to upgrade or replace?

nharvey

Hi all,

Could I seek your advice please?

I am starting to get back into mountain biking after a bit of a lay off (become a roadie i’m afraid). I have a 2001 Marin East Peak (the single pivot one before Quad). Its a bit old and the front forks in particular are not great.

So, my question is, do I upgrade it or replace it?

I would at least want new forks, disc brakes and probably a new rear shock, plus i guess bits of the drivechain could do with replacing. So i could spend money on this (maybe £800+?).

Or i could sell it as is, and replace it completely.

I am thinking it would probably be more cost effective to replace it. I will be mostly doing XC, marathon type stuff so a decent hardtail or short travel full susser would be what i was after – maybe a scalpel.

I will be able to get another cycle2work scheme soon but if buying a complete bike i would be spending well over £1k so probably couldn’t use it. I may be able to buy forks etc on it though.

Apart from the components side of things, how much has frame performance gone up since the ’01 Marins? I.e. would a Scalpel be miles better anyway just because of the newer frame design?

Thanks

Nick

salsarider79

Any new frames are going to be light years above yours. Not being nasty, just honest. If you are going to get a new bike and spend 'over 1k', then why not buy parts on Ride 2 Work and buy a frame yourself? You could get good kit for 1k and hunt for a sexy frame to hang it all on. I'd go for a Turner if your looking to keep it for a few years. You might also be able to get hold of 08 S-Works stuff around too.....

.blitz

The 'upgrade or replace' question is a tricky one. Having been down the 'upgrade' route several times myself, it's easy to keep bolting stuff onto a lovable old dog whilst at the same time loose sight of the progress that's being made with new bikes. It's easy to end up with a bike that has cost ££££££s but is realistically worth very little.

With hindsight I wouldn't hesitate to get a new bike.

nharvey

Thanks - Indeed, I think replacement is the way to go.

Any idea on what the sum of the parts of a £1500 bike would cost separately? I mean very roughly. A few seem to have fox forks that are 400-500 on their own, so i assume to buy separately would be significantly more, even with shopping around for deals.

Plus I will have the money from selling my East Peak to add to the pot. No idea how much that would be though.

supersonic

I wouldn't say light years lol - the East Peak was a good, solid, fairly light frame with great bearings. However to upgrade all the bits you want will cost as much as a new bike would.