Newbie in need of an upgrade

lovelybones

Earlier this year I purchased a womens GT Avalanche 3 Disc 09 as a beginners bike. Since purchasing it I have built up my confidence and visit places such as Grizadale North Face and Llandegla Black Run. I am now considering selling my bike and buying a more expensive higher spec bike. However the frame on my GT fits me perfectly (I'm only 5"2) but the rest of the kit on the bike is proving to be a bit of a let down. (I've upgraded the wheels and tyres ).

Is it worth upgrading the rest of the bike or would it be better to get rid and start again?

Andy B

Which parts do you feel lets the bike down? Brakes/gears/forks etc...?

ride_whenever

It depends on your budget.

If you've got plenty to slosh about then new is a better way to go, but the avalanche is a good frame and if you're a bit strapped for cash the upgrades make more sense, ie you'll see a bigger improvement from £500 on forks and brakes than from buying a £500 bike.

As for upgrading, do what slows you down the most, probably forks (a set of air rebas or sids would be nice) and then brakes (formula or the new hopes with 180/160mm rotors) any more than that and it starts to look better to buy a new bike.

As for the fit issue, look for something with similar geometry and get plenty of test rides in.

lovelybones

Prior to wanting to sell the bike I had already looked into buying a set of Hope hydraulic disc brakes but in actual fact the brakes that are already on the bike still serve their purpose for now but would definately be on the eventual upgrade list.

Obviously for £300 I'm aware that the forks aren't the best so again at some point would/could be upgraded

The biggest problems I have are the gears. So far the chain has completey come off 8+ times but the biggest bug bear is the gears skip.

If I sold my bike I would be looking at spending up to £500-£700

nferrar

Not sure what bits the bike came with but sounds either like they've just worn out or they're not set up correctly, even top of the range kit can suffer from these. If it is worn out then I'd replace it with SLX kit, tough and works well. Fork would be next on the list then a decent wheelset. Ofc if you want to go full-sus you may as well just buy a whole new bike now.

lovelybones

Front mech is Shimano Altus, rear mech is Shimano Alivio. Both have been serivced etc but still experiencing the same outcome.

I'm not thinking of purchasing a full sus bike would be sticking to the hardtail.

Having read the posts I am considering the upgrade

supersonic

Gear problem as above - either worn, damaged or not set properly.

Fork would be the best upgrade, and can be done cheaply with a Tora for 100 quid, but some very good hardtails out there for less than 500. Hope brakes would be a waste of money IMHO.

lovelybones

supersonic wrote:

Hope brakes would be a waste of money IMHO.

Hmm, why is that?

supersonic

I think the budget would be better spread on a carefully planned upgrade mision- you can get much cheaper brakes that work just as well, leaving more money for parts that do make a difference like wheels, forks, lighter weight components etc. Hope would take a big slice of what you have.

The Spiderman

There are some stonking deals to be had on forks at Merlin at the moment.Full SLX transimission group for £160 so chainset.cassette,chain,mechs and shifters.That`ll sort your shifting woes!

For forks ,there are great deals from £100 RS Toras and Recons up to Reba Teams , £240.I saw some 120mm Recon 327 solo airs on there for just £110,new 2009 Tora SLs for the same

www.merlincycles.co.uk

Get that lot and you`ll have a nice little bike.

The other option is to look at the Commencal Combi disc they have on offer at £540 and sell the Avalanche.

jadamson

to be bland what ive learnt from riding demo days and other peoples bikes is that the frame and forks are what makes the most difference in the ride. if your happy with frame then the fork must be your next buy!

as for your chain skiping etc ide just buy a whole new rig get SLX or shram x5 with x7 rear mech and that will sort that out!

tbh ide spend probably about £300-£400 of that money on the forks look at the rockshox revelations.

if you have some left over look at buying some extra bits too loose weight pedals,handlebars etc.

if you havea good lbs then they might give you an offer on a bulk buy and might even set it up for you i know mine would, worth a try.

anyway good luck and when you have finished can we see some pics?!?

lovelybones

supersonic wrote:

I think the budget would be better spread on a carefully planned upgrade mision- you can get much cheaper brakes that work just as well, leaving more money for parts that do make a difference like wheels, forks, lighter weight components etc. Hope would take a big slice of what you have.

Thanks for the advice. I may have to rein myself in a bit, in typical girlie style I had been tempted by the Hope mini in PINK !! but yes your right money best spent else where

supersonic

I think you should still consider a new bike - save messing about changing parts (but i like that bit ;-))

But as has been mentioned, a few choice upghrades will get you exactly what you want, and could end up better as parts are really cheap at the moment.

The Recon 327 fork at 110 quid is the best fork deal I have seen in all my time as a biker. New wheels and tyres would shave a huge amount of weight, brakes can be had for about 100 too, and that SLX groupset is great value.

lovelybones

The Spiderman wrote:

There are some stonking deals to be had on forks at Merlin at the moment.Full SLX transimission group for £160 so chainset.cassette,chain,mechs and shifters.That`ll sort your shifting woes!

For forks ,there are great deals from £100 RS Toras and Recons up to Reba Teams , £240.I saw some 120mm Recon 327 solo airs on there for just £110,new 2009 Tora SLs for the same

www.merlincycles.co.uk

Get that lot and you`ll have a nice little bike.

The other option is to look at the Commencal Combi disc they have on offer at £540 and sell the Avalanche.

I have been looking at the Rockshox Recon SL. Funny you should mention the Commencal Combi disc because my boyfriend and his brother both have these and this was what I was thinking of trading mine in for.

A few people have mentioned the SLX kit and I have seen the offer that Merlin has atm on the groupset.

Cheers for the help

lovelybones

jadamson wrote:

anyway good luck and when you have finished can we see some pics?!?

Will do............current photo still on ebay as we speak lol !!! Whilst I still try to make my mind up

jadamson

link?!?

lovelybones

Well looks like I'm sorted.

Rockshox recon 327, SLX transmission groupset. Leaving the brakes for now til my old ones have seen their day but have seen a good bargin for Avid Juicy 3 on Merlin Cycles.

All I need now is for Santa to bring them

Cheers guys for your help

lovelybones

Just a quick update......

Well since posting this thread I've since changed my bike completely with a little help from the NHS (obviously I had to sign a contract to say I would cycle my bike to work at least 50% of the time Hmmmm !! )



I've been pretty chuffed with my purchase and thanks to What Mountain Bike mag it helped me decide what kit I wanted on the bike. And with the added bonus that last months edition reviewed full sus bikes in the £1000 range which included the mens Trek EX5.5 I was even more chuffed with the 8/10 verdict with the only let down being the Rockshok Tora's that I had already done a deal pre-purchase to trade them in against a set of FOX Talas R's which I think earns my bike those missing points to at least a 10/10 and have since had many a fun day out on the trails

Thanks guys for all your help/advice

nicklouse

Looks like you have been having fun.