Mountain Bike Upgrade

[drbrock]

I am tempted to upgrade my mountain bike components. I have zero experience and do not know what I am talking about.
I have a 2012 Scott Aspect 29 that I love. However, it is fairly slow.
Is it worth upgrading the components?

My goal is to make it stupid fast in straight lines.

I rarely ride on aggressive trails being that I am from Florida. Most of the trails near my house are hardened gravel or I ride on the asphalt near the beach. Most of the time I am going straight lines and all out speed.

Brakes are perfect, I don't need to change those.

I know when I go to the bike shop they are going to say upgrade to carbon fiber and spend 3k. I rode those bikes and they are not that much lighter than mine. I don't see the value there.

I rode a Rocky Mountain Bike that changed my life in Canada. So much faster than my bike. I think it was a 2014 Rocky Mountain Altitude.

 

[Mayne]

I think you answered your own question. Me personally, i'm looking for a mtn bike with good city tires.

 

[MrSquished]

I think you answered your own question. Me personally, i'm looking for a mtn bike with good city tires.

Don't get a mountain bike to do city riding. Get a hybrid. A mountain bike is going to have extra weight from any suspension apparatus and the much wider tires. Just get a good hybrid bike that comes with tires good for city riding.

 

[highland145]

Knobby road tires but the 29's just might be slow. I have no experience with them. My Gary Fisher, 26", with the knobby road tires is good enough since I'm the limiting factor. All I do is surface streets these days.

And I have the front fork locked out.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

I have a Giant Revel 29er that has never seen a mountain. I bought mine for how it looks, I don't care how it does on the streets. I even added a Manatou fork and other goodies for strictly looks.

 

[highland145]

I have a Giant Revel 29er that has never seen a mountain. I bought mine for how it looks, I don't care how it does on the streets. I even added a Manatou fork and other goodies for strictly looks.

A broom?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

A broom?

 

[drbrock]

I would go hybrid or road but there is one park that is connected to my house that is super agressive and is extremely popular. For example, I am riding it on Saturday with a group. Hybrid would be torn apart.

My main question is if upgrading components make a huge difference or would only pros notice the difference?
I don't know if my components are complete crap(upgrades make a huge difference) or mid range(law of diminishing returns upgrades will be crazy money with little effect). Bike shops I don't trust very much.

 

[Mayne]

LOL

 

[MrSquished]

I would go hybrid or road but there is one park that is connected to my house that is super agressive and is extremely popular. For example, I am riding it on Saturday with a group. Hybrid would be torn apart.

My main question is if upgrading components make a huge difference or would only pros notice the difference?
I don't know if my components are complete crap(upgrades make a huge difference) or mid range(law of diminishing returns upgrades will be crazy money with little effect). Bike shops I don't trust very much.

You can notice differences with different components. A disc brake upgrade could provide you with a nicer feel on the levers plus better modulation when braking. That happened to me when I upgraded to Deore XT brakes from a respected bike brand. I went to good hydraulics from mechanical discs and I would never go back.

Of course it varies. You may notice shifting better with a new shifter and derailleur. Shifting on Shimano's top road bike components was insanely smooth, I worked at a bike shop so I did test rides on bikes a lot and it was very noticeable. Only their top 2 component lines had that kind of shifting. With everything there is a point of diminishing returns. At one level the biggest thing you gain is lighter weight, which could be just grams. So is it worth it? It depends how big your bank account is.

 

[JulesMaximus]

The only way you're going to go faster is if you reduce your wind resistance, rolling resistance or improve your physical ability. A lighter bike isn't going to do jack.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

The only way you're going to go faster is if you reduce your wind resistance, rolling resistance or improve your physical ability. A lighter bike isn't going to do jack.

Steeper hill also.

 

[MrSquished]

The only way you're going to go faster is if you reduce your wind resistance, rolling resistance or improve your physical ability. A lighter bike isn't going to do jack.

Pretty much. But a 10lb lighter bike may help you get up to speed a bit faster, it won't help you really go faster overall. Just certain components might. I forget the term but anything that has to remain spinning on a bike matters far more than those that don't for a little lightweight boost. So that would include wheels, pedals and crankset. I think that's all of them.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Pretty much. But a 10lb lighter bike may help you get up to speed a bit faster, it won't help you really go faster overall. Just certain components might. I forget the term but anything that has to remain spinning on a bike matters far more than those that don't for a little lightweight boost. So that would include wheels, pedals and crankset. I think that's all of them.

