Best replacement parts for a Carrera Zelos

[CK61938]

Hello,

I have a Carrera Zelos road bike bought from Halfords. It's a damn fine bike for £250 and I have been getting some serious mileage on it as the weather is starting to get better. Never thought I would enjoy being on a road bike so much given I had a hybrid for over 3 years and used to ride MTB's back in the day.

Thing is, with me using it to commute to work on a daily basis I feel it won't be long til I need to replace certain parts: chain and cassette mainly, possibly a new bottom bracket. I have had the bike since New Year's Day this year. I honestly don't know how often some of these parts need replacing. Is it every 3 months, 6 months, yearly? Hard to tell at times.

Question is, do I go for like for like on these parts in terms of pricce, or should I go for something slightly more pricey that I know will probably last longer. The cassette on the bike is a Shimano TZ500, 7 speed, 14-28t and the chain is just a regular old KMC Z51, 7 speed. For a full spec on the bike: https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/carrera-zelos-mens-road-bike-51-54cm

On top of this, I do plan on getting a more expensive bike at a later date via my cycle to work scheme. So I could probably hold off until then (likely to be between April and June). I got my eye on a couple of the Boardman SLR road bikes that are about a grand a pop and one of them has the Shimano 105 groupsets.

Any advice/suggestions are greatly welcomed and appreciated. Thanking you in advance!

 

[CK61938]

Cheers Jonny. I did check and noticed the wheel only accepts freewheel as opposed to regular cassette. I had a feeling it would be a case of keeping to original spec. Makes sense I guess, cheap bike may as well get the same cheap parts used to build it. But hopefully if and when I do get a new bike later on, it will definitely be one with much better specs.

 

[CK61938]

i had a play with that bike in my local halford. damn fine bike indeed. especially as a commuting workhorse. before moving onto a new bike, try some new tyres. Shimano 105 R7000 is still quite new, so not a lot of bikes have them yet. I think it is a major upgrade over the older 5800 version of 105. Also try Decathlon, this is one fine workhorse too:

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-rc-520-disc-road-bike-navy-105-id_8554421.html

Damn that bike does look good, but they only have S and XS sizes left and I require a M at least. But a very good price for the bike. My current bike actually has Continental GP 4 seasons. It was essentially the first things I changed when I bought the bike.