Time to blow me wages - large customisation of bike

J@mi3

Yeah, things I'm looking to replace (with estimates/rough limits on amount to spend):

Rear Wheel (£70)
Shifter + Cable (£35)
9spd Cassette (£20)
9spd Chain (£15)
Seat Post (£40)
Saddle (£25)
Grips (£10)

Total: £195 (probably another £35-40 for service + fitting costs aswell at LBS)

My bike as it was before recent damage is in my sig, I use it for DJ/moderate freeride/trails (and getting to work on once it's back, atm i use my brothers)


Ok, essentially current problem(s) I've had:

Seat Post splines have almost fully rounded all the way around, leaving very little grip left (not enough to sit on and it remain in place to give you an idea)
Seat has bent down at the front, although rails seem to be in good condition
Rear wheel has a major buckle from being hipped badly whilst the spokes were looser than normal, unable to be trued (however has not buckled further for over a year now, and has taken large abuse since then)
Right grip has a large groove out of it where spade handle has rested on way to trails/jumps, right down to the metal (need a non glove specific lock on this time)
Snapped Dropout/Derallieur, removing Derallieur found cable had been overtightened and it snapped aswell - replaced dropout + derallieur, now decided to give myself a better system with an extra gear (cassette and chain has some wear, nothing major however i thought i'd replace the full system while i was at it to try and make it last longer now rather than later)




So, ideas of what I may get atm (you're more than welcome to offer ideas + comments here guys, this are my hard earnt pennies and i want them spent most wisely!!!


EX721s on Deore hubs using DB spokes
FR style seat (I'm not a huge fan of DJ style seats as they're harder to get your legs jammmed in on and keeping control of your bike better in the air, if you get what I'm trying to say haha
Another pair of Lock on grips, non glove specific this time!!!
XT M770 shifter pod


Rest I'm not so sure on, I don't really want to replace with identical (esspecially seat post, however this may be an issue since it's a non standard seat post placement and may end up like this) but will if necassery.



I've also got around £620 owed by my father, so if some of that comes my way I'll also be wacking a pair of Argyle 318s or DJ 1 or 2s on aswell (then the fitting charge will increase a bit more haha)



I swear I'm missing something, I worked it out as £220 approx earlier pre service/fitting during a break earlier today -.- If i remember/work it out what it may be i'll add it lol! Just remember, it's my hard earned pennies and I want to spend it as wise as I possibly can

ride_whenever

might need new chainrings, and i'd say go sram for jumping.

J@mi3

ride_whenever wrote:

might need new chainrings, and i'd say go sram for jumping.

I'd hope not, it seemed the least worn, plus it's a single chainring aswell, recently had a chain guide fitted aswell. If it makes any difference it's a DMR Saturn 42t. Just bought a XT M771 Derallieur so aslong as it's SRAM component adaptable I don't mind, however I've not heard any mjaor bad things about LX/XT combo (I'd take an LX cassette over XT for the increased rigidity personally)



BTW; these depth of apparant scratching/inprecise drilling should be expected on a component I've paid £33 for? ( Sorry my camera was being annoying, wouldn't get light in macro and kept blurring when I took a picture dead on so had to take at a slight angle away from light source, pics; http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/1880/dscf0230ha9.jpg http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/965/dscf0231na9.jpg )

ride_whenever

So you've got the stuff in the list, and you need a new post, saddle, grips, pod and wheel.

I'd get a better rear hub, and buy it from merlin, so i'd go for at least an xt hub if you cannot stretch to a hope/xtr one. just for the better sealing.

J@mi3

Everything listed above with a price in brackets beside it I want to replace.


I bought the replacement derallieur already as I'd snapped a jockey wheel in half on my old one. I could set up my bike as it but It'd likely just break more parts over time + would need the gear cable replaced, so I'm going to replace a whole list of problems in one go and get my whoes with this bike fixed so i can go huck drops again and be confident that my bike won't fall apart around my legs if i hit a large jump.



I'm getting the wheel from CRC/Merlin as they pre-stress + true/tension the wheel so I don't have to do it over a factory built bed in period. Anything else isn't hugely important on where I get it from within the UK

ride_whenever

Where did you get the derraileur from? I was just thinking maybe you might want to return it for a shadow mech, quieter and a bit tougher that's all.

As for stuff, wish list of the best parts,

xt cassette, sram chain, lx pods, control tech smica post, dunno on saddle i'm afraid. Grips, north shore for large hands, ruffians for small ones.

