New to all this Bikeradar stuff but heres my Specialized

Dickeniffer

Well hello everyone, I'm new to all of this and have just started really getting into the mountainbike scene again after a ten year break. I'm doing the London to southcoast 75 mile off road route for The british heart foundation and have been using a Carrera Banshee from Halfords but decided to invest and I hope this is the right choice.






Be interested to see what people think, im keen to upgrade if anyone has any ideas.

Cferg

Ooft that is a seriously nice bike you've got your hands on there, looks awesome!

Tolk

Lovely looking bike, only thing I'd change is the Chainset and pedals. But that's just me! I'd quite happily keep it as it is though!

Mynameisdann

Lovely, but yeh id get some spds and then all the future upgrades would have to get would be aesthetic ones i.e Carbon

Dickeniffer

it really is a great looking bike, i'm very pleased, however I seem to have developed "a thing" for carbon. ummmmm carbon.

Anonymous

Lovely, perfect for what you want to do.

Anonymous

Very nice Spesh you'd think on the spec of the bike there would put a better chainset on at least a slx.

The Big Cheese

Nowt wrong with the Deore, however at this level the least you should see on it is an XT.

Stunning bike mate - really nice.

road_donut

Nice one Dickeniffer awsome choice of bike mate ....

only suggestion i would make is lobb those wheel reflecters away maybe :?

hope the next piccys will be of it covered in mud ????????

joshtp

Very nice! although you need to ditch the reflectors and get some mud on it...!


looks perfect for what you want.... its a really top race bike, hope you enjoy it.

as for upgrades, not much too upgrade really, its all good kit, i supose as stuff wears out you can up spec, but for now leav as is, maybe some SLX cranks would be good, other than that, leave it be!

Anonymous

The Big Cheese wrote:

Nowt wrong with the Deore, however at this level the least you should see on it is an XT.

Stunning bike mate - really nice.

Cheese ya can av my Deore crankset then i think there bland. lol
wots the weight diff between slx and xt then though it would be a few grams.
Paul

Dickeniffer

Mud has been added this evening after a torrential downpour . Reflectors have gone good advice , as some chavy boys may have laughed at me.
Really like the idea of maybe carbon bars/ stem and maybe seat post. Any ideas?

Mynameisdann

worth looking at a joplin seatpost depending on what sort of riding you so/if any of the carbon ones dont take your fancy. but yeah have to agree cant go wrong with bars/stem

Anonymous

i dont like carbon osts as i find they get scratched up pretty bad when i raise and lower the saddle. if you dont move your seatpost during a ride though this shouldnt be aproblem.

road_donut

Yeah i'll second sheepsteeth on the scratching issue .... i have afew scratches on mine from when i was getting the height set up

But as sheeps said if your not raising & lowering all the time it should be cool ........

And carbon looks pretty sweet too imo

njee20

Carbon stems invariably weigh more than alu ones too, look good, but alu makes more sense! As above, carbon posts are good if you don't move your seatpost around.

Wouldn't bother upgrading the chainset to SLX, hardly any difference. Needs some proper pedals though!

Dickeniffer

A couple of upgrades , I've taken the plunge and got myself some shimano spd's , changed the tyres and added a chilli vid cam to catch me falling of still clipped into the spd's. The bikes going really well, I've now set up the bike perfectly and it is a dream.

*AL*

Very nice.

You gotta love a bit of carbon

Splottboy

Very nice, still not convinced by the pro-Carbon crew for Mtb.

Got me a nice Carbon road bike though, which I love!

Dickeniffer

Dickeniffer

damn you photobucket

road_donut

Still one thing missing .............. mud

How are you finding the spd's ?

Dickeniffer

I'd just cleaned it again, don't worry it will be very muddy on Monday 50 miles off road and it's pouring, really liking spds , didn't think I would but the type of riding I do they are spot on. Hmmm what next.

4 weeks till my London to southcoast so don't want to change anything drastically, got some panaracer fire's coming, and am thinking xtr cranks, but apart from that the bike feels spot on.

road_donut

+1 on the Panaracer's ...... i like em

If you do get the upgrade bug i think *AL* made the comment on my thread of maybe wheels before cranks would be a better way to go.

good luck with your London to Southcoast mate

Dickeniffer

where have my photos gone?

Dickeniffer

road_donut wrote:

+1 on the Panaracer's ...... i like em

If you do get the upgrade bug i think *AL* made the comment on my thread of maybe wheels before cranks would be a better way to go.

good luck with your London to Southcoast mate

a little dubious with the wheels, im reasonably technical, but worried which wheels to get are mavic still very good, they used to be when I biked 10 years ago, I want light weight but i'm 14 stone and not the smoothest rider, having said that the standard wheels seem ok at the moment.

do they do carbon rims, i love the carbon. nom nom nom.

road_donut

I'm also touching the 14 stone mark too but pleased to say its going in the right direction with all this biking lark ...

If your happy with the stock wheels stick with them , there are sooooo many to choose from i got all confused when getting mine.. after reading a few reviews i decided the XTR ones seemed ok so plumbed for them ....

I'm sure some of the more qualified members of this forum can advise better than me on carbon wheels and wheel buying in general .....

That said its your £££££ and if you fancy getting cranks and other stuff 1st ..... then go for it

Dickeniffer

finally got my pictures back, and also some muddy ones finally

road_donut

YAY mud .....

Looking good Dickeniffer .... where did you go riding pal ?

Dickeniffer

A place called Alton water, 8 mile circuit with some short but very steep climbs, set up spds a bit better now and the bike was perfect, bar a little brake rub from the rear which I can't seem to fix . Ended up doing nearly 50 miles the bike was great . Just awaiting my tyres and sort the rear brake this week. Did you get your mech fitted?

road_donut

I also get a little rear brake rub .... but its nothing to bad :?

Great news your getting to grips with the spd's and nice one on the 50 miles

I got the front mech fitted and tested it out on a 14 mile route at LadyBower called "Pain for Pleasure" .... seemed to work ace so pretty happy with it