Upgrade Advice, Forks vs Brakes

nickel

Hello,

This is my first post, I've been lurking on these forums for a while now and I love this site! At the start of this summer I got into mountain biking (I've ridden bikes constantly since I was a little kid but never really done any off roading before) and purchased a Specialized Hardrock Disc 2010, which I love, however the time has come to make some changes.

I want to upgrade the brakes and the forks, however I can only afford to do upgrade one of these for the time being. The stock suntour forks are quite heavy, dont have quite enough travel for me, and I've read that upgrading them to some RockShox Toras would massively improve the ride of my bike.

At the same time the Tektro Novela discs just dont really offer enough stopping power, I'd like to upgrade these to some Avid BB7s (keeping with cables as I'm an mtb noob and the maintainence associated with hydros puts me off).

But I'm honestly not sure weather to upgrade the forks or the brakes at the moment as I have a budget of around £150, could really do with some of you more experienced bikers to tell me which would be a better decision?

Thanks a lot in advance

Nick

supersonic

The forks will make th emost difference - bb7s less so. I'd upgrade the forks, and get new pads and good cables.

Ryan Jones

Go for some secondhand gear and you might be able to get a set of tora's and a set of cheap hydraulic brakes for that kind of money, hydraulic brakes might need bleeding (a half hour job max) once every 2-3 years unless they're either crashed or faulty

sherbert19

Ryan Jones wrote:

Go for some secondhand gear and you might be able to get a set of tora's and a set of cheap hydraulic brakes for that kind of money, hydraulic brakes might need bleeding (a half hour job max) once every 2-3 years unless they're either crashed or faulty

+1

Hydraulics need arguably less maintenance than mechanical brakes, and tend to be more powerful.

thel33ter

Forks, unless neither of your brakes work at all.

Also, when you do upgrade, definately get hydro brakes, cables are ok for townie bikes but when a woman walking a goat pops out in front of you you will need to stop sharpish.

Almightydutch

How much cash you got? I got a set of 120mm 2009 Tora SL's and a set of Avid Juicy 3's taken off my spesh. Both in near perfect condition as they covered no more than 400 off road miles.

make me an offer and you could do both at once.

warpcow

I'd say upgrade the forks first too.

When it comes to the brakes, well set up BB7s will make a difference, but they're just not very good vfm unless you've got you heart set on them. They have as much power as any normal rider could need, and significantly better than some hydraulics, and they generally don't need as much maintenance in my experience. The problem is that to get those benefits you need to spend on the brakes, compressionless (preferably sealed) cables and some nice, solid levers.

bennett_346

Don't be afraid of the maintenance required with hydros, its nothing like what you may think, they'll last at least a year without having to even be looked at, by then you'll not be a newbie anymore. And you can always get the LBS to do it.

MountainMonster

Another vote for upgrading the forks, it will drastically upgrade the ride of the bike, as opposed to only helping with slowing down if you go with the brakes.

I will say though dont be worried about not being able to do the maintenance on hydros if you got them. They are very simple as long as you have a tutorial to follow which are in abundance on youtube as well as many sites. Worst comes to worst take it to your lbs and get it done, since its a short job it normally only costs 10-15 or so to get it done.

P-Jay

Yeah fork here too.

But looks like Almightydutch might have the answer...

Hydro's are nothing to be afraid of as long as you stick to the basic rules to avoid contaminating pads.

They also need very, very little mainteance once they're up and running.

nickel

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated! Almightydutch I've got a budget of £150

ol\'gregg

I would say forks too. I have just upgraded from some suntour xcm's to a set of rockshox tora 302 air and have noticed a big difference in the feel of the bike, it feels a lot more responsive.

mike86

I have the same bike and got mine earlier this year.
I upgraded the brakes to some avid elixir brakes and they are so much better than the tektro ones. Its made a hell of a difference. They were easy to fit, and the pads are bigger too which helps.
Although i will be upgrading the forks eventually, maybe 1 for the xmas list

jayson

I put some toras on my bike earlier this yr and the difference betweem them and the cheap and (really) nasty suntour forks was like night and day, definitley change them first.

As for the brakes, its ironic u dont want the hassle of maintenance so want to stick with cable discs, these require more work than pretty much any cable brakes and are very susceptible to crap and gunk aswell as the usual hassles like cable stretch and pad wear that requires u to adjust one side of the caliper to get the contact right seeing as only 1 pad actually moves.

Get some cheap hydros and they're pretty much maintenance free once fitted and set up correctly, once a yr u may have to bleed them but its a small job and well worth it for the power and convenience they have over cable brakes.

gillypoo

I have the same bike and bought it at the beggining of summer also. I was thinking of getting an upgrade on the forks as i find the other ones heavy and not very responsive. Other than that i find the bike good, mainly ride to work, but want to do more adventures on it.

warm18

I was in the very same position a few years ago. Forks all the way mate. Have a look at some classifieds online. I managed to scoop up some immaculate fox air forks for £125. That was a few years ago now but they really did make the difference and are still running strong.

both will make a big difference but for the money go for the forks.

Anonymous

bennett_346 wrote:

Don't be afraid of the maintenance required with hydros, its nothing like what you may think, they'll last at least a year without having to even be looked at, by then you'll not be a newbie anymore. And you can always get the LBS to do it.

For the callipers and hose, unless you have to shorten the cable run, they're a doddle. At least Avid are. They come assembled end to end and pre-bled. All you have to do is route the cable and bolt them on. Well okay a bit of alignment required and need to be sure they are torqued right, but not hard to do.

Bleeding will be required now and again. Maybe once a year, probably every 6 months, but depends how much you use it. Just get the bleed kit and follow the instructions. With Avid their kit is easier to use than trying to muck about with a homebrew kit or a third party, though the Avid kit is expensive. Doesn't seem like much given it's a couple of syringes, brake fluid and a few odds and ends, but posts I've seen from people trying to DIY it or use third party kits they seem to have more hassle so I just stuck with Avid's own brand. The fluid should be enough for two or three bleeds.

Or just get the LBS to do it, but one LBS bleed = cost of the kit anyway probably.

Disc rotors - never done them, but should be simple I think unless the bolts are stripped on old discs (in which case just get the drill out).


Anyway, forks are possibly my next upgrade. Plan is to get new forks and fit the old one to a hard tail that I'm planning to build. At the same time I'll learn how to service the old fork and adjust the travel down for the hard tail maybe (130 down to 100, which seems I can do from the manual). But I'll do the brakes too. Juicy 3s will go with the fork to the HT and I'll get new brakes for the full sus.

aaron lingard

Having owned a Hardrock Sport Disc of 2007 vintage, I would say the way to go would be brakes as they're woefully under powered for the rate the bike can be ridden on the standard forks.