What to put on my bike

Ed-91

I've ridden cross country mtb for several years now and I want to get into something a bit more intense.

I've got a Carrera Banshee x frame 2007, not the greatest frame ever but I got it off a mate at work and its never been used.

I need to know what stuff to put on it, especially forks, would Rock Shox Pike 426 U-Turn Forks work?

Also what is a good type of hydraulic brake for not a bad price?

any advice welcome

cheers

nicklouse

as in a Carrea banshee frame?

Ed-91

ye a 2007 carrera banshee x frame

supersonic

Pike would be fine, but you need a 20mm thru axle hub.

hucking_fell

If the stem's a long XC type thing, say 90mm or more, then I would get a shorter stem. 50mm to 70mm.

Bigger, wider tyres take some of the harshness out of dodgy landings too.

Maybe get some full finger gloves and knee/shin pads if you are going to be going bigger/further than you have been used to before.

Ed-91

cheers for all the advice

what wheels can take a pounding and how much am I looking at for them?

Apart from rock shock pikes, what other forks are worth getting, I was thinking about getting forks with 120mm plus, I have had a look at some Marzocchi MX Pro Lockout Forks

any suggestions?

stantheman206

I have a set of marzocchi mx pro forks with 120mm travel, I have to say for the money they are pretty good. mine have the eta adjustment which, if your not sure it reduces the travel to around 40-50mm so for climbs and road sections it's stiff but doesn't kill your arms and wrist if you hit a pot hole! Add this to a bar mounted adjustment (similar to rockshox poplock) and your away.

The mx are no light weight fork but are super smooth and look nice. Mine are the 2006 model i think and i picked them up off ebay for £65. there are some deals around to look about. The 2008 line for the mx look very good and under £200, bargain!!

Ststing the obvious make sure if you do buy second hand that the forks have been well looked after and serviced at regular intervals

stan

stantheman206

for the wheels, i'v been asking around in this forum as well and it seems that a set of mavic 717 rims on xt hubs (or hope 2 pro if you want the best) are the way forward. These will set you back between 140-220 depending on hub choice. merlin cycles are good builders for wheels.

check out the deal on merlins website in "disc brake kits". The complete set of shimano XT brakes with dual control shifter and a set of mavic crossride wheels all for £199!!!!. I have the dual control shifter/levers and i love em. Though they are like marmite!!!

hope this helps

stan

xtreem

Isn't the frame designed for 140mm forks?
If I were you, I wouldn't put less than 130mm travel on it.
Marzocchi 55 TST2 2008 comes with 140mm also.

Northwind

Chain Reaction have stupidly cheap Tora 302 SL 130mms in their flood sale just now, £85. I'll be honest and say I haven't a clue what they're like, I've just picked up a pair for a mate though so we'll see.

ride_whenever

stantheman206 wrote:

for the wheels, i'v been asking around in this forum as well and it seems that a set of mavic 717 rims on xt hubs (or hope 2 pro if you want the best) are the way forward. These will set you back between 140-220 depending on hub choice. merlin cycles are good builders for wheels.

check out the deal on merlins website in "disc brake kits". The complete set of shimano XT brakes with dual control shifter and a set of mavic crossride wheels all for £199!!!!. I have the dual control shifter/levers and i love em. Though they are like marmite!!!

hope this helps

stan

Hang on a sec, if you're starting to go a bit bigger, then you'll want tougher rims than 717.I'd opt for the 719 as a minimum, and if you're starting to do big drops (upwards of 6') then i'd strongly recommend going up to ex721. Merlin do do good builds, xt hubs are nice, hope are nice too, but they are having more freehub issues it seems atm. I'd opt for the xt ones, particularly seeing as they now do a 20mm version.

For brakes, hayes strokers are very popular, as are formula if you want to spend a bit more.