Merlin are currently doing thomson posts for 44, which is really good, so i'd do that if you can. Aspire velotech is also very cheap, but will take longer.

wheel, as above, but get it from merlin, top notch build quality.

J@mi3

CRC, was going to get shadow but got recommended that it is much more liable to damage in crashes and isn't as rigid as the one i chose instead, inspite of it supposidly being better placed.


ruffian looks good, was using an old set of intense and they wore away very quickly when not using gloves (bad in summer since my hands stink every time i rode!) and even worse when i was carry a spade to our trails/jumps.


XT cassette doesn't look rigid enough and I've heard they're more likely to bend, hence I was looking to either LX or going SRAM. Pods I think I'll probably go XT aswell though


Rest I'm still looking at, Probably take me a few days looking and deciding to get it rattled down to a few choices lol!

J@mi3

up



So far I'm set (or well, pretty much haha) on:

XT M770 shifter pod
ODI Ruffian lock ons
YBN Reluctant MK9S2 9spd chain (any recommendations over this? It seems pretty awesome)



rest I'm free to budge on (and considering waiting a bit longer to get a really nice sounding hub on the rear wheel so the freewheel sounds the shiz!)

norco forever

pro 2 hubs sound sweet but rather pricey lol, have you considered easton vice seatpost meant to be really good.

J@mi3

Dunno if I can justify £150 on a single wheel though, seems alot really esspecially when I'm not giving my bike as much abuse as I used to (maybe as I'm getting older I'm getting more technical and less gutsy)



problem with seatpost is it seems likely I'd have to cut down alot of the post to get a decent fit aswell (if this one goes to shit I'm just going to get one of the guys at work to weld the bastard thing togethor with the seat, hell, atleast it'll be strong as an ox then ) but yeah that looks pretty decent, I was also considering the thompson elite whilst it was in the sale @ merlin (hoping it was the right size in the sale haha) - I believe it's 27.2 but not 100%

J@mi3

up?

ride_whenever

If you want to save money, get a smica, really strong, if you are cutting, cut as little off as possible to retain strength obviously.


I'd say xt hubs still, £13 for much better sealing.

J@mi3

Ok, saved a fair bit from what I expected to pay at the dentist, so more cash to spend on my bike (yay!)



What Hub size do I need in hope pro 2s ? (there's so many different types, i'm using a QR atm so standard right?) and I'll have to get it from merlin anyway since CRC has so little in stock -.-



Anyway decided on now:


Hope Pro 2s on ex721s /w DB spokes
Shimano XT m770 shifter pod
YBN Reluctant MK9S2 9spd chain
ODI Ruffas(or ruffian, well you get the idea) Lock ons



Still unsure on saddle, seatpost + cassette

ride_whenever

If pro II then you'll need xt cassette because alloy freehub with steel cassette is BAAAAAD, I'd go for the 11-34 as you've got only one ring on front. Saddle, possibly SDG bell air and a thomson post as you're feeling flush!

OllyUK

In regards to the seatpost, how about a thomson seatpost they tend to be superior in almost all situations:

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=produ ... egoryId=55

J@mi3

ride_whenever wrote:

If pro II then you'll need xt cassette because alloy freehub with steel cassette is BAAAAAD, I'd go for the 11-34 as you've got only one ring on front. Saddle, possibly SDG bell air and a thomson post as you're feeling flush!

XT is still steel, just chrome plated (and i've heard is more supple to bending compared to SRAM) (maybe you mean the contact between the freewheel + cassette, such as getting alloy/aluminium spacers?)


I'm using 11-32 atm and it works fine (infact I never/very rarely go below the 3rd largest ring)


already considering the thompson elite

J@mi3

ok, just ordered new chain, grips, shifters



will probably go for this cassette:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=8332
and probably this seat:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=3618



sent merlin an email, waiting for an appropriate response before ordering wheel


so left is seat post!!!



Now my old seat post I've measured; 27.2 x approx 310 long layback


will I need another layback to replace or will inline make a difference (i really like current seat position where I'm further back in the bike) ? because I'd like to go for thompson elite inline whilst it's in the sale @ merlin, but dunno if changing from layback to inline will make a huge difference

J@mi3

anyone? the post can sit max 170mm into tube because of the frame design, hence I want a post max 350mm (prefered 330-250mm). And also the only layback I can find which looks any good is the thompson elite, costing £60, which is just too much. Looks like thompson inline @ 350mm (although this still seems a little long for me and may need a few cms cutting off) from merlin whilst it's in the sale.