upgradeable bike

Bigjay21

Hello

I was wondering if there was a resonable price bike on the market that i could buy and upgrade at a later date as i dont have a load of cash to spend on a bike

Cheers Jay

supersonic

You can upgrade any bike.

What is your budget?

Bigjay21

Ive got about 400 to spend

supersonic

Have a look at the Carrera Kraken. Great spec for the cash, and good frame to boot.

Northwind

Yup. It's a good package to start with but if you stick a good fork into a Kraken it'll really punch above its weight (I had a Tora 318 in mine, lovely). Throwing off a wee bit of weight helps too, though not so drastically now that the thing doesn't come with hilariously heavy tyres.

Buying with plans to upgrade almost never makes sense mind... But it's a nice frame and a good base. The wheels are, well, OK, the finishing kit is a wee bit weighty but solid, the drivetrain all works...

Course, I ended up replacing the entire bike, then one day realised if I dug all the parts out of the shed I could build it up to standard again

thomasali

Get a Gary Fisher Wahoo or Marlin, if you want something worth upgrading they have nice frames from bottom model to top (and a lifetime warranty). The frame on the Kraken is pretty basic and heavy, not something you really notice until you ride something better. The kraken isn't worth throwing any money at still going to have a nasty frame underneath. With recommending bikes people on here are seem to be obsessed with spec only. The frame is also extremely important, too stiff and it will punish you on rough ground, too flexy and it will feel horrible climbing. Try actually test riding some bikes, cos' obviously its important that the thing fits.

One last thing, upgrading a bike at a later date is generally more expensive than buying something good to start with. Something like a Gary Fisher Tassajara is a good starter proper mtb @ £800 has Deore / SLX gearing, Tora Air fork and nearly no crappy bits (only the saddle) or a new Orange G2 with the Tora upgrade for £739 comes with really good finishing kit (bars, stem seapost) a great SDG saddle which retails for £44.95, lock on grips, shimano hubs and mavic rims.

supersonic

The Kraken does not have a nasty frame. Basically finished it maybe, but is fairly light, not overly stiff and is as good as anything else at this money.

If you don't plan to upgrade, then spec counts, so a good overall package is needed. The Kraken has that, as do the Rockriders. Carreras and Rockriders routinely win tests at WMB.

Northwind

thomasali wrote:

The frame on the Kraken is pretty basic and heavy, not something you really notice until you ride something better. The kraken isn't worth throwing any money at still going to have a nasty frame underneath.

It's not heavy at all :? Are you comparing with some older model or something? It's not spectacularily light either but then it's a tough stiff 130mm frame. The only real criticism I have of it is that the mud clearance isn't brilliant and the head angle is just a tad tighter than I'd like from a long-ish travel hardtrail. But nasty frame? Can't agree. It's very good at what it does.

rockmonkeysc

I did the same thing.
I have got a Specialized Hardrock disc. The frame is really good, nicely put together and rides really well. I quickly replaced the forks with a set of Rock Shox Tora's and I think it's great now.
Other than the forks I have fitted a Shimano Deore crank set, Avid Juicy 3 breaks and Gusset slim jim pedals. My plan is to keep upgrading bits as they wear out or fit left overs from my other bike as I upgrade that.
The Hardrock got really good reviews in a couple magazines this year, the main criticisim was that the standard forks are a bit rubbish, a set of Tora SL's from Merlins are £125 and really make the bike feel a lot better.
My longterm plan is to keep upgrading with quality parts and eventually buy a set of longer travel forks which wont fit the Specialized frame and "have to upgrade the frame" to a Blue Pig or something similar