Minimum level of component/spec you`d want on a bike?

The Spiderman

A little bit of a purely hypothetical,Friday,topic this one...

Just wondering what everyone would consider as their minimum.level of component if they had to build a bike to a budget?

Where do you think the law of diminishing law of returns kick in and what would be your choices?

Brakes,wheels,drivetrain,tyres,contact points,what would you choose and why?

MountainMonster

What is it with you and cheapness?

As far as me, I only want good forks and wheels. As far as drivetrain i'm not fussed about it being the top of the line stuff. Derailleurs and casettes and all that I don't need blingy. I'm happy with X-5's if need be.

Of course, if I had the cash, I would buy the best!

Arkady001

Based on my old-school experience:

XT for the shifters & brakes though I would prefer XTR
XT or SLX for the hubs, cranks and BB
Mavic 717 ceramic for rims on DT-Swiss spokes - i just don't compromise on wheels as i believe it's a false economy.
WTB saddle - either cromoly or Ti (nothing else fits me properly and that decision took many years and many saddles to finally settle upon)

Modern groupsets are almost certainly better across the range than they were when I last did any menaingful purchases, so if I went one or two levels down, I'd probably still experience a similar quality to older versions higher-up the food-chain.

SRAM is a no-go for me - I still have horrible memories of what used to be Grip-Shift - or Grit-Shi'ite as we referred to it before the company became better known as SRAM.
Bias based on prejudice is a terrible thing, but I'm human, so will never entertain anything made by them.

Tyres - best I can afford and terrain/condition specific - no one tyre is good everywhere all year round in all weathers, so it's better to have a selection hanging-up in the shed.

The Spiderman

MountainMonster wrote:

What is it with you and cheapness?

As far as me, I only want good forks and wheels. As far as drivetrain i'm not fussed about it being the top of the line stuff. Derailleurs and casettes and all that I don't need blingy. I'm happy with X-5's if need be.

Of course, if I had the cash, I would buy the best!

I`m a tight wad,but can appreciate good kit.....

I`m with you on this.Decent forks and wheels are a must.

I do reckon that it is the actual construction and quality of the components that makes the most difference less so features that are rarely used.

As an example,I like the rebound adhustment and overall damping performance of my RS Rebas but rarely tweak the negative air.I think a solo air fork would do me fine.

MountainMonster

The Spiderman wrote:

MountainMonster wrote:

What is it with you and cheapness?

As far as me, I only want good forks and wheels. As far as drivetrain i'm not fussed about it being the top of the line stuff. Derailleurs and casettes and all that I don't need blingy. I'm happy with X-5's if need be.

Of course, if I had the cash, I would buy the best!

I`m a tight wad,but can appreciate good kit.....

I`m with you on this.Decent forks and wheels are a must.

I do reckon that it is the actual construction and quality of the components that makes the most difference less so features that are rarely used.

As an example,I like the rebound adhustment and overall damping performance of my RS Rebas but rarely tweak the negative air.I think a solo air fork would do me fine.

That's exactly the same with me. Only features I really need are lockout. Even the ATA cartridge on my 55's is useless as it never gets used. Although lockout is even a bit redundant now with some of the platforms coming out. I'm simple, I set everything up once, and never need to tune it again. No idea why people need external adjustments for everything,

AndyOgy

+1

The groupset is neither here nor there when you can get a Deore groupset for only £175 at Merlin right now.

Mavic Crossrides are only £135

Rebas can be had for about £250. Or, if you want a cheaper option, Recons for not much more than a ton.

Use whatever spare change you have for frame, tyres and finishing kit. Result: A perfectly capable XC bike that will last for years. Apart from the Shimano chain, perhaps.

supersonic

Some of these minimum specs seem quite high to me lol.

Personally I would be happy to ride a 200 quid Rockrider around the trails. But I'd prefer a little more. Toras or higher end SR, 8 speed Alivio/Altus, basic alloy finishing kit, any brakes: the area I would not sacrifice is tyres.

cooldad

+1 cheap potato
XTR shifters Ti rails and ceramic rims are not exactly budget.

themanfromdelmonte

MountainMonster wrote:

What is it with you and cheapness?

As far as me, I only want good forks and wheels. As far as drivetrain i'm not fussed about it being the top of the line stuff. Derailleurs and casettes and all that I don't need blingy. I'm happy with X-5's if need be.

Of course, if I had the cash, I would buy the best!

He has to save on bike parts as he has to spend a lot on food......... What with Robert Smith coming round for dinner all the time .

On topic: Alivio (I'm sure Acera X and Altus have improved since the mid nineties, but the line is the line). I'd be willing to go back to V brakes, as long as everything was in place for the switch to discs if the chance of changing came up.

Lapierre t 400

minimum:Shimano SLX ot XT transmission,brakes,wheels
rockshox fork
decent tyres

D-Cyph3r

Deore/X5 transmission

Rockshox Recon (or special offer Tora) forks

On-One 456 frame

Deore/Mavic wheelset

Plenty of cheap disc brake options

2nd hand finishing kit

The Northern Monkey

deore groupset + toras.

Northwind

Forks and tyres are the only things I'm not prepared to cheap out... I was tanking around on my £200 Carrera Kraken with its £60 rigid forks til recently, lots of fun (but then I got a paycheck I hadn't already spent and it got ker-blinged)

Basic drivetrains still work, and I don't mean Deore- my commuter/retro mtb's entire 7-speed drivetrain cost me about the price of an XT cassette and it all works fine. Restricted choice of cassettes though. Wheels can be cheap and good, sometimes- the OEM ones off the Kraken still get occasional use. Bars, seatposts etc really don't need to be any more than the basics, as long as they're sturdy, just makes them heavy.

