Purchasing dilemma

Ferrals

If all goes well with some ebay-ing, by the end of the w/e I will have enough for a ks lev dropper 8) however I'm now wondering if I am better off spending the money on a new pair or wheels instead (hope hubs and stans crest) :?

Any thoughts to see me through this painful decision ?

Bike is a whyte 901 and usage is trail centres and general xc, with aims to do moe xc races next year but not a crazy weight weenie

mcnultycop

Are your current wheels not doing something well; are they too heavy or too narrow or too weak?

Assuming you haven't already got a dropper, I'd get one in a heartbeat. I have a Lev and it's an ace bit of kit. Better with a Southpaw (if you are 1x).

Ferrals

Current wheels are fine - apart from the fact I keep breaking spokes but that's not the biggest hardship. I was more thinking that reducing weight at the wheel would be an improvement, although as I don't know the weight of my current wheels I reckon the dropper will be the way to go. May upgrade to the southpaw eventually

The Rookie

Breaking spokes isn't a good sign.....

What wheels are they? Any details on hub, or rim, are the spokes butted (you can see that is you look closely).

kbrembo

I would buy wheels first...easy best upgrade and a fine choice with Hope and Stans

Put the dropper on hold but definatly go for one...


I would wait until spring for the dropper...

Ferrals

The Rookie wrote:

Breaking spokes isn't a good sign.....

What wheels are they? Any details on hub, or rim, are the spokes butted (you can see that is you look closely).

Wheels that came with the bike, whyte branded rims and hubs. I've had 4 break on the front wheel since I bought it in February and I was out of action for 3 months. However, the middle two I replaced myself so maybe have been putting poor tension in them.

rockmonkeysc

They could be over or under tensioned if they keep snapping.
If you plan on racing xc is it a good idea to add weight by fitting a dropper post?

The Rookie

Sounds like you need to look at wheels first, weight is a good indication of quality, a decent LBS should be able to visually ID the original manufacturer, from the spec on the whyte website I'm thinking Formula but that's a bit low rent on a bike at that price.

Hope/Crest would be great, I've just built a new front wheel for mine (rear to follow) using the lighter Alpine and I'm very impressed with the quality of the rim.

Ferrals

RockmonkeySC wrote:

They could be over or under tensioned if they keep snapping.
If you plan on racing xc is it a good idea to add weight by fitting a dropper post?

Yeah I'm wondering about that (the weight issue) but realistically I guess I'll do half a dozen races next year whereas I'll be riding a few times every week so general fun is more important 8) and I don't really like stopping to change saddle height but there are some local descents where it's much better with the saddle down. And if I'm honest I'm hoping it will give me confidence back as I knackered myself good and proper on a local dh-ish run with my saddle at xc height

I think the spokes are hopefully tensioned I know as the last one that snapped I had fixed by an lbs. decisions decisions!

Ferrals

As an addendum, I realised both my current seatpost and current saddle are about 350g apiece and my qr seatpost is 60g, so have just ordered a 220g fizik gobi on special from crc for £25, will at some point get a lighter (mt zoom 5g) clamp so will be able to run the dropper with no additional weight 8)