Now that my wife is getting more confident out on the trails I think it is worth making some tweaks to her bike. The bike is a 2006 GT Avalanche 3.0 and is standard apart from the brakes which have already been upgraded to Shimano Deore Hydraulics and some matching Deore Shifters.

Her main complaint with the bike is weight, and to be fair I feel quite guilty here because it is just a ‘tad’ heavier than my Scott Spark 30, measured at over 4kg in fact! I think if she had ridden more bikes she’d also realise the Suntour fork isn’t doing too much either!

The main two things I’m thinking of replacing are:

Wheels & Tyres – I’m thinking there’s over 1kg of rotating mass to loose here plus more grip from better rubber…
Fork – unbealivably the Suntour weighs in at 2.5kg so I’m thinking something like a Reba SL should be a much better shock and loose the better part of 1kg again

After that my main contemplation is the crank / gear set – is this worth changing on a weight basis or should I simply look to get some kit that indexes well?

Any tips or thoughts you have would be great, not to mention any bargain bits you might have lying around 😉

Cheers,

Chris

What’s your budget?

If you’re going to change fork, wheels and gears you might be better buying a complete bike with them on already and selling the bike you have complete?

Not meaning to be awkward but id be supprised if it wasnt more economical to get a new bike and sell the GT. Something like a boardman/cube or similar would be much lighter and no more than reba+ light wheelset+ tyres + sale value

Damn too slow!
e.g. http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s2p1686

As above, upgrading to save weight is the most expensive way of doing so.

That said you’ve identified the main areas. Could start with tyres, that’s the cheapest way.

You could try second hand stuff, Reba or Sid would be ideal, plus you can pick up pretty cheap light wheelsets from Merlin/Superstar/On-One etc.
Wouldn’t bother changing gears or anything, make sure she has decent tyres as stock ones are often really heavy and crap.

It had crossed my mind that a new bike would be suggested but I think if I hunt out the real bargains it won’t neccessairly be cheaper… for instance, the Giant you list above, good looking bike, but it’s £800.

Obviously the plan was second hand bits and for instance I’ve seen some decent wheels & with new tyres for £150 and basic Reba’s seem to go for around £100 so even with a new chain and cassette (which it could use) that’s less than £300.

Therefore if we did look to change we’d maybe get £150 for the bike so arguably that’s a £500 budget, but I’m not convinced that’s going to buy something better with a decent shock and good rubber?

Second hand parts route deffo makes upgrading more paletable, you have all the right parts in mind.
Other ideas:
taking saddle and seatpost combo to the kitchen scales might provide scarily heavy results and check you dont have a steel handlebar.

you are making a HUGE error here and I cannot believe no one has spotted this.
Upgrade your kit and donate your kit to her WIN WIN situation[/u]

Oh forget what I said, go with Junkyard.

“you are making a HUGE error here and I cannot believe no one has spotted this.
Upgrade your kit and donate your kit to her WIN WIN situation “

Now that had crossed my mind! Could get pricey though!

@titusrider – bars do look like steel – no doubt saddle and post are heavy but I must admit, rather comfortable! An area I suspect she won’t want to compromise!

It’s a slippery slope. I upgraded wheels and forks for mrsbunk. Now, whenever I get myself a new shiny widget, I have to get her one too…

Agree with the slippery slope. There’s all too much awareness now about what I’m buying. Although recently I did have to replace the BB on t’wife’s bike – splashed for a lovely, shiny, Hope job and now *I’ve* got BB envy 😯

Just in the process of doing this for a bike I just bought for my GF… Frame is good on it, it has 9spd and hydraulic discs, but the wheels, tyres, forks and finishing kit are all heavy crap… I can well believe the Suntour forks are 2.5kg, they’re a lump of lead and useless to boot too!

Some 2nd hand Reba’s would probably be the way to go, and some nicer wheels and tyres. These will make the most noticable difference. The perhaps change for a lighter seatpost as OE ones are usually ridiculously heavy, as will the bars be too, and quite possibly the stem. Just some careful spec choices here could save you 0.5kg overall without spending too much money (again 2nd hand is best) or comfort.

Wouldn’t bother changing any drivetrain bits until they’re worn out or fail. Upgrade when things wear out, but for the time being, not a huge amount of weight to save on it all things considered when compared to other parts of the bike.

An update…

So far have upgraded the following on the Carrera I bought for my GF…

SR Suntour XCR-D forks that weighed 2450g have been replaced by some mint condition 2nd hand Fox TALAS forks weighing 1750g… Yes really, a 700g weight saving, better performance, and still the same height/travel…

No name 640mm wide ally 1″ rise handlebars (weight 363g) have been replaced by some 2nd hand FSA Carbon risers of the same width and rise (weight 180g).

No name 90mm stem (weight 247g) replaced with an Answer ATAC stem of the same length (weight 180g).

JUST the forks/bars/stem replaced so far, and that’s 2lb in weight saved!!! I’ve got some significantly lighter wheels coming, I’ve got lighter tyres to go on those wheels, lighter seatpost and saddle by some margin, possibly a lighter rear mech too.

The silly thing is, the frame bare of any components, is only 4lb in weight, so hardly a heavyweight at all. In fact a perfectly respectable frame weight to be honest. The fact that the overall bike weight was 32lb before I started replacing any bits was really due to very cheap components to get it in under a price I suppose. I’m hoping that without even getting to the heavy crankset, cassette, pedals and Bottom Bracket I’ll be able to save more than 4lb in weight. Leaving the bike under 28lb, which is more than respectable, and when the time comes to replace/upgrade the drivetrain, even more weight will be lost!

mboy – that’s interesting, makes it sound more worthwhile… I haven’t pulled the trigger on any parts yet but still have my eyes on a few things…