Up grade HT or buy a new FS

old codger

Hello,
i have got a Stumpjumper HT 29 (second hand) i am thinking of upgrading the wheels and equipment to XTR which will cost roughly 2K'ish,or do i upgrade to a decent new FS.
Opinions please,dont be too harsh.

Thanks for looking.

The Rookie

Depends on you and your riding and what you enjoy really.

XTR wheels are nice, but not great value, almost as good wheels are available an aweful lot cheaper!

old codger

I mainly like flatfish trails and Green laning,the wheels that came with the bike weigh just over 4 kilos all in and that's with some spesh s works tyres,so without spending ridiculously what could I hope to get down to.

Angus Young

Are you really an 'old codger'? If so you might prefer the extra comfort of a full suss (it can be a revelation), even if you're not hammering down a steep hill. And let's be honest, even stuff described as flat/green lane can be choppy as hell.

oodboo

Do you need XTR? For me the performance jump from XT doesn't justify the price jump. But maybe you're looking for the weight saving and not concerned about cost. As others have said, you could get a decent HT for the amount you're looking to spend but other than updated geometry I don't think there's going to be much benefit as the stumpjumper HT is already a fairly high end bike (guessing you'd be looking at lighter xc bikes rather than modern trail bikes as weight seems to be your main concern).

What is it about your current bike that is making you want to upgrade?

kajjal

Unless you are planning to race it it is alot of money to spend on minimal upgrades. What year and model is the stumpjumper?

Once you fit reasonable wheels for most people the rider is the best place to save weight

supersonic

I'd probably look at SRAMS 11 speed offerings, and wheels to suit if you plan to go the whole hog - lighter and wider ranging than XTR.

old codger

Hello,
Yes I really am an old codger (60yrs),it already has tubeless tyres on it,I purposely sought a HT as the last and only other time which was some 20yrs ago I had a brand new Marin ( can't remember the model name) but that was FS and it was like treading water,I felt the bike was going down before it went forward.I don't know the age of the Stumpy but the equipment is as follows :-
Avid brakes
Sram x9 gears
Truvativ c/set
Specialized chromoly seat and pin
Heavy bars
11 - 36 Sram cassette
Spesh sworks tyres
Total weight for wheels is a touch over 4kilo

I would post a picture but can't work it out,if anyone can help or post it for me , please get in touch.
Yes you are right weight is something I would like to reduce,my way of thinking is if I'm going to change parts for the better I might as well go for lighter aswell.I am 5'5" and weigh 66kgs.

Hope that as answered some of your questions in my quest to get a decent bike up and running.

Cheers and thanks for looking.

Angus Young

old codger wrote:

Hello,
Yes I really am an old codger (60yrs),it already has tubeless tyres on it,I purposely sought a HT as the last and only other time which was some 20yrs ago I had a brand new Marin ( can't remember the model name) but that was FS and it was like treading water,I felt the bike was going down before it went forward.

20 years is a very long time in the world of the FS. These days, for the money you're proposing to spend, you'd have to try very hard to find something that felt like you were treading water.

FishFish

Angus Young wrote:

old codger wrote:

Hello,


These days, for the money you're proposing to spend, you'd have to try very hard to find something that felt like you were treading water.

...well you could buy a diving suit and flippers.

oodboo

Try to get to a demo day or get a test ride on a full sus, that should tell you if you want to stick to ht or look further into a full sus.

The Rookie

Even though my bike is quite old (9 years old) it really does loose very little compared to an HT, that said I have ridden some fairly modern FS that still feel mushy and awful to me (Trek's mostly)...the suspension design and/or shock used are key to how it feels.

97th choice

old codger wrote:

Hello,
i have got a Stumpjumper HT 29 (second hand) i am thinking of upgrading the wheels and equipment to XTR which will cost roughly 2K'ish,or do i upgrade to a decent new FS.
Opinions please,dont be too harsh.

Thanks for looking.

I assume sterling so that's a huge amount to spend on upgrades, you could spend £350 on some nice stans arch wheels from superstar and save some weight, and not worry about the drive train, or if you are hankering a new bike then you can get something tasty for less than a grand.

Check out Paul's cycles for some bargains

old codger

Ok,so if I was persuaded to change tack,which FS should I be looking at within a budget up to 3.5 / 4K,bearing in mind it will be used mainly for trails and Green laneing,it will very rarely be going up any mountains or hills.

Angus Young

old codger wrote:

Ok,so if I was persuaded to change tack,which FS should I be looking at within a budget up to 3.5 / 4K,bearing in mind it will be used mainly for trails and Green laneing,it will very rarely be going up any mountains or hills.

While FS might be worth considering, old codger's aching bones and all that, that sounds like a lot of money to be spending on a bike that you're not really going to be stretching. Of course, nothing wrong with spending as much as you want, given that they're toys, so sky's the limit. But you might want to start looking at around the 2K mark and work your way up, given what you're going to be doing with it.

The Rookie

Giant Anthem, Santa Cruz Tallboy - both excellent long distance XC FS bikes

oodboo

If that's what you're spending then test ride, test ride, test ride.

old codger

Thank you,
You mentioned working my way up,and that is what I am trying to avoid as I have wasted a lot of money in the past.I would rather buy once and have done with it,if that's possible with all the new technology and ideas.

Angus Young

The Rookie wrote:

Giant Anthem

The 'can't go wrong' choice. Never heard a bad word about them.

old codger wrote:

Thank you,
You mentioned working my way up,and that is what I am trying to avoid as I have wasted a lot of money in the past.I would rather buy once and have done with it,if that's possible with all the new technology and ideas.

When I say "work your way" up, I mean there is plenty of very good machinery at the 2K mark and you will very easily find plenty of bikes that will suit your needs way before the 4K mark. So, unless you have a burning desire to throw money at the problem (and nothing wrong with that if you do), then you're likely to find something that will do everything you want for much less that the top end of the budget you suggest.

97th choice

old codger wrote:

Thank you,
You mentioned working my way up,and that is what I am trying to avoid as I have wasted a lot of money in the past.I would rather buy once and have done with it,if that's possible with all the new technology and ideas.

You could get a cracking giant anthem for £1k-£1.5k if you don't mind last years model. You can spend more if you want but it's just slightly better componentry and a bit less weight. its a huge case of diminishing returns.

old codger

Thanks for all your replies and time,i have tried a couple yesterday and today,and apart from missing a little bit of rear end plushness i have decided to keep what i have but not upgrade to XTR just the XT but still get some lighter wheels,which raises another question !!!

So,which wheels should look at.

The wheels that came with the bike weigh in at a very portly 4050 gms complete and thats tubeless !!,with specailized Renegade S Works tyres.

97th choice

First things first you need to get the wheel weight with everything taken off; tyres, tubes, discs, skewers, cassette. Then weigh them and you'll have your comparison weight.

Or, if you want to google your component weights (and trust them) you can just subtract those to get an approximate wheel weight.