456 evo 2 (formerly inbred) 26” budget forest—botherer

I wanted something to nob about in the woods with that was a bit more capable than my Straggler, but that suited my budget of not many money. Found this Inbred for what appeared to be a pretty low price, just round the corner from me.
My first off-road bike since I was about 10!

After getting it home it’s clear it needs a bit of attention, so I think first port of call is a bit of dismantlement, cleaning, greasing etc.

I know nothing about the mtb side of things so I’d welcome any suggestions here. I think currently my list of stuff I want to happen to this bike is:

A bit of a once-over.
Ditch dropper for rigid seatpost.
Ride it a bit.

Closely-ish followed by:
Buy better cranks + nw ring
Buy shifter, mech, cassette, chain - probably 10spd
Buy bars that aren’t revolting red.
Remove as much other red stuff as possible.
Ride more, hopefully with higher levels of glee proportionate to additional spend.

Sorry about shit photo and messy studio.

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Nice - I have an ancient Inbred (it still has v-brake mounting points) which serves me very well. I look forward to deliberation, progress, photos etc.! I'd say 10-spd is a good shout for a 1x build, as it's where the clutch mechs start (as in, a 9-spd clutch mech doesn't exist, it's called Shadow which is the slimmer profile, but Shadow+ is the clutch denominator) in Shimano's range at least. For budgets, I'd massively recommend SunRace cassettes and Microshift shifters, if you can bear not having a thoroughly matching groupset.

Would you say a clutch mech is worth it? I’m happy to have a mish-mash of parts and it’ll likely be 2nd hand all the way.

Why would you get rid of the dropper?

I can’t really see myself using it, really. But then this is all uncharted territory to me so who knows. Should I keep it then? I doubt I’ll be doing mad drops or sick flips or anything.

For a 1x on a mountain bike (even for minimal gnar) probably yes, as a dropped chain is sooo annoying and potentially mech-destroying. This was my 1x 9spd set up after a spin in Ashton Court - awesome trails - and prompted my move to 1x (2nd hand) 10spd:

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Until you use one and then it’s up and down like a yo-yo, sick flips or nae

Keep the dropper. Or at least keep it in reserve for when you do actually go off road.

I'd get gears on it asap. Although not sure how many cheap NW chainrings you'll find to fit your chainset. Most are 4 bolt 104bcd.

I have a clutch mech on my 10 speed setup. Never had trouble with chain drops.

Ok so I guess I’ll have a go with the dropper as it’s on there - we’ll see how rad it enables me to get.

10spd it is - I’ll start looking for a clutch mech and the other relevant bits and bobs.

Not sure of the bcd of those cranks. If they’re 110 then I have a narrow wide somewhere, but in a not-so-useful 40t. Cranks will go eventually though.

Nice, will enjoy watching this evolve as mine sits, unloved, under my desk at work. No love for single-speed in here? You might find people suggesting a shorter stem too, though I have no idea about mtbs

I feel like it’s going to be more useful to me with gears. It is, and shall remain, my only mountain bike.

Shorter stem - yes. I’ve actually realised that it’s a larger frame than I first thought: it’s an 18” and at 5’8” I think its only just rideable for me - looks like 16” would be better. Bit annoying.

I've been looking at used parts of pinkbike. Some pretty good deals on 10 speed kit. Particularly as people are switching to 11/12 speeds.

Although can't vouch for them. Most purchasing I've done has been via singletrack world. Theres just less choice there.

Much love for single speed. But not with that tensioner.

Although I guess it depends on the terrain. Since leaving London I've ridden nothing that doesn't have gears.

I've just bought a similarly bargain basement Inbred to handle singletrack duties so watching your build with interest! Having never ridden an SS with a chain tensioner (always has horizontal d/o's), can you still push hard on them or do they have a habit of shipping chains?

It's not actually rideable yet (well, not safely until brakes are sorted) and I'm already looking at 1x10 stuff (cheers for the pink bike tip @tallsam ) so I may never be able to offer an opinion on that :-)
I would assume it's no different to a derailleur - its essentially just a sprung arm with a cog so basically a simpler version. I reckon it's destined for the bin soon though :-)

Pull-down tensioners can mean chain slip if you don't have enough wrap. Good tensioners push-up to counteract this (Surly Singleator, DMR) , or act like a derailleur with two jockey wheels (Paul)

Ok, I’ve been looking at 10 speed stuff and decided that it’s going to be a bit more than I want to spend on this right now - i’d need mech, shifter, cassette, chain. I briefly considered buying a 9 speed setup as I’ve got a 9spd cassette and chain I could use - I know I’d want to then upgrade it later though SO....

I did some UingTFingS and worked out a plan: 10 speed shimano clutch mech, 9 speed SRAM shifter, my existing cassette and chain. Then when I want to upgrade to 10speed later I’ve not wasted much £ on 9 speed junk, plus I still get a clutch mech either way.

That’s a pretty convoluted way of saving about £30 but there we go.

Various parts inbound. Will hopefully have some pics to post soon rather than waffle.

Bar width - I use something around 40-42cm wide drop bars. These bars seem super wide to me (think they’re around 720 or something) but I gather that’s not that wide?

What width do I need for this sort of thing?

What width do I need for this sort of thing?

There's no set rule for this. Try them as they are for a while, and if you're not sure, try them for a bit longer

Give wide(ish) bars a chance, before you get the hacksaw/pipe cutter out :-)

I will - I’ll see how these bars feel when I finally get out on this thing. Then do this:

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Got some things in the post. Cranks, shorter stem and seatpost on their way.

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Aha, a 9 speed set up using a 10 speed clutch mech? Presumably it'll be alright if you just set the appropriate limit screws. Hopefully 9 speed and 10 speed cable pulls are not vastly different.

It’s apparently the same pull ratio - So should work fine, fingers crossed!

I've run the same setup and ran a washer underneath the cable clamp on the rear derailleur. This changes the pull ratio slightly and made it work smoother (for me at least)

What shifter/mech combo did you have, out of interest?