Hi,

I have a Commencal Meta 5.5 with:
SLX and XT 2×9 gearing
Float R rear shock
RS Pike 140mm front shocks.
Hayes stroker 180 front and 160 rear brakes
DT Swiss rims and Hope bolt through hubs, not UST
Nobble Nic tyres

Basically I’m a bit fat and I find it hard to keep up with my chums as the pedal off into the distance on anything resembling an uphill gradient. Now I am losing weight as my first priority, and doing well at it but I would like to make some upgrades that might keep me in touch.

My thoughts are:
Lighter forks?
Go tubeless?
Different frame – Carbon?

Does anyone have any suggestions on the above for suitable upgrades or if they would make a noticeable difference?

I would like to make some upgrades that might keep me in touch.

road bike.

You could have at least suggested Cyclocross.

Yum, nice starter….

Anyone anything helpful to add…

yep. you can’t buy fitness.

suck it up fatty and get training. 😉

without replacing the bike, I wouldn’t bother changing much. Easier to shed weight from you, get a few more rides in without mates, do some hill training…

Look at the finnishing kit too, some bog atandard kit can be a bit weighty.

You could save a fair bit in changing the fork alone, take a look at on-one and merlin for deals on Rock Shox Rev RCT3 air forks.

I too struggle like crazy on uphill stuff, hence why I’m mainly a downhiller! Obviously losing weight will be your biggest gain on them, but just getting out and riding will make a big difference too. The best way to gain cycling fitness is to get on your bike, and as suggested, throw some hills in the for fun 😉

You could swap the Pikes for Revs and save a pound. I doubt it’ll make you much faster though. 😉

As above far better/cheaper to lose weight from yourself and than the bike….I should know as a fellow less than svelte Meta 55 owner 😀 Probably only shave a kilo or so from the bike anyway, same as leaving the camelback behind

oh wait. can you squeeze in 650b wheels?

I like the cut of your jib 😆

I should add I ended up adding weight to the bike, chunky rubber, dropper post etc…basically suffer up plummet down 😀

Cheers for the sensible replies 🙂 I know that the real weight loss will be from me. I was just looking for options.

If there’s not much to be gained i will just have to keep pedaling 🙂

As you just said….

I too ride a meta 5, quite similar to yours, and there’s no holding me back…

I also ride with a mate with a meta 5, and he’s bashing out KoMs all round the local hills….

I wouldn’t blame the bike….

DrP

I must have signed into Men’s Health by accident! 😀

I’m far from an athlete, but one of the best things I did was get a road bike. I’m getting out on the bike more and am much fitter than I used to be.

If you were to spend money on the bike, wheels, tyres and tubeless will make the most difference to how your bike feels. My SX feels much more sprightly with lighter wheels and tubeless tyres an it did before.

Could you compare it to say the difference between having 30psi and 50psi in the tyres or more than that?

Sorry mate, can’t really get scientific lime that…I always used to run my tubed tyres super soft too (probably around 25psi). They do make a difference though; my SX is no light weight but it feels livelier now.