Best upgrade?

teacherman

I'm going to start to upgrade my Kona Caldera. Can't decide whether to change fork (marzocchi mx2) or the wheels.

Which one do people reckon is best in terms of performance?

Not too keen on the fork so heading in that direction. I ride XC.

aphex2k

As a rule of thumb, things that rotate usually make the best upgrades.

Lighter wheels, tyres and tubes will mean you can spin up faster, and stop that little bit quicker.

After that look at crank and rings, and cassette and chain.

Do you really need to upgrade your forks right now? If so, I'd go for some Rebas. Great forks, pretty much fit and forget bar the odd adjustment of -ve and +ve pressures.

Have a look at Merlin Cycles. Great deals on factory or individually build wheels, and usually some sort of free delivery or 10% offer.

supersonic

Do you mean MZ2? If it is the MZ2, that would be upgraded 1st on my bike, its horrific.

John Stevenson

Unless you're trying to win cross-country races, weight-saving upgrades are a mug's game. A new set of wheels and tyres will cost a few hundred quid, and save perhaps half a kilo. I seem to recall Bontrager once demonstrating that this saved you somehting like 12 seconds on a five mile climb. For most of us, that's in 'big fat hairy deal' territory.

A better fork on the other hand, pays dividends in grins. Better traction and shock-absorption is like buying skill, and far more of it than the 'buying fitness' equivalent of lighter wheels.

Oh, and before someone throws 'but wheels count double' at me. No, they don't. Urban (or rural, in the case of MTBs) myth.

Kraig Willett's analysis here totally destroys the idea that wheel weight matters:

http://www.biketechreview.com/archive/wheel_theory.htm

teacherman

Yeah did mean MZ 2 and yeah it is horrific- haven't ridden for a while but thought budget forks would have moved on a bit - its worse than the Judy T2 fork on the last bike i had.

Thanks supersonic - forks it is. Would want to spend around £300 - what do you reckon?

teacherman

Sorry John didn't say thanks - that was interesting. Rural myth is v. much perpetuated by magazines though. In almost every test they mention weight of wheels and how much livelier it makes the ride!

Lovin' the zaskar supersonic - got to clean the drool off my laptop now!

sam1234

I would also say wheels first. I've got a Kona Hoss and as the wheels were so heavy along with the forks I upgraded both at the same time.

Went for a pair of Mavic Crossland wheels (£120) which are nice light and very well bulit which I run tubeless. I also got a Rock Shox Revalation fork (oil and coil version) with U turn and pop loc. Found this to be a very good fork which eats up the bumps.
Looking at upgrading to XT cranks next.

John Stevenson

teacherman wrote:

Rural myth is v. much perpetuated by magazines though. In almost every test they mention weight of wheels and how much livelier it makes the ride!

Indeed. The problem is, it's hard to disprove this stuff. My personal suspicion is that if you swapped a test rider between two otherwise identical bikes, one of which had heavier wheels than the other, they'd have a hell of a time telling the difference. Problem is, it's hard to do, because you can see which one has the narrow rims etc.

One of these days I will get round to doing this with two bikes that have identical rims, but one has lead weights inside somehow.

ddoogie

Did anyone get the MBR from a few months ago, where they did an experiment just like you mentioned J.S. It was interesting reading seeing how different weights affected the bike in different ways. Lighter wheels and components certainly made a difference to the handling.

Saying that, I'd go with the fork upgrade first. Extra control = extra speed on the downhill sections. And that's much more fun than shaving a few seconds off the uphill!

Wolf

Rebas will save a good deal of weight too! I would say, if you have £300, you can get some £225 Rebas and keep the change. Use it to buy some Mavic717 rim/shimano XC hub wheels from Merlin. Sorted.

royboy11

What I do is wait until something needs to be replaced then upgrade it to something better. I don't do any upgrades for weight though, I just eat a few less fries the day before...

supersonic

Interesting article, effectively dismisses the notion that a 29er will will accelerate more slowly and hold speed better due to its 'flywheel' effect. However my understanding is that acceleration and decceleration are the factors that are changed with wheel size, and the power required to keep it at constant speed is the same. This should also hold true for the mass of a wheel - if the mass is the same, but more is say in the tyres/rims, the acceleration will be effected, but power required to maintain constant speed the same.

Anyway, a 500g saving for 100 quid or so is not too bad, certainly a lot better than saving 50g by buying an expensive stem or seatpost. Also a handbuilt pair will be more durable, and tyres make great upgrades. But that fork has to go, and A reba would be my choice.

teacherman

Thanks everyone - think on balance i can live with the wheels but the fork is a pretty poor item - have to do some shopping (and saving).