Riaan_DP

Great, thank you all for your responses, appreciate it ????

Hi, I'm heading off to Mauritius for an extended period. I've been advised to take my bike along as apparently bikes are very expensive that side. My bike is a 27.5'er (Giant Trance), so I am a bit concerned about finding parts. In SA it is at times a mission to find especially parts for wheels. Does anyone have any experience with finding parts that side, or know generally how availability looks? Ideally I don't want to import everything myself.

Thanks for all the input so far and @Longbarn Killer, especially thanks for your candour. Should I decide to upgrade I'll definitely expand my horizons beyond Specialized.

Hi all I was introduced to mountain biking by a work colleague about 8 months ago and fell in love with the sport. Around that time I went and bought myself a new 2015 Specialized Rockhopper and have been having a blast. As I've been gaining confidence I've been riding the bike increasingly harder. It has now reached a point where I feel I need to upgrade, especially due to the fork which is an entry level Suntour XCT. I really enjoy trail riding, bailing down rocky descents, the occasional jumping etc, but I do not currently have the budget to buy a Stump Jumper or equivalent that's probably more geared towards this. I am looking for some advice on 29er bikes I can look at in the 13/15K range that will at least provide as good a quality frame as the Rockhopper as well as a better fork (and hopefully some other hardware improvements as well). It looks like the next Specialized upgrade would be the Crave, but at 18K falls just out of my budget. I am quite happy with a hard-tail, so a rear suspension is not a requirement. I've considered upgrading the fork and wheels on my Rockhopper, but so far all advice points to selling it and buying a new bike. Regards Riaan