New(ish) MTB advice

Lordmooch

So,

I found the opportunity a few weeks ago to purchase, off a relative, a 7 year old Trek Alpha 4300 which has never been ridden for the bargain price of £75.00.

I’m really getting into riding it after not really having ridden a bike in about 10 years and want to work on my fitness levels.

I want to invest a little more in the bike (after all it cost me next to nothing) but was just after any advice you guys might have on what would be the first/ best components to upgrade?

So far I've been riding it 50/50 off road/on road and can forsee this being the case in the future.

Any advice at all welcome

MountainMonster

I can't seem to find a speclist online of what components came with the 03 model 4300, but normal upgrades really depend on how much you want to spend.

I'd personally upgrade the rear derailleur, as well as maybe a new set of wheels that come with disc mounts and get a set of disc brakes thrown on there.

I see disc mounts for the caliper on the rear of the bike in the picture i've pulled up online, but on the pic I can't see whether the forks have caliper mounts as well, which means if you did want disc breaks you would want to upgrade the forks as well.

Brakes and derailleurs on a bike are the most important things to me, so those are normally what I go for first.

But depends on how much you want to spend. What's your budget?

Lordmooch

My Budget is around £500 but I'd be willing to push that a little (don't want to go over what it would cost be to get a brand new bike!)

I was thinking about the wheels/ brakes as the current ones are a little bit...pants.

would you advise I pop into my LBS for advice? (as I'm still pretty new to this)

Also (and this really is me being clueless) the front forks have a pleated plastic cover bit on them (covering that actual front sus) which aesthetically isn't very nice. Is that easy/ possible to remove?

Lordmooch

Just found a list of the components:

Aluminum linear-pull brakes, ............Shimano EF-29 levers
Shift Levers ...................Shimano EF-29
Front Derailleur .....................Shimano C050
Rear Derailleur.................... Shimano Acera
Crankset ........................Sun Race FC-M55, 24/34/42 teeth
Pedals.............. Nylon platform
Rear Cogs .......................8-speed, 11 - 32 teeth
Chain ..........................1/2 x 3/32"
Seatpost ..........................Aluminum micro-adjust
Saddle ..........................Trek ATB
Handlebar ...............High-rise steel
Handlebar ................Stem Aluminum threadless
Headset ...............1 1/8" threadless Aheadset


:oops:

Robowns

Spend the £500 on a new bike, get a lot more for your money than you would with upgrades

Lordmooch

Robowns wrote:

Spend the £500 on a new bike, get a lot more for your money than you would with upgrades

Any recommendations on which bike?

sm1thson

Yeah just slow down on the upgrade path for now. Keep the Trek for now and get out riding on it you'll appreciate a new bike better then and it will give you more time to learn whats what in the bike world. Maybe spend minimum on the Trek, new brake pads may help, new cable inners? but no big parts (maybe pedals as you can later put them on your new bike). Then save for a higher speced bike (either new or second hand)

Lordmooch

sm1thson wrote:

Yeah just slow down on the upgrade path for now. Keep the Trek for now and get out riding on it you'll appreciate a new bike better then and it will give you more time to learn whats what in the bike world. Maybe spend minimum on the Trek, new brake pads may help, new cable inners? but no big parts (maybe pedals as you can later put them on your new bike). Then save for a higher speced bike (either new or second hand)

that sounds like brilliant advice!

Thank you muchly

MountainMonster

Yeah if your budget is only around 500, I would definitely say save that for a while, add to it and in a few months get a nice high spec bike. Like the other person stated, you will appreciate it more when you have it.

Pop into your LBS, check stock on bikes they have and see which ones seem to feel comfortable for you, even if they are out of your price range a bit right now. Gives you that extra incentive to save as well.

As for now I would definitely invest in some spd pedals, and also the plastic covers should be perfectly fine to just cut off using a pair of scissors, but just be careful not to damage the fork tubes in the process.

Lordmooch

Lovley - thanks for the tip -will (very carefully) cut them free tonight as they look rubbish.

I'll have a little play with getting some new pedals as well :-D

MountainMonster

Best of luck. Stick with Shimano SPD, I find them to be the best!