I have a 2013 Giant talon 1 29er, I’m looking for help regarding upgrades as I’m not the most experienced, apart from a dropper seat post, what things do you think I should upgrade? I’ve noticed the brakes aren’t amazing, but I’m not sure!

Don’t mess with anything unless it’s doing something wrong (and even then make sure it’s working right first!) Just looking at the spec, it’s really very nice. Quite racy tyres?

Dropper posts are ace IMO, even for a fairly XC bike like this I reckon they can be worth it if your riding suits it (I’ll be fitting one to my rigid xc bike!).

Other’n that… Contact points (saddle, grips, pedals) to suit you- no right and wrong on any of that. Personally I’d have it in bits and weigh the major components to see if anything’s easily culled, sometimes OEM-spec bars, stems etc can be surprisingly weighty.

wheels, always the most cost effective way of improving a bike, a nice light set of hoops make a world of difference.

Thanks mate, yeah it just gets used for the 7stanes stuff and probably whinlatter when I get time! Definitely need some lock on grips as the standard rubbish ones nearly threw me off today.. It runs really nice, doesn’t have much grip in the mud though so might change the tyres until everything drys out!

New Tires! 😀

OEM tires are often crap. Even if you buy the same make and model tire that the bike cam with, it will often be much better. The OEM tires are usually very cheap versions of good tires, with harder, less grippy rubber, lower threads per inch fabric in the casing, etc. Go tubeless, as well!

And you can start a “what tires” thread! 🙄