Upgrade advice please help me spend money!

ianh83

I have decided to buy a Focus Fatboy 08 (due late may). My question is what, if anything, should I upgrade? I have in the region of £20 to £50 (depending on whether I think the upgrade is worth it) and would like to buy any upgrades now so wiggle fit them free of charge before sending me the bike plus I can add them to my order as it is still outstanding and get 10% off anything under £50. So, what if anything should I upgrade? I have read on the bikeradar review that the crankset and bottom bracket are an "obvious concession to price". I have thought about a riser bar but that's something I will reconsider later when I've tried the bike. I would be greatful if anyone could point me towards specific products for sale on wiggle that they can recommend as worthwhile upgrades for the fatboy.

Thanks for any advice.

Ian

dan1983

Find out how long the seatpost is. I bought a Focus last year, and the seatpost was really short (too short for my lanky legs) and that needed upgrading.

ianh83

Thanks for the warning but I don't think I'll have much luck finding that out before getting the bike and to be honest even if I knew I would struggle to work out if it's ok without actually sitting on the bike. I would be surprised if it's not ok though, I have ordered size "L" which should be ok for people between 5'10" and 6'1" and I'm 6"0'.

BlackSpur

I would have put an extra £50 into the original budget. As Supersonic said in a thread recently, why buy a bike then upgrade imediately, paying aftermarket prices.
Too late now though, so I would look at the contact points i.e. grips, saddle, pedals to try amd make the bike more comfortable. If they are all OK I'd go for tyres, probably some 2.2 Conti Mountain Kings.

ianh83

I understand what you are saying about putting the money into the original budget, but the thing is I can't find a bike for under £550 that beats the fatboy. It isn't too late either, I have changed the order about 4 times and can do it again and remove the bike if I want, but I want a new bike and I don't think the fatboy can be beat, especially considering the low price leaves me a little extra cash for extras. Can you recommend something that beats the fatboy? I could go up to £550 if I found a bike with a clear advantage over the fatboy (it would need to be a clear advantage as I would be spending more than I wanted to).

I'll have a look at the grips available on the wiggle site. I'll have to wait to try the saddle and pedals. The bike actually comes with those exact tyres, I may add a third to the order.

supersonic

A 520 quid bike would have been a better bet lol. Though the fatboy is well equipped, and comes with Conti Mountain Kings as standard. Usually if you have to ask about upgrades, you don't nee them! I'd simply save the money, and put it towards parts when they wear out. I'd eventually look at upgrading the fork in the future.

BlackSpur

supersonic wrote:

Though the fatboy is well equipped, and comes with Conti Mountain Kings as standard.

What a coincidence.

ianh83

You are probably right about not needing to upgrade but I thought it was a good idea to ask here to see if there is something that could be upgraded relatively cheaply now while I get it fitted for free and a 10% discount. I have thought about upgrading to the tora fork but I think it would be better to just enjoy the bike and down the line if I'm not happy with the dart 2 and want to spend that sort of money then I'll probably want something better than the tora anyway.

I decided I want to get into riding again after a 7 or 8 year break from it. My last bike was a marin bolinas ridge (entry level marin), but that was long ago.

The focus fatboy page on the focus website:

http://www.focusbikesuk.com/focus-hardtail-mountain-bikes/mountain_bike_fat_boy.php

supersonic

I really cant see anything wrong with it! As has been mentioned, maybe a new saddle or grips if you don't get on with them, but that is not really an upgrade, just tailoring the ergonomics. Only the fork is the relative weak link, but many Dart 2s are just fine.

ianh83

Thanks for the advice, I think I will save my money then. It's difficult to know what is worth upgrading. I think the dart 2 will probably be enough for me for now, It's probably better than a fork costing a few hundred quid when I used to ride.