The Spiderman

The new 10 speed Deore is actually pretty exotic,I think I could live with 9 speed Alivio.In fact I was looking at some higher end ,new 2011 bikes which have Alivio shifters.
Cheap mechs and shifters still work,just with a little less finesse,and and don`t cost much more in weight.terms.

Cheap chainsets are heavy but with their steel rings are generally durable,think Deore sets the standard here.

I managed OK with cantis but changing pads every other winter ride and a lack of braking power in the wet,would make me think about going back to them,I `d probably be vhappy with Deore level hydraulic discs.

In fact I think I`d rather have cheap hydraulic discs than cheap suspension forks.

I`d be happy with carbon rigid forks,but with suspension forks would really want a Tora or Recon with solo air as a minimum.

Decent saddle is a must,but Charge Spoon isn`t too spendy.For tyres,would want proper folding Maxxis or Schwalbe as a minimum though.

ilovedirt

The GT in my sig is pretty much the minimum of what i'd want to ride on a regular basis on proper trails. Hydraulic discs of some description, decent-ish wheels with cartridge bearings, the rest is pretty irrelevant as long as it works.

cat_with_no_tail

D-Cyph3r wrote:

Deore/X5 transmission

Rockshox Recon (or special offer Tora) forks

On-One 456 frame

Deore/Mavic wheelset

Plenty of cheap disc brake options

2nd hand finishing kit

Pretty much all of this. Although substitute the 456 for A.N.Other cheap frame with less travel.

RevellRider

Some people have high standards for a minimum spec level. Me I'd be happy with single speed, a coil Tora, Avid Juicy's and a decent set of tyres

Arkady001

cooldad wrote:

+1 cheap potato
XTR shifters Ti rails and ceramic rims are not exactly budget.

It is budget - just a high one - the OP said minimum spec I'd consider.
I could ride on something much lower-specc'd, but i wouldn't be 'happy' until I had upgraded to a level commensurate with my 'wants' (as opposed to 'needs').

There's a difference between 'making do' and getting what you want.
I always purchased at a much higher level than I could afford, reasoning that in most cases it would perform better and last longer. Time has proved me right in that 90% of the equipment bought a long time ago is still fully serviceable.

Stoo61

The lowest I would want to go is probably SRAM X7, its not very pricey. In fact the planned winter bike build for the next winter is to have X7 throughout and rigid forks.

Most of those bits will be taken from the spares box I guess.

SDK2007

SLX or X7
Deore stuff is cheap but quite heavy i.e. the Cassette

bails87

I reckon a better way of looking at this is to say "what level of spec would be the minimum to keep you riding at a similar amount to now". For me it would be a rigid fork, but at least 8 speed transmission. I'd have to have something like a tora to get me away from the rigid.

How many of you would really stop riding if someone replaced your xtr with deore?

idiotdogbrain

Air fork w/alloy stanchions
Air rear shock
Eyeletted rims
Hydraulic discs

Although my Marin only fulfills 1/4 of that, and that still gets ridden!

Arkady001

bails87 wrote:

...How many of you would really stop riding if someone replaced your xtr with deore?

I would definitely be forced to stop - assuming the Police actually caught me for the dreadful axe-murder i'd be forced to commit... :evil:

lawman

i wouldnt go for any bike with anything less than X9/XT level kit, and i would never go for a cheap fork either, tora's now seem barely acceptable in terms of performance compared to my revs.

dont get me wrong, cheap bikes are very good these days, my brother spesh hardrock is a great little bike, but would i swap it for my maxlight? hell no!!!! call me a tart, but having had a decent £1k plus bike for a long time now, i expect anything new i buy to be atleast as good, why go backwards when you know what works? things like drivetrain can be seen as pretty irrelevant sometimes, things like front mechs etc can barely a difference, but stuff like forks, brakes and wheels are places i want to have the highest spec possible, the best performance, strong, light, the whole lot, if you can afford it why not have the best you can get, rather than settle for something distinctly average, the whole point of getting out on a bike is having fun, and while yes you can have fun on any old clunker (one the best rides i ever had was on an old giant DH rig, with crap tyres, brakes the lot) its nice to have something special that whenever you look at it, it makes you want to go for a ride and rag the thing into the ground

bike-a-swan

I could get by with something with rigid forks and possibly singlespeed- I'm not sure how good the stuff below deore is these days. If it works it'll do me. Only pricey things I'd want would be hydraulics and nice tyres. The amount I'd spend on replacing rims/pads over the winter and the general lack of headache would be worth it. It's the thing that annoys me most about my roadie, the rim brakes.

After that, probably forks...

bwfc4eva868

I get by with what i have now. When i change my Forks to Toras, i will be happy with my Carrera Vulcan. It has Shimano Deore brakes, Mavic rims and it just needs new forks and its fine for me.

Its not the bike that needs upgrading, its the rider, which needs a confidence boost for some of the black bits at Lee Quarry.

getonyourbike

bike-a-swan- It won't be long before disc brakes are on roadies.

bike-a-swan

You estimate without the UCI. I may well die of old age before proper road bikes have discs. I just plan to buy a crosser in a couple of years when shimano get their hydraulic sti levers sorted out and kit it out with lightweight stuff. Until then, I'll be riding my disc and hub gear equipped pompetamine to work (if it ever turns up!)