Entry Level MTB Upgrade: Yay or Nay?

[VTSKING]

Right, so I am new to cycling. Unfortunately I am LOVING it ... which now has me considering some upgrades for my current set-up. My question is, should I upgrade or rather drop the "upgrade-funds" into a savings account and purchase a complete bike in a year or two?

 

 

 

Beginning December 2008 I got myself a Schwinn Mesa Ltd. ('08 model).

 

 

 

To date I have replaced the following:

 

Suntour XCM front shock with a Rockshox Recon Race,

 

Alex rims with Mavic 317 Discs,

 

Cane Creek grips.

 

 

 

Now I am looking at upgrading the Deore components with XT's. More specifically the following,

 

XT crankset,

 

XT derailleurs (front and rear),

 

XT cassette.

 

 

 

Savings account or CRC? Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Scoe]

Its a good frame to start with... And the other components seem OK. Do the upgrade! Maybe not the front der. the difference isn't too big. Save that R300

[VTSKING]

Its a good frame to start with... And the other components seem OK. Do the upgrade! Maybe not the front der. the difference isn't too big. Save that R300

 

 

 

Nay 0 Yay 1

 

 

 

Cheers for the response ( I have to be honest I am itching to upgrade, but I want to weigh it up against the thoughts of the guys that have been playing this "game" far longer than I have)

[Daxiet]

You've already started, so you may as well continue. The components you are talking about upgrading are wear and tear items, so they will need to be replaced at some stage anyway.

 

So Yay, but agree with Scoe, leave the FD, really not worth it.

 

[Serendipity]

Upgrade as the wear on the current products force you to. Unless you are racing at the sharp end of the field, you are probably not going to see a difference in the performance between Deore and XT in shifting. The price though is very different.

 

FD in my opinion Deore is good enough anyway. It looks like you ride disc brakes - and there an upgrade is probably more noticeable and valuable. I have read a few bad things about the brakes this bike came standard with - if it is the Shimano M485.

 

[Dirtbreath]

XT crankset - Nay, wait until your chainrings wear out and then upgrade. Keep a lookout for bargains on the hub as well.

XT derailleurs (front Nay and rear Yay, might as well bling something and a RD is a nice place to have some better kit),

 

XT cassette.Nay, if you ride often enough you should be replacing this quite soon so do it then.

[VTSKING]

Cheers for everyones input, I really appreciate it.I find everyone's suggestions invaluable ... that's why I love The Hub.

 

 

 

OK a quick recap on my thoughts after reading the suggestions.

 

 

 

Drop the FD from the shopping list.

 

 

 

Still in two minds regarding the crank-set. But grinding out some more tracks on the current set is probably the right thing to do. On the other hand the XT crank-set looks so much better than the Octolink I have on there now. Hopefully common sense will prevail over vanity ... let's see how that goes.

 

 

 

Serendipity, the brakes on the bike at the moment are Avid Juicy 3's, and so-far they seem ok to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Agteros]

Brakes, shock and wheels are the biggest improvements you can make.

 

You've done the brakes already, so rather get rid of the mechanical disk brakes, and go hydraulic.

 

After that go tubeless if you've not done it already. This all assuming that the Deores on the bike are 9 speed, and not OLD eight speed ...

 

end of my 2cents.....

[Elvis]

Yay for going tubeless, but try ghetto tubeless, its much cheaper and works well.

[Scoe]

Maybe look at a SLX ctankset too, or evel LX, they go for R700 on CRC...

 

Dispite whats been said, the shift quality of XT compared to Deore is way, way better. Well worth the 1k odd that you'll pay for it.

 

Those brakes are great, don't bother spending the 2k+ to upgrade them.

[Shebeen]

bike came with an suntour xcm and juicy 3's?!seems odd, those brakes are good

 

upgrade the stuff as it wears out.

 

spend the rest of the cash on proper clothing/trips/single speed fund

[Bos]

GET A SLX grouppo from somewere. Those couple of XT components mentioned above will cost you 3/4 of the complete groupo.

 

Its rated highly and only margionaly heavier. and it looks better in my books.

[VTSKING]

GET A SLX grouppo from somewere. Those couple of XT components mentioned above will cost you 3/4 of the complete groupo.

 

?

 

Its rated highly and only margionaly heavier. and it looks better in my books.

 

 

 

BOS1000 now that is something I might seriously consider!

 

 

 

Did not even cross my mind. Had XT burnt into my head and never considered anything else (you have just removed the "blinkers" from my eyes). Cheers!

 

 

[Bos]

I know MartinHatting - Hubber bought a grouppo from CWC and I think he payed R4000 or 4500 something for a complete.  some oversees places also do grouppos and are well trusted. try chainreaction but they have became expensive lately.

 

Good luck man.

[Bos]

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/build_kit/

 I cant spent hours looking for stuff but heres a good place to start.

[VTSKING]

 

 

 

?I cant spent hours looking for stuff but heres a good place to start.

 

 

 

Tell me about it ... like a kid in a candy store. Thanks for the link.