Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

I think rockshox stuff is a little more DIYable.

I like pulling things apart and then putting them back together again - i know this is not how everyone operates. If it were me, i'd do some googling on servicing the fork you've got and then give it a bash. You can do a fair bit without specialist tools. If it's worth bugger all, you've got less to lose.

Near Manchester

FWIW if it has the mo-co damper it will always make a squishy noise as it's an aeration damper, it has no volume compensation and if over-filled it will hydrolock.

I think rockshox stuff is a little more DIYable.

Yeah it's a piece of piss for the lower leg service. Reminds me I still need to do my Z1 after buying the oils.

New fork time!

Would've been for someone else, I should get on and build my Crush instead of looking for more to take on

52t option on Sram Eagle cassettes

Thanks, there’s a chance it’s always done it! I might play with the pressure anyway as it’s too bouncy(?) for me most of the time

I saw that, my 10-51 shimano is fucking pointless now and I hardly got to ride it.

Make the rebound slower?

Depends on the reason for buying it. Being 26" upgrading is made difficult by the almost totally defunct wheelsize. Obtaining new, quality forks for that wheelsize will be almost impossible. New quality wheels and rims will be almost impossible to come by. The geometry will be old skool and modern 27.5" hardtails will faster and more fun.

Also, unless it's mint the fork and shock will need servicing before doing any upgrades. And the frame bearings. I'd never go back to 26" now. It'd be like riding square wheels.

Yeah I'm pretty reticent due to the wheel size. However I could get hold of it for free so the thinking is to so some upgrades that could possibly keep me going until I could afford something else. It's a shame as the frame is decent and would be good with something better it's just totally out of date now

Yeah, if it's free it might be worth it. I was just considering you were going to pay for it.
I'd just check all the components, especially the frame bearings or brushing, and the shock and fork are in decent order before spending any money on upgrades.

But post the spec up here and we can identify any worthwhile upgrades

Bike radar say a great frame worthy of update. Obviously that was a contemporary review but still. I live 5 minutes from Kirroughtree in Scotland which has lots of fast single track, not so much downhill, so I think a priority would be lighter wheels etc. Yeah I'll be giving it a service asap.

Spec:

Brakes Juicy 3
Seat Angle 71.5
Wheelbase (in) 43
Top Tube (in) 23.5
Seat Tube (in) 16
Chainstays (in) 16.75
Bottom Bracket Height (in) 13
Weight (lb) 30.1
Weight (kg) 13.7
Stem Bontrager SSR 100mm
Shifters X.5 trigger
Saddle Bontrager R
Cranks M442
Rims Bontrager Ranger
Rear Wheel Weight 2735
Rear Shock Float RP-2 w/Pro Pedal
Rear Derailleur X5
Head Angle 69
Front Wheel Weight 2110
Front Derailleur Deore
Frame Material Alpha Red Aluminum w/ABP Race
Fork Tora SL w/coil spring 120mm
Tyres Bontrager XDX 2.2in

Is it just in my parish, or have dog owners stopped picking up the pungent eggs of their animals elsewhere? Almost every bloody ride atm.

Love Kirroughtree. Ride it 3-4 times a year at least. Black Crags is one of the best descents in the country! Only just come home south after 10 weeks looking after my Mum who lives south of Stranraer. Really hurt not being able/appropriate to ride there.

If you are getting the Trek for free, you could just spend enough to keep it maintained, ride it and that might give you the best idea of what you want to to do to it or whether you want to change it. One thing I would do from the get-go is set the tyres up tubeless. Makes a big improvement to how the bike will ride as well as mean less punctures. Plenty of youtube videos on how to do it and make a Soda-bottle ghetto inflator.

Those comments are awful

Yeah it's fantastic fun and amazing to have right behind the house so can go out for an evening ride if I fancy. I'm not alleviating your pain much sorry! Family member works in the workshop there too which means cheap parts and labour....

Yeah that makes sense, it's a stopgap bike till I can get something better but interested to see what I could do with it. Any chance to tinker with a bike!

Pinkbike comments have a high percentage of 'experts'

Also teenagers. It's not as bad as youtube comments, but still best avoided

Agree with others - if it's free, get it rideable and enjoy - but don't spend much. It's unlikely anything that will make a significant performance improvements will be transferable to a new bike. Even with the wheels, any newer frame will have a different wheel size and different axles, so obsolete.

The main thing I'd look to do is get it set-up 1x and ditch the front mech. You can probably do this with just the purchase of a new narrow wide for the front, and then look to see if you need a bigger cassette at the back. I ran a 32 x 11-36 for a while fine. Drop it to a 30 chaining if you want better climbing and you'll only miss out on gearing on long straight descents.

The main thing I'd look to do is get it set-up 1x and ditch the front mech. You can probably do this with just the purchase of a new narrow wide for the front, and then look to see if you need a bigger cassette at the back. I ran a 32 x 11-36 for a while fine. Drop it to a 30 chaining if you want better climbing and you'll only miss out on gearing on long straight descents.

Why even bother with that? Just ride the thing :-)

Just ride the thing

This

Right behind the house? No thats not helping :-) There is loads of good singletrack around there and the gravel in the forest goes for miles is superb as well.

I did do a cheeky 100 miler over to and round the glentrool loop whist up there. Needed some headspace for some reason or other and didnt see a soul all day. Even saw a golden eagle ridiculously close. Rode round a corner and it was just sat on a tree stump 30 feet away!

Such a nice area!

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Surrey hills - do you need to go with someone who knows the routes, or can you bimble around by following your nose and still find the trails?

I got to know it by following others, but if you've got trail forks you could find the trails easy enough. There are a few trails clumped around peaslake, and a few around Leith hill, so I'd say pick one of those and explore. There'll likely be others spinning around that you could just follow.