New bike after 8 years of non-riding

hackjo

Hi all,

I used to ride every night up to the age of 21 when I er.... got a car.

Now I adore my motors but rising costs and rising weight (i.e. mine) have prompted me to get another bike to commute to work (a varied journey on different surfaces) and take out at the weekend.

I didn't have a lot of capital so I have bought a Diamondback M:05, based on advice from various riders - it was a good fit for my minimal budget.

I am lucky to live next door to a ex semi-professional rider who has set up the bike for me and made some suggestions as to upgrades I can do over the next few months as I get back into riding. He has commented that the frame, wheels, saddle and brakes are good and that the gearing, front forks, pedals and headset are best changed (obviously where costs have been cut on this entry model).

What components should I fit bearing in mind that I may well buy a better bike in 8 to 12 months? Will the Diamondback be sufficient to get me back into biking?

supersonic

Can you be more specific on the model year? Do you have a link to said bike?

hackjo

Linky: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... ryrn_82394

I think it might be the 2007 model as it was on sale in the dreaded Halfords.

supersonic

To upgrade to a decent fork and headset (providing the frame takes a standard 1+1/8thy inch headset, it may not) will cost you about 120 quid minumum for say a RockShox Tora and FSA Orbit XL2 headset.

New gears, to make it worthwhile may well be another 100quid.


I'd weigh this up against a new bike, and selling the old one!

BlackSpur

I used to have a "Cross Speedster", which is just one of those bikes rebranded, whith a few different components. I would say from my experiences with the bike that it is not worth upgrading, as to get it to a "reasonable" spec it would cost more that buying a new bike.

If you have your heart set on upgrading, Toras are a good suggestion for forks. I would also want to upgrade the drivetrain to 8 or 9 speed, as Tourney gear is pretty poor IMO. I would also want to upgrade the brakes to either hydraulic discs such as Shimano M485s or a decent set of Vs - I found the standard brakes to be awful, not nearly on par with the boggo V's on my current bike!