TREK4300 on roads without buying a racer?????

Newbie2MTB

I have the trek 4300 hardtail, fitted with bontrager h2 urban tyres for mostly roads/pavements. is there any other improvements i can make or without having to bite the bullet and buy a racer?

reevie25

A friend of mine also has a Trek 4300 which he has converted into a sort of hybrid singlespeeder to be used for road.

He put a pair of slick tyres on like you but he also swapped the RST fork for a Surly Rigid fork which has reduced the weight and has made it faster on the road but it has dropped the front of the bike down so he now has to be careful when cornering because the pedals can catch the floor. I don't know whether it is just the particular rigid forks which he chose or whether every fork of this type would have the same effect.

Converting the bike to a singlespeed has also got rid of a lot of the weight from the bike making it faster.

Hope this helps,

paulbox

Might be able to stick a bigger big ring on.

Thewaylander

Yeh iw as thinking gearing, MTB gears are a little low for road use your spin and spin and go no where.

Newbie2MTB

Thewaylander wrote:

Yeh iw as thinking gearing, MTB gears are a little low for road use your spin and spin and go no where.

how do you mean??

Newbie2MTB

Reevie25 wrote:

A friend of mine also has a Trek 4300 which he has converted into a sort of hybrid singlespeeder to be used for road.

He put a pair of slick tyres on like you but he also swapped the RST fork for a Surly Rigid fork which has reduced the weight and has made it faster on the road but it has dropped the front of the bike down so he now has to be careful when cornering because the pedals can catch the floor. I don't know whether it is just the particular rigid forks which he chose or whether every fork of this type would have the same effect.

Converting the bike to a singlespeed has also got rid of a lot of the weight from the bike making it faster.

Hope this helps,

Hmmm thanks Reevie, not so sure bout the whole pedal thing, i can lock the suspension on the front fork out, its supposed to help, how u mean single speed? no gear changes at all? (sorry prob such a rookie question!)

MountainMonster

As far as with rigid forks, some companies offer different lengths to accomadate for different travel forks they are replacing. Carbon cycles have a few tasty carbon forks, and I beleive they go up to "140mm" rigid forks.

Also definitely replace the big ring with a 53 or so, 44 or whatever standard comes on MTBs is no where near big enough. I find the 53 on my bike is sometimes not even enough.

Single speed is with only one ring up from, and one ring on the back. There are kits you can buy online for about 25, which include spacers to remove the casette and have just one ring there. It drops weight quite a bit, but also can spin out quite easy once you get up to a certain speed, but the rings are switchable very easy, can be done in about 5 minutes, and there are a large array of ones online, anywhere from I believe 14 up to 20.

SPOODZILLA

Just buy a racer, everyone needs at least 2 bikes, justify it to yourself/spouse buy thinking of all the money your saving travelling by bike. I'll see you in the 'what road bike' forum shortly :-)