Giant Trance X4 upgrades to beef it up a bit?

rockmonkeysc

symanoy wrote:

Bear in mind that you can't have great grip and low rolling resistance, DH tyres have tons of grip but aren't very fast rolling, XC race tyres roll super fast but far less grip.

Thats not quite true. I use 2.35" highroller DH supertacky tyres on my DH bike in the dry and they are faster than the 2.2" nobby nics on my XC bike! The main thing with DH tyres is that they are very tough and have very stiff sidewalls but are quite heavy.
Also Racing Ralph's which are a pure xc tyre are very popular with 4X racers because they give extremely good grip in the dry.

symanoy

I would include weight as something that makes a tyre roll slower. A heavier tyre takes more effort to get doing as does a slow rolling one. Compound also plays a part, a supertacky tyre will never be as fast rolling as a 70a.

But your right its not as easy to make sweeping generalisations as I did.

dhooper7

My favourite upgrades to date are pedals and handlebar.
Got a 780mm Answer Pro Taper bar and love it. The width really suits my 6ft height and riding style.
Had a few pairs of pedals over the years and my favourites are Superstar Nano's

Grovsie29

Ok iam an idiot lol. Didn't realise you need a special tool to remove the rear cassette. Trying to find what I need, but not sure is Halfords the best bet?

felix.london

Cassette removal tool should do it

felix.london

you'll need a chain whip and a lock-ring tool

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=10184

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=10183

Grovsie29

What do I need the chain whip for? The whole wheel is off, don't I just need the tool mate?

I stupidly undid the whole axle on the rear wheel, and it had loads of ball bearings in. Put it all back together now, but what I don't quite understand is, my new Mavic XM719 wheels don't have anything like that on the rear hub, I ordered it with a 10mm adapter, and ive got me 10mm axle, so do you just grease the axle up and push it through?

Whats stock on the bike is a lot more complicated it has a really small axle that goes through the bigger bolt on the back hub/wheel.

Just waiting on my fork and shock, all ive managed so far is swapping the discs to the new wheels lol.

felix.london

You need the lock-ring tool to undo the lock-ring and you need the chain whip to remove the cassette itself.

The stock wheels sound like cup/cone hubs with a standard Q/R adapter. The new wheels have sealed cartridge bearings and switch adapters

symanoy

the freewheel rotates anti-clockwise, so you need the whip to hold the cassette in place while you remove the lock ring.

Grovsie29

Right, that makes sense, thanks.

Do I need to grease up the axles, or do you just put em through?

ive also got a small problem with the front brake not fitting on the pike fork.

So ive got a 74mm bracket on at the mo and I need a 51mm IS bracket it would seem? Front rotor is 180mm.

Is this what I need? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=17303

Thanks guys.

symanoy

I never grease thru axles, the only reason you would grease it is to avoid corrosion and it seizing up and aid removal.
a light coating can aid this if you rarely remove it, otherwise I wouldn't worry.

That's a rear adaptor, you want the front version, http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=17390.
Just double check if you have Avid brakes that its a 180mm rotor, my trance came with elixirs and 185mm rotor.

Grovsie29

Thanks very much for your help guys, ordered the bracket and the 2 tools, and a little bike pump.

Now lets see how much fun I have changing the fork over lol.

Grovsie29

When the bikes upside down, there is a little bit of play in the forks, but when it's the right way there doesn't seem to be any. All I did was put the reducer thing upside down at the bottom of the fork, and put the crown on top of it? I assume that's correct? it was hard to get it down to the bottom maybe it's not fully down?