The de rigeur upgrade

zeroseven

When you buy a motorbike the first thing you do is dump the cans and fit aftermarket, free breathing alternatives.

Whats the equivalent on an MTB? Tyres? Wheels? Crank?

Whats the usual weak point?

nicklouse

the weak point is the bike if you are looking to upgrade immediately. Save and spend more and get the better bike as it will be the cheaper option.

zeroseven

No matter what you buy, it can always be inproved. the question was.... is there a common weak point where the companies save money?

crimsondynamo

It's not really upgrading as such, but many people change out the pedals on a new bike accordingto their established preference. Also, if you're a bar-end guy then you'd get those from the kick-off.

Off topic, are bar ends now less popular than they once were? I'm sure they used to be ubiquitous.

nicklouse

zeroseven wrote:

No matter what you buy, it can always be inproved. the question was.... is there a common weak point where the companies save money?

there is not one. it all depends on the purchase and price point.

what bike do you have in mind?

zeroseven

No bike

like I said with Motorbikes its the cans and fuelling (to pass emissions), Hi Fi its power cables, TV's its Scart and RF leads........ All manufacturers cut corners somewhere

I merely wondered if MTB bikes tend to come with cheapcranks..... or tyres..... or cables..... or bushes instead of bearings.....

Seems not

Amos

It varies from company to company. Some will scrimp on fork to put disc brakes on where others will run a better fork and v brakes. As nick said, it all depends on the purchase and price point.

supersonic

Under 500 quid, often tyres.

blorg

For what it's worth on the road bike side it is very often the wheels. Generally the one thing it will definately NOT be is the rear derailleur, they tend to spec that up

Anonymous

i would say tyres as manufacturers put cheaper versions of well known brands and models on their bikes and folk dont notice.

bottom brackets used to be a cheeky way to hide cheap bits too, infact, hubs are often cheap lumps.

as said before, depending on what you buy, almost everyhting is under par but manufacturers tend to fit decent rear mechs as an illiusion to the less informed that the bike is awesome.

kegs

The things that I would change on a new bike, possibly, would be the contact points.

Saddle definitely, if it wasn't an sdg belair, pedals to crank bros (candys most likely), possibly the grips depending on how I got on with them. Tyres I might swap if I didn't get on with them after a few rides.

Other than that if I was wanting to change much else immediately I'd start to suspect I had bought the wrong bike.

P-Jay

I'm not sure about other makes but spesh have the knack of sneaking in the odd cheep bit in to the spec down to a fine art.

My Endruo cost two and a bit grand back in '06 but came with basic spec Shimano rear hub, Spesh Stout front hub (which was crap) own make seat post (which failed on me and my mate with the same bike) and spesh Bars and riser (not bad). But all the "headline" bits, Brakes, Forks, Shock, Rear Derailer etc were high spec stuff, and in fairness the most expensive to upgrade.

supersonic

If the bike had branded parts instead of the spesh stuff, add another £100 ;-)

stumpyjon

Rear cassette can be down specced as well, my £ 1800 stumpjumper came with a lump of metal (Deore) and a new style XTR rear mech :shock: . I couldn't believe how much lighter the XT cassettes were when it came time to replace the worn Deore one.

Anything that can't easily be seen, often things like bearings are poorly specced e.g. headsets, chains as well. probabl stuff tha doesn't have the brand / model emblazoned on it in big letters.

supersonic

Not many bikes come with even specced groupsets. Zaskars do ;-)

I don't mind own branded stuff in less critical areas such as stems, seatposts etc and prefer the money to be invested in the fork and frame.

Bizarre as it sounds, a completetely evenly specced bike can cost more to upgrade if that is your long term plan, with a bike that is half good/half bad, you only have to upgrade half of it!

zeroseven

stumpyjon wrote:

Rear cassette can be down specced as well, my £ 1800 stumpjumper came with a lump of metal (Deore) and a new style XTR rear mech :shock: . I couldn't believe how much lighter the XT cassettes were when it came time to replace the worn Deore one.

.

Thats interesting. i've got an 06 Stumpjumper (dunno which one ....FSR?......Black). Its only my second ever bike and I hate it. Had an idrive before that which got nicked.....loved that. Every other bike I ride seems so smooth and sorted whereas mine feels like I built it from bits I nicked down the dump.... sorry.... recycling centre.

Odd cos everyone raves about Stumpjumpers especially quality of components for the price...... must just have a bad one

Dazzza

zeroseven wrote:

No matter what you buy, it can always be inproved. the question was.... is there a common weak point where the companies save money?

Not quite, depends on how much you're willing to spend.