Upgrade on a 26"

[RobertWhitehead]

Andy, by saying you've done 4 x TB and a W2W but you do not ride enough to justify getting a new bike? The 4 x TB alone comes to over 1000km in just racing. Not even the km's you had to train to actually be able to finish them. 

 

You know what I would do, my suggestion? I would sit down and take a look at your planned races / training and then whilst I'm sitting I would roughly calculate how many km's this will end up being, then I will go ahead and look at the desired parts you'll be looking to replace on your current bike as droo mentioned: Get someone who knows their stuff to help out.

 

Now after you've done the basic math in replacing items like the drivetrain (cassette, derailleur / s, crank, chain, chain ring, shifter / s) you then take into consideration that items like the fork / shock, wheels, headset, free wheel body & BB will all have to be gone over as well and these items may or may not need to be serviced / upgraded. 

 

Now you go and upgrade bits and bobs on your old bike but the races you're doing justifies you getting some bigger wheels. If you go down the rabbit hole and start to upgrade an older bike it won't be too long before you want to upgrade more and more on it.

 

I would therefore try to either sell the 26er and use the proceeds to go towards a new bike or use the 26er as a training bike and not upgrade anything on it. On ultra rides like the TB a 29er is way more enjoyable and better suited, not to mention faster  .

 

If you stick with the upgrade route I would suggest: Drivetrain and 650B fork & wheels

[Beard]

the casettes basically stay the same width all the way from 8 speed....they just force more cogs in there at narrower spacing...thats why the chains get narrower too. I run 11 speed chains on my 10 speed groupset for better shifting.

 

 

I just converted an older (non-boost) to a 1x11 as per post #6 

 

Thanks for the advice guys! 

[Allrounder]

a friend of mine has a spez 26er running with 650b wheels, and racing ralphs 2.25 tyres

[madmarc]

For a 26er on a budget i would upgrade most of the parts you could later transfer and use on another bike.

 

Handle bars - Farr Bar - as you seem to like the long endurance events.

 

Hubs - I chose HOPE - can always be used on other wheel builds for 650B or 29er. Can also get different kits for different axles as well as boost kits, so never have to replace them entirely. If your frame & fork allows then look at converting to 650B 

 

A KALBO 1 X 10 conversion - once you go 1 X 11 or 1 X 12 it starts getting expensive. On the other hand 1 X 11 or 12 can be used on future frame upgrade.

 

Depending on what level fork you have, look for a better or later model, there are Hobos of 26er forks on the market at good prices.

[AndySteyn]

You can upgrade with sets bought off the hub.

 

Whereabouts do you live?

Bloemfontein Eugene

[AndySteyn]

Andy, by saying you've done 4 x TB and a W2W but you do not ride enough to justify getting a new bike? The 4 x TB alone comes to over 1000km in just racing. Not even the km's you had to train to actually be able to finish them. 

 

You know what I would do, my suggestion? I would sit down and take a look at your planned races / training and then whilst I'm sitting I would roughly calculate how many km's this will end up being, then I will go ahead and look at the desired parts you'll be looking to replace on your current bike as droo mentioned: Get someone who knows their stuff to help out.

 

Now after you've done the basic math in replacing items like the drivetrain (cassette, derailleur / s, crank, chain, chain ring, shifter / s) you then take into consideration that items like the fork / shock, wheels, headset, free wheel body & BB will all have to be gone over as well and these items may or may not need to be serviced / upgraded. 

 

Now you go and upgrade bits and bobs on your old bike but the races you're doing justifies you getting some bigger wheels. If you go down the rabbit hole and start to upgrade an older bike it won't be too long before you want to upgrade more and more on it.

 

I would therefore try to either sell the 26er and use the proceeds to go towards a new bike or use the 26er as a training bike and not upgrade anything on it. On ultra rides like the TB a 29er is way more enjoyable and better suited, not to mention faster  .

 

If you stick with the upgrade route I would suggest: Drivetrain and 650B fork & wheels

suppose that explains why i cant get past 18hours Robert, thanks appreciate that advice! makes a ton of sense!

[RobertWhitehead]

It can be done under 18 hours on a 26er  . My one friend only rides a 26er (he's quite short) and he did it the one year (2013 I believe) in 15:40 or there a bouts. But with that being said he rode in a group of 29er riders from CP3 (I came off the bike and had to pull out) and he had to change to another group at CP4 because he couldn't keep up  .