How do you know where to start upgrading bits?

Underpants

Ok, so this is extraodinarily premature seeing as I have not had my bike for a week yet but everywhere I read people are talking about upgrading components on their bikes to stronger/lighter counterparts.

So my question is; how do you decide which bits to do in what order? Are certain areas of the bike more important than others? [Presuming the reason for replacement is not due to necessity i.e damaged parts]

nicklouse

what every wears out first.

nwmlarge

what he said.
whats the current spec if you want advice?

.blitz

When you buy an MTB you're basically buying a fork with a bike attached to it and with this in mind, the manufacturers cut corners in many areas.

Heavy wheels will be disguised with lightweight tyres and a spangly rear mech will mean sacrifices in the BB/headset dept. And it's almost a given that the seat/bars/stem/pedals will be replaced before anything else wears out.

Underpants

nwmlarge wrote:

what he said.
whats the current spec if you want advice?

Kona Cinder Cone Mountain Bike 2009 - Full Spec


• Frame sizes:14", 16", 17", 18", 19", 20", 22"
• Frame tubing: Kona All-Mountain Aluminum Butted
• Rear Shock: N/a
• Fork: RockShox Dart 3 100mm
• Headset: TH
• Crankarms: FSA Alpha Drive
• Chainrings: 44/32/22
• B/B: FSA Powerdrive
• Pedals: Wellgo LU-A9
• Chain: Shimano Deore
• Freewheel: Shimano Deore (11-32, 9spd)
• Front Derailleur : Shimano Deore
• Rear Deraillieur : Shimano SLX
• Shifters: Shimano Deore
• Handlebar: Kona XC/BC Riser
• Stem: Kona XC/BC
• Grips: Kona Race Light
• Brakes: Shimano 486 Hydraulic Disc
• Brake Levers: Shimano 486 Hydraulic
• Front Hub : Formula Disc
• Rear Hub : Shimano M475 Disc
• Spokes : Sandvik Stainless 15g fr/14g rr
• Tires: Maxxis Ignitor 26x2.1
• Rims: Sun Black Eye
• Saddle: WTB Speed V Sport SE
• Seatpost: Kona XC/BC
• Seat clamp: Kona QR
• Colour Pearl White

MrChuck

When something breaks or wears out! With the possible exception of tires and maybe saddle if you have a particularly sensitive backside.

Nobody needs to replace things like grips, bars, seatpost etc. straight off IMO. If you are already considering things like forks, wheels or brakes then you've bought the wrong bike I'd say.

Underpants

MrChuck wrote:

When something breaks or wears out! With the possible exception of tires and maybe saddle if you have a particularly sensitive backside.

Nobody needs to replace things like grips, bars, seatpost etc. straight off IMO. If you are already considering things like forks, wheels or brakes then you've bought the wrong bike I'd say.

Just to clarify, I wont be swapping any bits on my bike yet, not for a long while - I spent all my hard earned on it!

I was just interested as a newbie how you go about deciding on which bits to do first. Obviously I appreciate if parts are worn or knackered they need seeing to but judging by a lot of posts I've read on this forum and others, some seem to always being upgrading in search of shaving a few grams off the total weight of the bike thats all.

MrChuck

Wheels/tires and will make the biggest difference, as rotating weight is more important. Then I'd say forks, which may or may not be much lighter but again will make a noticeable difference to the ride (depending on how far up-range you're going obviously). Things like cheap cranksets can be surprisingly heavy and are a relatively cheap upgrade given that they will wear quite quickly anyway and sometimes it's as cheap to get a better one as it is to replace the rings.

Beyond that I really don't think it's worth changing stuff like seatpost and bars unless they break or you have really, really bottom-end stuff- sure you'd be saving weight and it all counts but the overall weight of you and your bike isn't going to be significantly reduced by your seatpost being 50g lighter.

Of course weight isn't the only consideration- things like bars and stem might be stiffer for instance, but again I thnk you'd struggle to tell the difference unless you have really nasty stuff now and/or are immensely strong.

Underpants

what does the term 'stiffer' mean in practice? It's all metal innit...pretty stiff naturally no? :oops:

MrChuck

In practice probably not much! Some parts might flex more than you might think but again, unless you're going from real tat to really good stuff I doubt you'd really be able to tell the difference, especially on an MTB with low-pressure tires and forks making everything pretty squidgy anyway.

I'm sure someone will be along to differ soon though!

blu3cat

Underpants wrote:

what does the term 'stiffer' mean in practice? It's all metal innit...pretty stiff naturally no? :oops:

Metal is in fact fairly elastic and does have an inate ability to bend (seen the famous suspension bridge that broke on a windy day film).

Stiffness can be imbibed by clever use of shapes that naturally brace against the inate flexing.

Underpants

MrChuck wrote:

In practice probably not much! Some parts might flex more than you might think but again, unless you're going from real tat to really good stuff I doubt you'd really be able to tell the difference, especially on an MTB with low-pressure tires and forks making everything pretty squidgy anyway.

I'm sure someone will be along to differ soon though!

Thanks for your help mate. I'm sloooowly beginning to understand a bit more about the world of MTB'ing!

gezzza

Underpants wrote:

So my question is; how do you decide which bits to do in what order?

What ever shiny Bling bit catchs my eye first

MrChuck

Just as an example, I have a Giant XTC which was £650 a few years ago and had solid but not fantastic bits on. Since then I've upgraded everything except the frame, bar, stem and shifters but only as things have worn/broken. I've always got stuff that's better (sometimes a bit, sometimes a lot) than I had before but nothing top of the range. I've never felt the urge to change the remaining bits as the gain vs cost just doesn't make much sense as long as they still work.

captainfly

It really comes down to things that don't work for you or stop working, sometimes it is a case that things like bar, stem, seatpost etc.. just may not fit you how you want them to and pedals are a very personal thing too, get the fit and feel right then it depends on the direction you want to take your riding.

Kelster3000

I would agree when stuff breaks I replace and upgrade it, So far this has meant for me
Crankset (SLX)
Rear mech, trigger, cassette, and chain (Scram x9 mech and trigger, and pg970 cass)
Tyres.

For me the thing that made the most difference for upgrades were tyres, can't believe the difference they make!

ride_whenever

I tend to upgrade when i have some spare money, i always go for whatever is slowing me down the most, be that the forks or wheels or brakes or drivetrain.

Finishing kit i buy when i see something nice that's going cheap.