Collecting, owning, and riding your bikes isn’t a static process, like collecting, owning, and wearing watches (which also isn’t exactly static, but to a much lesser degree). Parts break and need replaced, you get bored or feel limited by the performance of other things, or maybe you simply want to try a new colour bar tape or a new saddle design.

Here are a few of the updates I’ve made over the past several months.

2001 Kawasaki ZRX1200R

The Powerbronze flip screen doesn’t look as good as the original OEM version, but it makes a massive difference at motorway speeds. There’s nothing more annoying than your head getting buffeted by turbulence and it bouncing around when trying to concentrate on the road. Also, the engine bars were just ugly. Of course, they do a job, to keep the bike from looking ugly if it falls over; however, if your bike looks ugly all the time… they’re not really doing their job very well.

Colnago Competition

Good tyres on your bicycle do make a difference (more on that later…), and when the Michelin Pro 3 Race came up for sale, I nabbed a pair. I’m switching over to 25c tyres now and the change is noticeable. Nice bar tape is noticeable too, but I’m not completely sold on silver for this application.

Bianchi M Alloy Pro (now sold)

The nice thing about a super-flashy Italian bike is you can’t go too far wrong with bold choices for colours. These lightly-used Michelin Pro 3 Race tyres came with the lightly-used Campy Scirocco wheels, and both are very nice upgrades to an already nice ride, not to mention a good way to highlight the red accents on the frame and saddle. Those tyres almost make the celeste bar tape look subtle, boring even.

Bianchi Sprint 76 (now parted-out and sold)

With brifters everywhere else, going back to DT shifters on the Sprint 76 made sense, as then I’d have a bit of everything. Reinstating the old Simplex DT friction shifters was easy, but originally covering a 5 speed cassette, they only gave me 8 of the 9 cogs of the modern wheelset, so I found an inexpensive set of SunTour friction shifters with a larger diameter barrel and so more cable pull to cover the whole 9 speed cassette. Throw in a beautiful set of SunTour Superbe brake levers, and upgraded Tektro calipers, and there really was no downside. Shifting is obviously different reaching to the downtube, but it’s a nice diversion and keeps things interesting. The braking performance of the Tektro calipers is miles ahead of the flexy Universals that came with the bike. And I really like the return of gold bar tape.

Bianchi Ti Megatube

I never thought spending more on really good tyres would make such a difference, but now I’m a believer. When a set of 25c Vittoria Corsa G+ tyres came up for sale at half price, I decided to give them a try – and not only do they look great, they make rough roads smooth and feel so fast, even at 80psi.