Deore drive train upgrade, worth it?

patch150

Hi,
im looking to upgrade my current drive train from basic SRAM SX4 to a full shimano Deore system. I got a few quotes from some lbs and best i got was;
Chainset £50, Cassette £22.49, Shifters £31.49, F mech £17.99, R mech £24,99 and SRAM PC951 Chain £15.99 + free fitting.

My questions are is this a reasonable deal? and for £160 am i going to notice a big improvement to my current system?

p.s my current cassette is worn so i have to change that and the chain anyway thats why i thinking maybe upgrading everything in go would make more sense!?!

Advice welcome, thanks

Thewaylander

what bike would you be putting all this on?

patch150

My bike is a carerra Vulcan, i've already spent a bit of cash on the bike, marz mx pro forks and deore hydraulic discs.

supersonic

Its more than you'd pay online, but you have peace of mind with fitting and back up. And it will be smoother and lighter than SX4.

stayhigh65

If your confident enough to do the work yourself then it will be a lot cheaper ordering online as noted above. Its not as daunting as it may at first seem to be, the forums are full of help and advice and there are several good sites to check out how to do stuff like Park Tools and bikemagic is quite helpful too.

As an idea for £105 you can get the following from merlin cycles;

Deore cassette + Chain £20.95, Deore shifters, front and rear mechs £44.95 and the crank £39.95.

For £160 you could upgrade to LX throughout which would be a lot nicer then what you currently have not to say that the Deore isn't good either. if you go the Deore route then consider getting the LX crank instead as it is a solid reliable piece of kit. Also think about Sram cassettes and chains which I've found to be longer lasting them the Shimano counterparts.

Hope this helps

FSR_XC

A guide to what you can get it for (with LX prices in brackets)

Chainset £39.95 (£58.95)
Cassette £9.95 (£18.95)
Shifters £18.95 (£25.95)
F mech £10.95 (£12.95)
R mech £14.95 (£18.95)
SRAM PC951 Chain £14.50 (PC971 - £17.99)

A fair bit cheaper.

Personally I would get a couple of sets of prices from web based sources, then see how close the LBS will get on price.

patch150

Thanks for everyones help so far.
Another couple of questions, just looking on the merlin website, for the Cassette theres two options 11-32 or 11-34? and the chainset 68mm or 73mm ? (i suppose it depends on what size the orginal is?) go easy on a complete novice...!

Thanks

hoathy

On the cassette the numbers refer to the number of teeth, so the 11-32 has a bigest ring (lowest gear) with 32 teeth and the 11-34 has one with 34 teeth, the 34 tooth version will give you a lower lowest gear and simply for the issue of range, thats the one I would buy.
The 68/73mm business refers to the bottom bracket shell width, to measure this: either turn the bike upside-down and get a ruler (or calipers) and measure the width of the piece of tube the bottom bracket is within. Or: if you have already started the de-construction job and aren't feeling in the measuring mood look at the removed bottom bracket, it will say what shell width it is. Also if you're lucky and you tell people on here what year your frame is, they may know/be able to find out this measurement for you, but it is i guess always best to measure and be certain!

supersonic

With the newer bottom brackets/chainsets, does not make a difference what shell you have - the shebangle comes with necessary spacers for all sizes