Upgrading?

[dirty boy]

Kind of new to off roading, been on my Specialized Rockhopper 2007 since new, no changes other than a few tyres/wheels and innertubes!

However, went out last night, across the marshes (long story which I won't bore you with) but I had zip zero grip on the rear on soft mud with my schwable marathon rear.

I want to upgrade the bike, but don't want to spend loads, so i'm after a rear wheel (so I can simply swap the whole wheel and tyre over for when I commute or go off road)

I'd also like some lighter shocks (that work) over the Rockshox I have currently, whatever they may be?

Any recommendations on tyres too? Preferably light ones that are relatively able to cope with a bit of rough.

[curlie467]

Seriously dont bother getting a spare wheel just to swap in between commute and off road tyres.

It is so quick and simple to just change tyres and when on a budget this is the no-brainer.

I run WTB raijin race tyres and they have been great but you will get lots of different recommendations, panaracer firexc pro are a good shout.

With forks, it depends what you want to spend, what spec is yours, you could have anything from a dart upto a recon.

If i was buying then i would get Rockshox rebas.

[anonymous-user]

there is no point getting a new rear wheels, just get folding tyres and they will be easy to change. i use Panaracer Fire XC Pros because they are a pretty good all rounder and Maxxis Larsen TTs if its nice and dry

[dirty boy]

curlie467 said:

Seriously dont bother getting a spare wheel just to swap in between commute and off road tyres.

It is so quick and simple to just change tyres and when on a budget this is the no-brainer.

I run WTB raijin race tyres and they have been great but you will get lots of different recommendations, panaracer firexc pro are a good shout.

With forks, it depends what you want to spend, what spec is yours, you could have anything from a dart upto a recon.

If i was buying then i would get Rockshox rebas.

Well, my current rear wheel is pretty heavy, the last one (specialized) was buckled, and I replaced it with something pretty crude and heavy, so a decent rear wheel is not a bad shout for me, anything sub <£200 for the wheel (whole lot) then a nice light but tough tyre?

Thanks for the tyre recommendation though, seen one I like, fairly light, and probably the right type of tread, and a decent price.

Seen the REBA shocks, just looking at the RockShox Reba SL Dual Air Forks (2010) for £279, which doesn't seem too bad to be honest?

Really, it's a minefied out there.

[dirty boy]

dirty boy said:

Well, my current rear wheel is pretty heavy, the last one (specialized) was buckled, and I replaced it with something pretty crude and heavy, so a decent rear wheel is not a bad shout for me, anything sub <£200 for the wheel (whole lot) then a nice light but tough tyre?

Thanks for the tyre recommendation though, seen one I like, fairly light, and probably the right type of tread, and a decent price.

Seen the REBA shocks, just looking at the RockShox Reba SL Dual Air Forks (2010) for £279, which doesn't seem too bad to be honest?

Really, it's a minefied out there.

So just to clarify

• get the rear tyre recommended
• get the REBAs 2010 ones okay? quite a bit cheaper than the 2011 ones...
• just need a new rear wheel, something nice and light would be good, as I do commute, and making that easier/quicker would be a good thing.

Will I need anything else, will all bits transfer straight from my bike? (I really am clueless)

[Kermit power]

I'd think the decision to buy spare wheels or not would depend on how often you're going to swap from one to the other?

If you're going to use the bike 95% of the time for commuting, then just swap the tyres when you need to. If you're likely to want to swap them a few times each week, then I'd go for spare wheels. Nothing worse than heading off to work only to find you've forgotten to take the knobblies off!

The other advantage of getting a spare wheel is that you could choose different rear cassettes for on and off road should you wish to.

[dirty boy]

Kermit power said:

I'd think the decision to buy spare wheels or not would depend on how often you're going to swap from one to the other?

If you're going to use the bike 95% of the time for commuting, then just swap the tyres when you need to. If you're likely to want to swap them a few times each week, then I'd go for spare wheels. Nothing worse than heading off to work only to find you've forgotten to take the knobblies off!

The other advantage of getting a spare wheel is that you could choose different rear cassettes for on and off road should you wish to.

The group we're going to go out with, tend to do every Wednesday evening, so that'll be the offroad day, and i'll need normal tyres for the Thursday morning, so does make sense to me.

What's the deal with a cassette? Do I need anything special for off road?

[Kermit power]

dirty boy said:

The group we're going to go out with, tend to do every Wednesday evening, so that'll be the offroad day, and i'll need normal tyres for the Thursday morning, so does make sense to me.

What's the deal with a cassette? Do I need anything special for off road?

If you're only doing it once per week, then it's probably not worth the expense of new wheels.

As for the cassette, no, you don't need anything off road, but you're generally going to want lower gears off road than on the road simply because cycling through mud is harder than cycling on tarmac, so if you were going to get spare wheels, you might as well get one with a road-biased cassette and one with an off-road biased cassette.

As an example, an off-road biased 12-36 tooth cassette...



And a road biased 12-23 tooth...

[nammynake]

So 479 for some shocks and a wheel? Or this new bike for about 50 quid more:

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?...

[dirty boy]

nammynake said:

So 479 for some shocks and a wheel? Or this new bike for about 50 quid more:

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?...

My wife may have something to say about a new bike. "Unecessary" will be one of the words she would use.

Upgrades will not bother her.

[nammynake]

dirty boy said:

nammynake said:

So 479 for some shocks and a wheel? Or this new bike for about 50 quid more:

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?...

My wife may have something to say about a new bike. "Unecessary" will be one of the words she would use.

Upgrades will not bother her.

hahaha, I know what you mean. Fortunately for me my OH has given up and now accepts my bike addition. Currently have 3 (road, full suss XC and a converted hardtail-cum-touring bike).

[yellowjack]

dirty boy said:

My wife may have something to say about a new bike. "Unecessary" will be one of the words she would use.

Upgrades will not bother her.

For "Upgrades will not bother her", read: 'upgrades, if brought home and fitted while she's not about, are easier to deny, and if you can't get away with that, you can always bluff along the "just essential maintenance" line.' Personally, I'd look at the Canyon, and have one bike set up for the commute and the other for the trails. I now have 5 bikes, although to be fair, 2 don't count (BSOs), and one is (very) broken, so it's 2 serviceable bikes, one roadie and a MTB for the weekends.