), so it was worth getting the STRs.
For the carbon wheelset, I probably wouldn't spend the money myself on them, as I very rarely do fast group rides where the extra 1kmh makes a difference, but they're definitely a lot better than the stock ones, but just not worth it for the type of riding I usually do.
@@JMower Well, if tubeless is an option, the STRs are the way to go...
I found that the wheels, tires and inner tubes are much more important for the ride feel than anything else, including the frame. For beginners it's kind of strange to spend so much money on things that should just come with the bike. But its the easies area where bike companies can get cheap to get prices down.
I have the same bike for 3 years now, Just change the tyres, now I am hesitating between changing the wheels (but for aluminium one) or changing the group set to SRAM axs as it possible to get 12s on that same free hub, with my budget I can afford just one of those change. Not sure if an upgrade aluminium wheel for alu wheel would be worth. Also not sure I need another group set but feel like it would be nice to have hydrolic disk brake and more speeds. And SRAM made that lastest groupset really affordable >
Hey mate, I recently swapped the groupset to sram axs rival. However you DO need to swap the free hub. You can run shimano 12s, but not SRAM 12s as they use different free hubs. I wouldn't recommend changing to another set of aluminium wheels, the stock wheels are quite good, and really only upgrading to carbon would be worth it.
The upgrade to sram axs was good, but a lot of money for what it is. It shifting is slightly nicer, but to be honest the stock shifting is 95% as good. The hydraulic brakes are the by far the biggest upgrade, if the budget is tight i'd recommend looking for a mechanical groupset that has hydraulic shifting such as shimano 105.
Another option would be to get a gravel wheelset, I bought another aluminium wheelset that are a bit wider and use them for some light off road.
@@JMower I was under the impression that you could get a SRAM 12s casette of their lower tier as soon as it as a 11 tooth minimum because they use the same free hub, but then you need to get a mtb rear derailleur which is compatible with sram axs. but you are right going for 105 might be just a cheaper upgrade. Need to consider ! thanks for the feedback
@@crakqge maybe you're right, I'm 100% sure you can't get the 10t minimum on the same freehub but the 11t might be possible
Jeez I didn't realize how heavy entry level bikes are! 11.5kg is crazy! My Aeroad came in at 7.2kg and I considered that to be on the heavier side being an aero bike and all 😅
Yeah I was looking at some bikes from about 10 years ago, and it seems the weight of bikes has actually been going up for some reason. I'm not too bothered though, once I slim down I'll start to care more about the bike's weight I'm sure!
Bike looking nice mate u would save a bit of weight if you take of the 🛎️ 😂😂😂
As long as the tires are not beaded then changing a tire is not real hard
Do you know if 11/34 is the max? How can I go even further than that? It seems low!
Hey mate, 11/34 is the biggest the trek website says is supported. It might be able to go a bit higher, but I imagine the shifting wouldn't be as good. If you want an easier climbing gear you could change the crankset to a smaller one.
Which upgrades do you think are the best??
I'm planning to get AL3, just question, did you upgrade the stock brake from mechanical to hydraulic? what can you say about the stock brake of AL3? Thanks
Hey mate, I've found the stock brakes to be fine so far. Just need to make sure they're clean and well adjusted. They're able to lock up the tyres easily enough. No plans to upgrade to hydraulic brakes. To be honest I think upgrading to hydaulics is quite a big job, probably need to change the whole groupset so might be worth just getting a higher tier bike to begin with if you really want hydros
@JMower Thanks mate for the info! Actually, that is the only thing I'm concern with on this model, but seems to be OK. So probably I will go for AL3. BTW, I'm transitioning from MTB to RB, I think this model fits me as new to RB. Thanks again and ride safe.
why mtb pedals instead of road ?
Easier to clip in, lots of stop start traffic nearby where I live so the mtb pedals make life a lot easier
On the pedals:
I'd recommend SPD-SL (or look keo) instead of SPD.
They're meant for road bikes, and I definitely notice a difference in power transfer/feel.
SPD easier to clip in and out, but it's def worth the road cleats for power/feel.
Which shoes do u use ?
Just a cheap (£30) pair of unbranded chinese cycling shoes with the SPD cleats
@@JMower I see , thanks man
Upgrade to hydraulic brakes
tubeless!!
I'm thinking of using my old stock rims with some quite wide (maybe 35/38) tyres for gravel, and then going tubeless with those!
@@JMower if possible, I would go even wider! more comfort