Advice on a few choice bits

jimwise68

Hi everyone

just joint the site and have recently joined the world of MTB. Recent years been spent restoring, collecting and racing Old School BMXs but a motorbike accident has seen to it that i cant ride one of those anymore due to their cramped sizes.

Anyway.... i have just purchased a second hand Cannondale Chase 2 and am looking to upgrade a few parts but have no idea on what's out there (kid in a candy shop scenario).

I am looking for a new pair of grips, tyres, new front forks, stem and bars to get me going.
Not looking to spend loads as need to see if i get on with it so on a bit of a budget.
Forks i would ideally like a pair that lockout as i do a bit of road riding too.

anybody have an recommendations?

Jim

alexj2233

What is the spec of your current setup? Then we can see what is worth upgrading on a budget.

Superstar components do some brilliant grips on a budget. http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/index.php?cPath=60

Tyres depend a lot on where you ride, the surfaces and what conditions trails are in. Even then everyone favours their own setup.

It's hard to say about other stuff without knowing specs of the bike.

jimwise68

Its the original set up:

# Frame Chase Hardtail
# Fork Manitou Stance Blunt, 100 mm, Thru-20
# Rear Shock N/A
# Rims Sun Single Track, 32 hole
# Hubs Formula Thru-20 front, Cannondale Fire disc rear
# Spokes DT Swiss Champion
# Tires Maxxis Holy Roller, 26 x 2.4"
# Pedals Cannondale GRIND EX Platform
# Crank TruVatiV Hussefelt, 24/36/PC guard
# Chain SRAM 8-speed
# Rear Cogs SRAM PG-830, 11-32
# Bottom Bracket TruVatiV Howitzer
# Front Derailleur Shimano Alivio
# Rear Derailleur SRAM X-7
# Shifters SRAM SX4 Trigger
# Handlebars FSA FR-330BOS, 40 mm rise
# Stem Cannondale Freeride 1.5", 31.8 mm
# Headset FSA Orbit Xtreme Pro 1.5"
# Brakeset Avid BB5 w/7" rotor front, 6" rotor rear
# Brakelevers Cannondale Fire
# Saddle SDG I-FLY
# Seat Post SDG I-Beam

Its gonna be ridden on trails, XC, park, street and to the pub/shops. I bought it as an all rounder to sample a bit of everything.

alexj2233

Right, that's not a bad spec.

TBH, i wouldn't bother with new bars and stem unless the current position is uncomfortable, it would be a relatively expensive upgrade for little performance increase.

For tyres i use maxxis minion DH front and rear tyres, which i find to be a pretty good all round tyre.

Look here:http://www.nextdaytyres.com/ For good deals on tyres. If you do a search for tyres in the forum you will find other peoples recommendations.

For forks, it depends on budget. I'd probably look at something from rockshox. Either the tora, recon on reba, increasing in price respectively. Merlin usually have some good deals on these: http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Frame++Forks/Forks++Shocks/Rockshox+Suspension+Forks/list.htm

It might be worth a look on ebay if you are on more of a budget.

neddie

Next day tyres

not heard of them before

Good work fella

thel33ter

I would just ride it till stuff breaks. All the bits are decent enough. Maybe forks and tyres if it needs them but it's not worth doing the other stuff.

If you are going to do some road riding then maybe Maxxis Ignitors would be a better idea, they are slightly faster than Minions but plenty grippy.

jimwise68

thanks for the replies.

I picked the bike up on Friday evening and turns out it is the 2004 Chase and has a few different items on that originally thought.

Forks are Marzocchi Dirt Jumper III, the brakes are Hayes 9s (Hydraulic) and it comes with Mavic 321 rims on Hope hubs. So all in i am very pleased with my £280 ebay win.

I ended up buying a pair of Maxxis High Rollers as i read a few reviews saying they were good and after a weekend of trying out i am loving it.

Got a week booked next week in the lake district with the missus (treated her to a year old Dawes XC 1.1 (another ebay win at £82) as the Cannondale was well under budget) and am thoroughly looking forward to it now and so is she.

thel33ter

Wow, that sounds an absolute bargain, considering the wheelset would sell for around £150-£200 on its own.