Again, it's not going to make enough of a difference for him to notice. I've thrown lightweight parts at many bikes over the years. The thing holding me back is me.

It's not about the bike.

 

[MrSquished]

Again, it's not going to make enough of a difference for him to notice. I've thrown lightweight parts at many bikes over the years. The thing holding me back is me.

It's not about the bike.

Again I stated this was pretty much the case but rotational mass can have a slight effect on speed. If it has to rotate along with the forward movement of the bike, the less weight the better, even if it's just a slight gain. You will notice a difference between reducing your frame weight by 5lb vs your wheel weight by 5lb. But it will be slight. But it is there. Except for acceleration - there frame weight can have a slight effect. At the end of the day you are best off upgrading the engine than upgrading the bike.

But to reduce weight with an actual small effect, change rotational mass parts. That's just a fact jack.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Get a second bike for the roads or the roads and gravel. You can make your mtb "faster" on pavement, but not significantly so. A different bike would make a world of difference.

 

[drbrock]

Thought about a second bike. Just don't have a lot of room to throw another bike into it.

I am thinking maybe there is something wrong with my bike(Tire Rubbing brakes rubbing). I hear you guys about me potentially being a fat boy and to improve my abilities. I am in pretty decent shape and the people I ride with are twice my age. They typically can reach higher speeds than me. There is no way they can be that much better than me.

I remember the other bike being so much smoother and the tires just felt more free. Maybe I can see if bearings are bad or something. It reminds me when I switched from from Abec 3 to 9s in my roller blades. The 9s would just glide and the 3s required a lot more work.

 

[Carson Dyle]

The number one thing you could do, assuming nothing is mechanically wrong, would be to put smoother, skinnier, higher pressure tires on the bike. Which will make it less trail-capable, but if you want a a bike that is used for every type of riding, you make compromises.

After that, I'd say new wheels ($$$). Lighter, smoother rolling, truer.

If you were talking about upgrading the performance as a mountain bike, probably a new fork. But if you don't ride aggressively, and spend most of your time on the roads, that would be mostly a waste.

If you think something may be mechanically wrong, have the bike tuned at a good shop before doing anything. Get the wheels trued, the bearings cleaned and repacked, the brakes and drive train cleaned and adjusted.

 

[Humpy]

Upgrade the motor.

Better fuel, lighter block, tune up the ECU.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Here is my kickass road bike, weighing in at about 32lbs. Sorry for the major dirt spot on the front tire.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I hear you guys about me potentially being a fat boy and to improve my abilities. I am in pretty decent shape and the people I ride with are twice my age. They typically can reach higher speeds than me. There is no way they can be that much better than me.

Sure they can. If they ride more than you. I'm 40 and ride with 60 year old people that whoop my ass and 20 year old kids that I whoop up on. You can be in good shape and still not be in good bike shape. If you are only riding once a month you aren't going to be fast. You have to ride a lot and put in some miles to be fast.

That Rocky Mountain is a $3k bike while yours is a $600 bike it should "feel" nicer but it really shouldn't be any faster at least on flat smooth ground. It has already been said but if you want to do something without spending a ton of money tires tires TIRES. Get some lighter weight folding XC tires, small knobs. If you want to spend some money get on ebay and find a used set of wheels in the 1500-1700 gram range. Yours are probably 2200+ grams so you can knock off a good bit of weight there. Hard to find quick release wheels well good ones anyway on ebay though. I had to covert the last wheelset I bought from thru axle to QR because I'm also rocking an older bike.

 

[MrSquished]

Here is my kickass road bike, weighing in at about 32lbs. Sorry for the major dirt spot on the front tire.

not to knock your bike cause it looks like a fine mountain bike, but I hate mountain bike geometry. The top tube slope is what doesn't do it for me. I prefer the lines of a more classic hybrid or road bike.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

I had a Specialized hybrid before my Giant, it was very comfortable right from the get go. My Giant took much more time to adjust to, along with trying about 7 different saddles.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

I like flashy bikes, even though this downhill for street use would be so wrong, I think its one of the best looking bikes I have ever seen.

 

[MrSquished]

I like flashy bikes, even though this downhill for street use would be so wrong, I think its one of the best looking bikes I have ever seen.

That's gross.

I'm too bored to go look through hundreds of google images but even just a brief overview found me this. thirty times nicer with almost zero the effort. If it's that easy...