how much can my bike take?

trail jacker

hi all. recently bought a GT Aggressor XC3 (halfords) and am pretty pleased with it. ive been on it almost every day for 3 or so weeks and have been on some long xc rides. these include a fair bit of rough downhill (including very rocky and bumpy sections) and i was wondering how much the bike could take? i have been bombing it down them and was wondering whether to slow down on them. also, if anyone could suggest some upgrades to make the downhills more bike friendly i would appreciate it. thanks

MarvintheAndroid

The frame is plenty strong enough for this type of riding, provided that you don't go overboard and whack it into a rock or tree. However you will have limited control over the fork, especially bob during climbing and lack of fine tuning for small bumps, and you may find the brakes start to fade out on long downhills. Without a rear can you will need to acquire the skill to keep the rear wheel planted, but plenty of riders still prefer hardtails for all-mountain use and it's generally agreed to be the best type to learn skills on.

Useful ugrades for the future would be fork (so something with compression / rebound adjust and lockout, preferably motion control) but don't fit anything with too much travel or you will upset the geometry, say 100mm as a guide. Increasing the fork travel above what the frame is designed for will affect handling, and often make it worse. If you must go larger choose a U-turn fork so you can increase the travel for downhills and reduce it back down for XC.

Hydraulic disc brakes would also help, with maybe a larger front disc (say 7"). These may not seem overwhelmingly more powerful than your cable discs, but you can achieve much better feel and control of your braking.

The Acera gearing is quite low budget but functional, I would say ride it until it breaks and then upgrade to Deore or LX.

Marv

trail jacker

cheers marv. very much appreciated

trail jacker

do u reckon these forks would do the trick?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=13115

supersonic

Very good for for the money. What is also important is maintenance - keep it serviced and adjusted for long life.

MarvintheAndroid

The Aggressor appears to have been designed for a 100 mm fork. I can't say for sure, but you may find you can't use the full adjustment range of the 85 - 130mm Tora without upsetting the ride / handling.

I would suggest you look at the next one up, the Tora 318 Solo Air 100mm. This is 200g lighter due to having air spring not coil, and is the correct size for your frame (100mm travel). It is listed for XC and AM so should be fine for you.

The exception would be if you contact GT for advice, or if someone comes up with info to suggest that this frame will take the longer travel without problems. It might be OK. I'm just sounding a note of caution.

Having said that, the Tora 318 u-turn is definitely a good 'un.

Marv

supersonic

The frame can handle more travel, but thats not to say it will handle any better. Its sweet spot is 100mm, so the uturn can be advantageous for certain conditions, you can usually get away with 20mm either side.

MattBlackBigBoysBMX

Chances of you exceeding the bike's limits without falling off it are very slim.
Knock yourself out, give it large!

Spoony Man

I used to run an Orange Patriot Deore on Rockshox Recon U-turns... Awesome forks adjustable travel, compression and rebound - you can set the fork for every occasion.

Adjusting time (approx):

Compression: ridiculously hard to DH soft in 1 second

Travel: 130mm to 85mm 10-20 seconds

Rebound: slow to fast about 5 seconds - takes a while to find how YOU like it though, small adjustments then another ride, then re-adjust....

dcp1975

The Tora 318 is great i was out riding at 130 yesterday!!!!! Great fork for the cash

deanvw

how much could my saracen mantra 1 take?

trail jacker

thanks for your help everyone. just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for good adjustable xc forks with around 120mm travel. or would it really matter to the geometry going an extra 10mm to 130? any advice greatly appreciated.

supersonic

Budget? Tora or Recon.

trail jacker

around 100 - 150

supersonic

Have a look at the Tora Uturn.

trail jacker

how about these? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=13114
will they disrupt the geometry?

bradders1979

Hi there, I also have that bike. I mainly use mine on xc trails and the occasional long descent. Bought it at xmas and have upgraded most of the components -full xt drive train and Hope Minis bought 2nd hand.
I would say that the new brakes have given me much more confidence on this bike. The tektro mechanicals that it comes with fade easily and constantly need re-adjusting.
The fork is next on the upgrade list for me I think. 100mm travel is standard on the bike (RS dart1), so better off sticking to a fork with the same travel.
All in all though it has taken lots of riding from me (1000+ miles) and has held up nicely

trail jacker

ye, the tektro brakes are pretty bad arent they!
i have been considering the fork situation for some time now, and have decided to go for the Tora 203's.
my reasoning is that the frame is pretty much the same as the xc1, which uses the tora 203 u-turn (85-130mm), so i dont think the geometry would be affected too much. i too do a lot of riding, with rough downhill descents, and i would only use the full 130mm for them, makin the ride more stable etc.
what do u reckon?

trail jacker

or should i go for the 100mm fixed tora's?
im so confused!!
people keep giving me conflicting advice!!!!

ride_whenever

If I were you i'd put on a set of tora 318's, the air ones, they are lighter and pretty tough, with poploc, which is nice. Get them at 100mm as the 130mm are apparently a bit flexy. As for strength I currently have a set of the 318 and I'm jumping on them, doing moderate drops as well and they are fine, for the moment, and i weigh 95Kg!!

bradders1979

Not got much experience of which fork is best etc, but the Dart 1 weighs a touch under 2.5kg - pretty heavy. I'm sure the ride will be much better with a nicer fork. Let us know what you go for in the end