Been thinking about this for a while. When is it time to stop putting new stuff on your ‘old frame’ and replace with a new bike instead.
At the moment my bike needs some new forks,I’d like some lighter tubeless wheels and a dropper post. I’m looking at at least £600 just there.
My bike is an Orange 5 2012 and I find it hard to justify spending that much on it,the problem is,I can’t afford a new bike.

2012 is still pretty much brand new in my book!

edit: but on a 5, I might also struggle to justify spending anything on it too…

I don’t. Can’t afford a new frame and the old one is still going very nicely 🙂

Depends on how much you like the frame, some people want just a bike, some want something special.

I can’t afford a new bike either

My present bike doesn’t have a tapered head tube, its got 26″ wheels with QR. Its got a dropper on it already. And a nice new(ish) XT drive chain

The bike industry, in its ultimate wisdom, has rendered my upgrade options as ‘limited’, as everything about my bike is now ‘wrong’. This is actually quite liberating. I just ride it instead, and don’t worry about any of that nonsense 😉

the problem is,I can’t afford a new bike.

Maybe if you stop spending money on your old bike now and save up instead you could get a new bike next year? Buying a new MTB in November is insane anyway, it’ll just get trashed by winter.

Do you really need new forks? Are they going to explode next time you’re out riding, or are they just a bit old and unfashionable? You definitely don’t need lighter wheels unless you’re actually racing. A dropper post is very nice to have, but again you don’t really need one.

Considering that you can spend £600 on just one of the items on the OPs list, i’d say he’s hardly got started with is Upgraditus……. 😉

sorry mods but this thread is about limiting what you spend on bikes and maybe not buying another. They used the justified word, can we close the thread?

mwah 😉

And, oh yeah, unless you only ride short downhill runs and so can leave your seat slammed the whole time, the Dropper Post will make the biggest difference to what and how you ride, and you can get a good one for much less than £200 these days!

My bike is still built around a 2004 (or 2005? Can’t remember…) frame. I keep thinking I should probably change it (they must have improved since then… right?) but, well, I still like riding it, so…

Depends on the bike, if its a day to day beater as long as it looks lush and works well then then that’s enough for me. If its something a bit special then only when its reached it true pimp nirvana, but it costs a fortune to keep it in bling. Having said that, I love my shiny shiny and would happily go without food and booze as long as my riding toys make me smile.

It’s true,I don’t need a dropper post but they make riding much more enjoyable. My present wheels weigh a ton and my old Pikes are knackered.

I made this call last year- I had three bikes that were bit a sad, despite one having a frame that was only a year old. Most of the bits were worn out. I chopped them in for one new bike that in the same time the old ones would have needed new wheels, forks and a multitude of bearings and drivetrain parts the new one has only needed brake pads, a shifter, a freehub and tyres.

A new low maintenance bike has worked out better for me but if your parts list to sort your bike is going to cost 25% or more less than the cost of selling your bike as it is and buying a new one then you’re best fixing it.

Get yourself on’t classifieds. I gather your 5 will have an old passe wheel size? The one that we’re told is now completely redundant, and obsolete? And only a fool would continue to ride?

There should be plenty of decent pre-loved forks and wheels in that frightfully old-fashioned wheel size, in good nick then

Aren’t pikes (even old ones) a really nice set of forks?

For £300, get a dropper and the forks/shock fully serviced and set up for you. This should transform your bike. 🙂 For the other £300, you’ve got a good choice of very nice 26″ wheels, you may be able to get carbon rims…

Much better than spending a fortune on a new bike, that if you’re really honest, does the same job.

Stuff wears out/breaks it gets replaced usually with something potentially better.

At the moment my bike needs some new forks…

Does it really? Or do you just need to change the oil?

…I’d like some lighter tubeless wheels…

Want not a need.

…and a dropper post…

Want not a need, but they are nice to have…

…I’m looking at at least £600 just there.

It’s your money, do whatever you like with it… STW consensus is not actually needed before you spank your cash…

Personally OP I think you should just stop reading MBR and ride the bastard bike.

When something actually breaks, replace it with the best equivalent you can afford, and carry on. But that’s just me, all my bikes are “Old” and cheap and yet they still continue to work…

Whilst sat on the top of a sunny mountain 2 weeks ago, looking at my bike, i realised that the only original 2012 part left on it was the rear brake caliper………….

When is it time to stop putting new stuff on your ‘old frame’ and replace with a new bike instead.

I left a hard tail to rot in the shed as I thought it had died and bought a new bike (It had finished a ride with 2 usable gears, it had rim brakes and 80mm forks)

A year later I spent £100 on the pile of rot and have ridden it loads since and enjoyed riding it

Your 5 should be riding just as well as when you bought it

So I say just ride it

PS I don’t like my forks 9on the newer FS bike). But they are loads better since i adjusted my position when stood up on the bike

I just treated my 2009 Scott Spark to a new transmission and full suspension service. It still seems to be as good as it was 5 years ago.

I had worried about the trails getting approximately 4% larger necessitating new sized wheels but it appears that didn’t happen in the lakes so i’m fine for another year or two until the hills get their next upgrade.

