Hardrock upgrades
Discussion
Hello,
My front wheel bearings and cones (Right hand side) are pitted/scored. I seem to have the choice of a wobbly wheel or a grinding wheel, not the usual smooth and stable option.
New cones and bearings, you say.
The inside of the hub looks fine but it could also be damaged too.
So, being as I only have Vbrakes, I thought this could be a good time to get a new wheel so I can add disc brakes (The forks have the correct mount but the wheel currently doesn't)
Pricing this all up though, you easily get carried away and all of a sudden, I could have sold my hardrock and bought a Rockhopper for less money.Especially as I know I'd want (not neccessarily need) more gears and better forks too.
So how do you decide which route to go down?
My front wheel bearings and cones (Right hand side) are pitted/scored. I seem to have the choice of a wobbly wheel or a grinding wheel, not the usual smooth and stable option.
New cones and bearings, you say.
The inside of the hub looks fine but it could also be damaged too.
So, being as I only have Vbrakes, I thought this could be a good time to get a new wheel so I can add disc brakes (The forks have the correct mount but the wheel currently doesn't)
Pricing this all up though, you easily get carried away and all of a sudden, I could have sold my hardrock and bought a Rockhopper for less money.Especially as I know I'd want (not neccessarily need) more gears and better forks too.
So how do you decide which route to go down?
cheap option: spend £30 on a new wheel, if you are only riding off road 30% of thetime, upgrading a mountain bike with better mountian bike components doesnt make much sense to me
expensive option: get a new bike.
personally, i think you are better getting a new bike if you are planning to change so much but you do need to ride off road more often to make it a senisble proposition
when you work out all the potential costs involved with a new set of forks, a new front wheel, a new brake lever (possibly integrated with shifter) its not worth upgrading just to bimble on towpaths!. at the end of the day, the hardrocks weakest point is its frame. its heavy and cheap alu which affects the ride quality.
I guess having mismatched brakes isnt ideal off road and the higher performance of the front compared to the rear might make for some exciting moments. braking technique is quite personal, which you use to scub off speed/contorl the bike etc but i would always want to know that front and rear are equally powerful.
are you looking at hydraulic or cable discs?, as said, you will obvioulsy only need a new lever if you are going for hydraulics as you should be ok using the existing stuff for cable discs which are fine btw, just not quite as good, the calipers tend to be a bit flimsy and cables tend to drop in performance quicker than fluid needs changing.
You can get rock shox sektor forks fairly cheap, places like CRC, Merlin and On One are worth a look. they are basic for aftermarket shocks but going to be an improvement on what you have at the moment.
for the brakes I would look at Avid Elixir stuff, its cheap and functional.
i'd look at Merlin for the front wheel too, for around £65 you should get a nice shimano deore hub on a mavic rim built up.
try rose bikes and bike-discount.de for the other spares, they are a fair bit cheaper than uk websites and i use them a fiar bit without hassle.
Bike discount had a Radon bike on sale around £800 with slx and fox forks which looked nice. No idea on Radon bikes but if you can stomach not having a fancy name on your down tube its a steal.
so in conclusion, buy a new mountain bike, ride off road more often!
expensive option: get a new bike.
personally, i think you are better getting a new bike if you are planning to change so much but you do need to ride off road more often to make it a senisble proposition
when you work out all the potential costs involved with a new set of forks, a new front wheel, a new brake lever (possibly integrated with shifter) its not worth upgrading just to bimble on towpaths!. at the end of the day, the hardrocks weakest point is its frame. its heavy and cheap alu which affects the ride quality. I guess having mismatched brakes isnt ideal off road and the higher performance of the front compared to the rear might make for some exciting moments. braking technique is quite personal, which you use to scub off speed/contorl the bike etc but i would always want to know that front and rear are equally powerful.
are you looking at hydraulic or cable discs?, as said, you will obvioulsy only need a new lever if you are going for hydraulics as you should be ok using the existing stuff for cable discs which are fine btw, just not quite as good, the calipers tend to be a bit flimsy and cables tend to drop in performance quicker than fluid needs changing.
You can get rock shox sektor forks fairly cheap, places like CRC, Merlin and On One are worth a look. they are basic for aftermarket shocks but going to be an improvement on what you have at the moment.
for the brakes I would look at Avid Elixir stuff, its cheap and functional.
i'd look at Merlin for the front wheel too, for around £65 you should get a nice shimano deore hub on a mavic rim built up.
try rose bikes and bike-discount.de for the other spares, they are a fair bit cheaper than uk websites and i use them a fiar bit without hassle.
Bike discount had a Radon bike on sale around £800 with slx and fox forks which looked nice. No idea on Radon bikes but if you can stomach not having a fancy name on your down tube its a steal.
so in conclusion, buy a new mountain bike, ride off road more often!
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 10th July 16:13
Hi Pablo,
That's pretty much what I thought/wanted to hear.
It's very easy to get carried away, isn't it!
I'm thinking I'd like to get a better offroad bike and swap the hardrock to commuting only...
But then I'm thinking I'd want a proper road bike too.
So all of a sudden I've gone from buying a few bearings to buying 2 new bikes!
That's pretty much what I thought/wanted to hear.
It's very easy to get carried away, isn't it!
I'm thinking I'd like to get a better offroad bike and swap the hardrock to commuting only...
But then I'm thinking I'd want a proper road bike too.
So all of a sudden I've gone from buying a few bearings to buying 2 new bikes!
AndyDRZ said:
Hi Pablo,
That's pretty much what I thought/wanted to hear.
It's very easy to get carried away, isn't it!
I'm thinking I'd like to get a better offroad bike and swap the hardrock to commuting only...
But then I'm thinking I'd want a proper road bike too.
So all of a sudden I've gone from buying a few bearings to buying 2 new bikes!
you'll fit in well here...That's pretty much what I thought/wanted to hear.
It's very easy to get carried away, isn't it!
I'm thinking I'd like to get a better offroad bike and swap the hardrock to commuting only...
But then I'm thinking I'd want a proper road bike too.
So all of a sudden I've gone from buying a few bearings to buying 2 new bikes!
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