Hardrock for XC?

rockmonkeysc

I'm new to mountain biking. I recently bought myself a Specialized Hardrock disc, which seemed to fit me & my budget pretty well and the reviews I read were pretty good. I have modded it slightly now with RockShox Tora SL forks & Avid Juicy 3 brakes.
XC riding seems pretty appealing to me & should help with my weight loss & fitness issues! Will my bike be up to the job as I get fit and faster?
Should I keep upgrading componants as I find faults or break bits or should I leave it as it is until I can maybe afford a better bike? I do like my Hardrock at the moment & actually prefer it to my mates Rockhopper but that might be because I'm not very good or experienced.

peter413

Hardrock and Rockhopper frames are very good.

Upgrade as you wear/break components and then you may eventually decide to get a new bike.

The primary purpose of the Hardrock is XC so it will be perfect so to speak

willhart

Hi,

You might find some good XC racers would tell you the bike is not good enough, however I am in a similar situation to you and think it will be fine.

I am a keen mountain biker but I am quite "Heavy" and not that fit really. I do race, for the challenge and for fun but I am not currently competative in my age group.

A Hardrock is still a very nice bike and a big step up from a typical "Argos" Mountain Bike! Even though it is a lower model than the Rockhopper and Stumpy. Buying the more expensive bikes gives relatively small improvements in performance relative to the extra money, especially for us more average riders. A lot of the extra money goes on lighter wheight components rather than ones that dramatically improve performance, which I always think is a bit daft for me when I weigh 19 stone!

The most important factor in racing is the rider. I am willing to bet the best and fittest rider would still finish in the top 10 on a well set up Hardrock if you took away his £4000 racing machine.

Definately upgrade any parts that let you down or don't work well, but remember that a lot can be achieved by good set up, especially well set up gear trains. I have friends who have gone and bought XTR groupsets just because there deore stuff was badly set up. Obviously the expensive stuff does work better and is much slicker, but the standard issue gear will work OK if it is well set up.

Obviously if you find yourself doing well in the races and decide you want to buy a lighter faster bike to be more competative in the future then why not. I have found It is far more rewarding doing OK on a cheap bike than it is buying a really expensive bike and still doing just OK!

Im not saying buying a top bike is a bad thing, we all like having nice stuff, if we can afford it! but you can manage perfectly well on what you have and still have just as much fun IMHO.