I look at it as replacing and servicing rather than upgrading 😉

For me cycling is a hobby and a pastime, so I don’t have a problem justifying money spent.

Don’t really get the dropper post thing though. Bought one, tried it and sent it back the day after.

I seem to have 1 main bike that is as good as I want and just gets money spent when something genuinely wears out and needs repairing/ replacing, then have two other bikes for tinkering and experimenting with different equipment.

Through careful use of the classifieds and fleabay one can chop and change a fair bit with a mediocre expenditure.

My present bike doesn’t have a tapered head tube, its got 26″ wheels with QR

Same, but the wheels will accommodate other axle standards.

The bike industry, in its ultimate wisdom, has rendered my upgrade options as ‘limited’, as everything about my bike is now ‘wrong’

Yep – completely agree. Just changed the bars, but I think I’m going to buy a new fork in the near future, before straight head tubes become obsolete. I’ll then get the “old” fork serviced and have it as a spare. Tough to justify a new bike when the current frame has a lifetime warranty

I stopped upgrading my 2005 FSR about 2 years ago. As parts wear out i just upgrade them. might buy a new bike next year but prices are so much higher now.

When I’ve got a bike I love, I buy it jewellery… But neither of my 2 mtbs really have much room to upgrade any more. I’d like to respoke the wheels in the big bike with lighter spokes, that was a bit of a rush job… And OK, give it a CCDB Inline and a set of Next cranks and some ti axled Vaults. And the hardtail could do with a carbon front rim to match the rear. But they’re damn near finished and how boring would that be?

At what point do you stop upgrading your bike.?

I’m pretty sure the only thing i’d be able to upgrade on my main bike is to a nice set of these:

But tbh, i’m not totally sold on CF rims yet.

As far as buying better stuff goes I don’t think ‘ooh! I need/want one of those new doo-dads’ but I do keep an eye on the classifieds and ebay for interesting stuff and bargains. I like having another similar bike to try stuff on, rather than use my bike bike as the guinea pig. I’m a serial trier of stuff rather than a serial upgrader 😆

Er, cheshirecat, you may be disappointed how short a lifetime is in the eyes of frame manufacturers 🙁

And to answer the OP, once you’ve replaced everything else on the bike it’s usually time for a needless frame change 🙂

‘At what point do you stop upgrading your bike?’

When all that is left to change is perfectly good steel bolts for titanium bolts 😉

Cane creek inline/monarch plus new black chainset and I’m done….

Some bikes get replaced, some just evolve. My current hardtail (BFe) has been changing gradually since I bought a Merlin MALT 1 in 2000.
Bit like Trigger’s broom.

At what point do you stop upgrading your bike

Just before you sell it.

Much like toofarwest my BFe just evolves, bought the frame 4-5 years ago I think and just keep hanging new bits off it as it needs it or I feel fancy. It’s got 2007 lyriks on it but I upgraded the internals to 2013 ones and that made them feel like magic too!

When?
When there is no longer any mechanical or practical benefit in upgrading any one component. In other words, upgrading just for the sake of having yet another brand new product, or higher spec part, that you are not going to benefit from using!

I used to know someone who spent £2600 on a custom build La Pierre hardtail, only to then use it for shopping trips and sunday pub rides only! Whatsthepointinthat?!?!

With that said, one of my personal rules is: buy the highest quality components that you can ‘comfortably’ afford, then make them last.

GBR.

@pitchpro2011 cafall trail?

For me it was when everything was in need of sorting out, the drivetrain was hard up and 9sp, the heat tube was 1 1/8th and the forks were just not right for what I was doing, the wheels were overly heavy. It was a forth rail bridge bike, bits came off others went on until that point. Then I bit the bullet didn’t do anything for a while and went new.

Yes sambuca, my local trail

My bikes are finished accept maybe when 1×11 becomes affordable (for me, being a peasant) I will adorn my 2010 last of the straight steerer fives with it, apart from that only replace things when they break.

I could happily ride my current bikes as they are for the next twenty years as I am forty and it’s all down hill for me now.
Do I feel my riding experience would be improved by a new bike, no.
I will never be that toothless chap who rode with no rear tyre,and I am happy to rattle up and down my local trails as is.

I don’t think a 2015 five would be much better than mine, in fact mine is built to a better spec than most of there range anyway and I don’t buy into 27.5 being better than 26.
So In short I think my bikes are blooming fantastic and i am not daft enought to believe they are the limiting factor in our working partnership.

tbh with something like an MTB, he point you stop upgrading/replacing is the point you buy a new bike – as just riding one continually destroys stuff.

My frame is +6 y/o and I’m looking at a new bike in the Spring and while it’s a 26er and I’ll be buying a 650b/29er anything that needs replacing between now and then will be – otherwise I’d have nothing to ride. And as I’m keeping the old bike, it’ll still be useful.

i think the best bet is to slowly upgrade the spec until its the best it can be for you, then when the time comes just swap out the frame. (difficult if your changing wheel size tho) go for an un-sold previous year model when the new ones come out.