From XC to AM (sort of)

monkeylizard
monkeylizard Posts: 155
edited August 2010 in MTB buying advice
Having recently been lucky enough to become the owner of a Whyte E-120, my Gary Fisher HiFi isn't likely to get used as much as it used to given that the Whyte is a better bike at pretty much everything. So, the plan is to make some changes to the HiFi to make it a bit more 'pointing downwards' orientated now that the Whyte covers the climbing, singletrack, etc. I appreciate that it's never going to be a full-on DH bike, but that's not what I'm trying to do. Things I'm thinking of doing are:

Changing the forks from 120mm to 140mm, more to slacken the head angle than anything.
Shorter stem (currently 75mm, maybe 50mm)
New brakes (have Juicy 3s at the moment)
Possibly new rims (currently ZTR355 on Hope Pro IIs - I understand the 355s are a bit fragile, although if I'm not doing any big jumps I guess it shouldn't make much difference)

Anything else I should be thinking about? Or am I potentially just wasting time and money? It seems to make sense to me, but then I know very little... :D

Comments

  • Pudseyp
    Pudseyp Posts: 3,514
    To be honest, I wouldn't spend money upgrading what is already a very nice bike, I would either keep it as it is and the money you would have spent on upgrades I would buy a second hand stinky or big hit just as a play bike as I cannot see you would see much difference in an extra 20mm of travel....or if it's not getting ridden, sell on and get a 6" travel bike..
    Tomac Synper 140 Giant XTC Alliance 1
    If the world was flat, I wouldn't be riding !
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    not worth it, flog complete/split and buy a proper hardcore hardtail.
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
    456 lefty
    Pompino
    White Inbred
  • monkeylizard
    monkeylizard Posts: 155
    Would the extra 20mm not just slacken the angle a bit and make it a bit more stable on the way down? I don't really want anything too hard hitting as I'm a bit old for that sort of thing.

    The hardtail would be a nice idea, but for reasons I won't bore you with sadly it's not an option :(
  • Splottboy
    Splottboy Posts: 3,693
    Sell it, buy a road bike for fitness.

    Use the XC bike for XC/Trails, fun and mud!

    That's what I've done: Got carbon Road, XC Alu XC/Trail bike.

    Best of both Worlds...methins.
  • monkeylizard
    monkeylizard Posts: 155
    Road bike!? :shock:

    I fear I would die of boredom long before it had any effect on my fitness levels... :lol:
  • Pudseyp
    Pudseyp Posts: 3,514
    To be honest I can't see you will see any real difference in the ride with a 0.7" extension in travel...you may slacken the head angle by 1 degree or so....so spunking out a load of cash on a new fork will be a waste of money...shame you have to very similar travel bikes

    I would sell (either complete or the frame and forks) and get a 6 inch travel bike (frame/forks) that will take more abuse and the occasional trip to the Alp's etc..
    Tomac Synper 140 Giant XTC Alliance 1
    If the world was flat, I wouldn't be riding !
  • Noclue
    Noclue Posts: 503
    And you'd want to make sure the GF can take a longer fork, putting on one longer than it was designed for and ragging it downhill could be a short cut to ripping the headtube off of the frame.
    Flickr
  • Splottboy
    Splottboy Posts: 3,693
    Boredom?! Zipping down Llanberis Pass at nearly 50mph, with dodgy French/German drivers almost running you off the road, and tourists stepping right out in front of you to take pic of the mountains, TOTALLY OBLIVIOUS of you approaching...

    BOREDOM???!!!

    What do you do for a living, Bomb Disposal?!

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