Upgrade or Buy New?

cammyb96

I bought my Carrera Kraken around a year ago as a way to get into mountain biking, now that I am pushing myself on the trails, its started to show its weaknesses. I'd be looking to spend £500+ on upgrading it (and helmet/body armour ect) for the longhaul or spending more on a new bike. What would you guys recommend? I'd be looking to upgrade the following:

Brakes Bigger Disks New Tyre's Stem and Bar New Crankset and Casette? New Fork?

The main aim for upgrading these would be to make the bike more trail specialized, at the moment its not worth the money for me to invest a few grand and get a full suspension since I only go to the more difficult trails a few times a year.

The main issues I've had with the kraken on the trails are mainly losing the front wheel too often, loss of traction from the stock tyr'es, brakes are on the way out completely. I'd appreciate any suggestions for the components listed above!

wilberforce

Not sure what tyres you are currently running, but you will find tyre pressure can make a massive difference and so it is worth experimenting with different pressures before jumping the gun and buying new rubber

New disc brakes can be had at bargain prices currently so use your friend google to find good deals on a set of Deore or other Shimano options.

Cassette and crankset I would leave until the current units wear out

mattyfez

If it's any help, my cheaper vengeance came with lethal tyres, a rubber upgrade sorted that right out.

Once the stock brake pads wore out, I replaced all 4 with superstar pads which also seem better than the stock pads.

So I'd just do that, a set of good tyres and some fresh pads and see how you go, a lot cheaper than £500!

Thewaylander

Yup save your pennies,

IMO a budget bike is rarely worth huge bucks spending on it, other than basics of contact point or anything broken.. save the pennies ready for a new bike when your ready.

The Rookie

I'd agree, the latest Carrera frame isn't really worth having that much spent on it, you could sell the bike, add £500 and a bit and get much better all new (or nearly new) bike.

cammyb96

Just wanted to reboot the thread since I've taken on what you guys have suggested, I'll be looking to invest quite a nice amount on a new bike. I'm looking at around £1000-1500. There are two bikes I'm looking at, one is over-budget but I'd be willing to pay extra for the investment. My main issue is deciding whether or not to go for a DH bike or a more all-rounded bike.

DH BIke:
https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/gravity/torque-dhx/2016/torque-dhx-whipzone.html

All-Round Bike:
https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mtb/nerve/nerve-al-8-0.html

If I do get the DH bike then I will be going for more visits to DH trails but that would sacrifice any change of using it for longer cycles. Whats the normal life span of a DH bike? in terms of costly repairs/replacements if I would be at dh trails 3/4 times a year?

Whats your guys opinions? my main issue with going for the DH bike is the issue of me not getting to the trails as often as I'd like but there's nothing to say I wont be up at them more next year...

cooldad

DH bike is totally pointless for anything except proper DH.

Have you ridden any proper ones?

cammyb96

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19703029#p19703029]cooldad[/url] wrote:

DH bike is totally pointless for anything except proper DH.

Have you ridden any proper ones?

Yeah that's why I'm apprehensive about it, dropping the money on the DH would mean I'll be doing only DH biking. Haven't ridden a DH bike before.

EDIT: Tbh now I'm thinking about it, it would be pretty silly drop £1.7 grand on a bike I'd ride about 4 times a year when I could just hire a dh bike whilst I'm at the major trails.

codfather

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19703022#p19703022]cammyb96[/url] wrote:

Whats the normal life span of a DH bike? in terms of costly repairs/replacements if I would be at dh trails 3/4 times a year?

Depends how hard/often you crash it. Downhill bikes don't just fall apart. If you give them reasonable treatment after every ride and don't hit many trees very hard it'll last for ages.

The transition from Kraken to Torque DHX is a very steep one and riding a few times a year won't seem like much fun if you have nothing else to ride in the mean time.

The Nerve is at the other end of the spectrum and a much more natural choice for progression.

codfather

I bought my first downhill bike at the same time as having my first proper hardtail. If I hadn't kept the hardtail and had only had the Norco to ride I would have gone mad. You never know how much you enjoy riding basic trails until you no longer have the option.

nasha48

Canyon Nerve has been on my wish list for ages now so I would strongly recommend you buy it, use it very little, then flog it to me at half the price please. Frame size large will do fine. :P

rockmonkeysc

That Canyon Torque is the worst modern DH bike I have ridden. It flexes badly, feels twitchy over rock gardens and that rear suspension is way too linear.
Not a fan of the Nerve either but it's at least half decent until you start pushing hard.

codfather

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19703833#p19703833]RockmonkeySC[/url] wrote:

That Canyon Torque is the worst modern DH bike I have ridden. It flexes badly, feels twitchy over rock gardens and that rear suspension is way too linear.

Plus being rather fall-to-pieces-y and looking like a bag of......

Canyon build some decent trail bikes; that's what they focus on and downhill is not their specialty. The Torque is a little half arsed.