My wife has an oldish Gary Fisher Tassajara that she loves. It does need some updating and some TLC and I don’t want to spend a fortune on it.

The difficulties kick in when we consider that it doesn’t have a disc mount on the frame, so we’re stuck with V brakes, it’s also running 3×9 which she is happy enough with.
I can’t remember the exact fork, but it’s a Rockshox air spring thing also with brake bosses.
The drivetrain is old, but doesn’t have many miles on, some FSA carbon cranks, XT mechs, XT cassette etc.

The plan is to try and upgrade/improve:
– Wheels – Thinking some XT hub/XM317 wheels with DT Comps from Merlin ~ £165
– Brakes – Try to find some M750 XT V brakes and levers
– Shifters – some used M750 XT shifters
– Fork – need help! They’ve had zero servicing but don’t look damaged externally. Any suggestions for something decent, light and that has brake bosses that I can look for second hand?

I did start looking for a newer bike in the classifieds/ebay, but standing 5′ tall she needs a very small frame and this limits choice a lot.

Any thoughts or suggestions to the above?

How much does she ride? Pretty certain that I’ve seen xs/14″ frames in Classifieds fairly recently so worth another look, ditto wheelset.

The difficulties kick in when we consider that it doesn’t have a disc mount on the frame, so we’re stuck with V brakes

Could you not fit some Magura HS33’s on there for a bit more stopping power? That’s what i have on my commuter (because i had some from my old bike before upgrading to discs) and they are really good.

Will browse classifieds for small bikes, looked for wheels but haven’t found any!

Re: hs33 brakes, overkill for her really. She’s very much xc/leisure!

Get an A to Z disc brake adapter for the frame?
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/parts/brakes/a2z-universal-disc-mount?cm_mmc=Google+PLA-_-Parts-_-Brakes-_-544124&_$ja=tsid:60494%7Ccgn:GoogleShopping%7Ckw:544124&istCompanyId=b8708c57-7a02-4cf6-b2c0-dc36b54a327e&istItemId=xwxramrpq&istBid=tzxm&_$$ja=cgid:16790764204|tsid:35522|cid:214996084|lid:52140813294|nw:g|crid:67179566044|rnd:9044884539588135064|dvc:t|adp:1o8|bku:1&__ja=cgid:16790764204|tsid:35522|cid:214996084|lid:52140813294|nw:g|crid:67179566044|rnd:9044884539588135064|dvc:t|adp:1o8|kw:&gclid=CKaf9LeFm8UCFa_LtAod6RgAWA

I’ve got some retro xt/mavic wheels. 117 ceramic rims iirc that I bought for my retro commuter but never fitted. They need a bit of grease but pretty good with plenty of life left plus a few v brake bits. Email me if you interested as I need to get rid.

Buy her a whole new bike, or failing that a donor bike, rather than chasing all the bits separately.

New bike makes sense, but I could do without spending the money! I need to go up to £1000 for it to be of a decent spec, or I spend a few hundred on improving the bike she already has and likes.

Nukeproof AM in the classifieds Size small 🙂

discobrakes pads are easily comparable with disk brake power IMO, to the extent that I’ve considered putting a V-brake on the front of my town bike to match the rear as the stopping power and feel on these pads is ace

I dunno how quick they wear offroad though but if they’re for occasional use they’ll probably be a winner

That nukeproof isn’t exactly a looker is it!

Thanks Jeff :p

I did similar to you but with a different emphasis – Get some cheap 2nd hand disc forks, get new disc front wheel plus a deore front disc brake.

If the drive chain is ok, keep it, gives the best upgrades a hardtail can get (better fork and discs) for leisure stuff at a very cheap rate.

Missus has a 14” inbred (with removable brake bosses) that I fitted some old RC36 with a deore disc to, LX/XT drivechain (rapid rise, as she struggled with the two levers doing opposite things) and I’m about to do similar to an old Hahanna. She loves it, it works perfectly well for leisure and XC and it was pretty cheap.

Get a front avid disc brake . I raced on bikes with just a front brake for years.
Forks – I have a nice pair of float 80s in garage I can do super cheap .
Then save up / look out for complete new bike .
Full sus is the choice of my lady , and a small second hand one will be cheap ..