MTB - To upgrade or to buy a new one

gingerboy99

I have a trek 6500 that is about 8 years old, its a good bike as far as I am concenred in that its nice to ride, its fairly low spec (its only got 21 gears - blimey!), but the (rigid)frame is quite light.

I want to get back in to mountain biking and am wondering if it would be better to try and sell the bike, which I doubt would fetch much and and start again or upgrade the groupset, put some decent susi forks on and maybe go for disc brakes.

I do mostly XC riding and feel that the bike with a few choice upgrades would serve me well, I could then upgrade the frame at a later date.

What would you do in my position?

Si.

I'm sorry but this is as fast as I can go!

Unknown

Honestly?

Its going to be lots of hassle to upgrade it, so why not ride it as it is and save some money for a new bike?
No reason why you can't replace any of the parts that are on it anyway, as they break. BUT mtb's have changed a lot in 8 years and a new bike will be a vast improvement.

i say all that having ridden my 8 year old Kona round the woods today [;)]

Mleh Mleh Mleh

simbil1

I'd sell if I wanted disc brakes on the rear (at that age I'm guessing it doesn't have mounts) or if the geometry is not suited to 100mm travel forks (and I wanted them).
Otherwise, upgrade all the way. Splash the Deore around and maybe treat yourself to an XT rear mech and get some nice wheels and a few sets of tyres for varying conditions.

You might want to compare the upgrade costs against a good second hand bike as you can get some bargains in the ever changing MTB market.

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http://picasaweb.google.com/thefirstsimbil/Bikes

Unknown

Get a new one...not worth upgrading...You could always keep it as a hack bike or use as a commuter with slicks on.

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I'm not a failure - I'm a deferred success!

ghitchen

Okay, let's be sensible here before wasting lots of money in the fashion-led world of MTBing . . .

1. What sort of mountain biking do you want to get back into?
2. In what ways is your current bike unsuitable for your answer to No. 1?
3. If you have to spend some money, how much can you afford?

Once we have these answers we can look at options.

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Yes, but apart from the elephants, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Rich Hcp

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by punkypossum</i>

Get a new one...not worth upgrading...You could always keep it as a hack bike or use as a commuter with slicks on.

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I'm not a failure - I'm a deferred success!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yep,

Richard

Best thing I ever bought for a bike?
Padded shorts![:D]

gingerboy99

Thanks for your thoughts guys, gives me some things to think about.

I guess thinking about it sensibly (not like me at all) I should ride it as is for a while, get back in to it see what works and what doesnt, perhaps save a bit of cash in the mean time and go from there.

Watch this space.

Si

I'm sorry but this is as fast as I can go!

peterbr

Get a new one for offroad and fit slicks and a cheap rigid fork (ebay) and make it into a city bike/commuter

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Elephants and Ivory go together in perfect harmony. Oh Lord, why can't we?