Rockhopper Upgrade advice

Ingieuk

I'm after a little buying advice. I have a 2006 Rockhopper Disc, currently all stock except some grips and some of the drive train.

Current wheels are Mavic XM117 rims with Shimano M475 rear hub and Specialized own brand front hub.

Current Fork is a Rockshox Judy 3 sl, coil fork with lockout and (limited) rebound adjustment - I say limited as it doesn't seem to do anything.

I have £200, possibly £225 to spend on upgrades. I initially thought new wheels, though the only ones I have found of note for that price are Mavic Crosstrails at about £150. As there is nothing truly wrong with the current ones (other than a little truing) am I right in saying I need to spend a lot more than £150 to notice the difference in a set of wheels?

My other thought was changing the fork to a Rockshox Recon Gold solo air, I've seen 2011 models with remote lockout for £180 which seemed like a bargain.

So I guess my question is am I going about this the right way? And is the Recon a good fork upgrade?

Out of interest I tend to ride xc/trail centres (though looking to longer day rides). I'm 6 foot 2 and 100kg.

Help greatly appreciated.

Rich

The Spiderman

You`re thinking along the right lines.Having upgraded my XTC from a similar sort of original spec,I`d definitley say do the forks first.Not only will you save weight but gain massively from the extra control.

Recon Gold or Reba(possily secondhand)are both good.

Those current wheels are about 2.1kg so Crossrides or similar will save about 150g,but it won`t be a night and day difference.

If you haven`t already think about better,lighter tyres.You`ll often save more here than on wheel upgrades.

Ingieuk

Thanks for the quick reply. Good to know I'm headed in the right direction.

On-one have Reba Dual airs for £250, is there a significant difference between the Recons and the Reba? I'm guessing the other air chamber is a -ve one?

Yeah I wore the Fast tracks the bike came with out, now onto some Maxxis Ignitors which seem great if slightly draggy!

Thanks for the advice!

The Spiderman

Ingieuk wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply. Good to know I'm headed in the right direction.

On-one have Reba Dual airs for £250, is there a significant difference between the Recons and the Reba? I'm guessing the other air chamber is a -ve one?

Yeah I wore the Fast tracks the bike came with out, now onto some Maxxis Ignitors which seem great if slightly draggy!

Thanks for the advice!

Rebas and Recons are similar but as you`ve spotted theres a little more adjustability on the Rebas with dual air,so you can set them up to be a little more sensitive on smaller hits,and they a little lighter too.

The Recons would still be a massive improvement on what you have,but if you can afford the extra £70 get the Rebas.Either way you can`t lose.

Ingieuk

Thanks again. Think I'm going to go for the Recons purely on price as I need a few other bits (new QR's and new pistons (again) for my Avid Juicy 5s).

I guess to setup the air forks I'm going to need a shock pump, are there any features/compatibility issues/types I need to look out for or is a shock pump just a shock pump?

Cheers again!

cooldad

Just buy a cheap one off Ebay or Halfords. They all seem to work the same.

Ingieuk

Cheers all, I ordered the Recons and a shock pump yesterday.

One thing I did notice when I looked back at the on-one website is they have now put a statement on the bottom of the page saying 'Please note: weight limit 100kg, 16stone, 225lbs'

Now that shouldn't really be a problem as my weight hovers around 100kg, so short of loosing some pies (believe me I'm trying - hence the increased riding) am I going to run into problems being at the max recommended for the shock?

Out of interest I haven't found anyone else (including Rockshox or Sram) that state that.

Rich

The Spiderman

You`ll be fine.I tend to find that RS reccomended pressures are too high high anyway so it gives you some leeway.

Ignore the reccomeneded pressure and set up by sag alone.Start at 25% sag of max travel (so 25mm if 100mm) and go from there.I think you`ll find shock set up covered in FAQs if not there are some good videos on you tube and the RS website.