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Time for a new bike?


Lacch

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I've been riding an entry level hardtail (Talon 2) for the last 5 months. I think its fair to say that I'm hooked. I ride Walnut for about an hour every morning, and have started to explore Brushy on the weekends. This bike is fine for WC but Brushy destroys me. When I ride the rough parts of Peddlers or 1/4 notch, I feel like the bike basically has NO suspension.

So far, I've made a fair number of changes to the bike to get it feeling pretty good. Better pedals and grips, repositioned brake levers and shifters to fit my hands, dropper post and shorter stem. My newest focus is tire pressure, I'm thinking that could help smooth out the ride, but its a lot of trial and error right now.

My question is...

Should I keep powering through on this hardtail, continue to tweak its setup, continue getting into better shape, and learn more skills before dropping a ton of money? Or is riding a cheap hardtail potentially doing me a disservice? 

 

 

 

 

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Get a full suspension if you can afford it.  Especially if you're nearing or over 40. Your body will thank you.  And keep the hardtail as a backup bike and for walnut rides.

The longer you ride the hardtail, the faster your skills will improve.  But it will be painful and if you're middle aged, you might want to just enjoy more pain free miles on the full suspension.  And if you like Brushy trails, you'll find yourself riding at Lake Georgetown.   More reason to get a full suspension.  

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8 hours ago, Charlie193 said:

It might be worth taking out a demo bike you’re interested in upgrading to, then riding it on your usual WC route and the spots you’ve been exploring at Brushy to see how much difference a new bike would make to you.

I agree 100% with this. Buying a new bike and hoping that it will solve all of your problems is a tall order, especially with prices and wait times now.

Spend the $50, rent a bike (or borrow one) and decide if that makes things better for you. If it is an appreciable impact then it makes putting the money down on a new one a much easier task.

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I think when you brought your bike by, I had you test out the feel of my Fox 34 fork. yeah, a good damper makes a big difference, to start.

personal preference: I've borrowed a FS bike once or twice and it bored me. YMMV, but don't assume that everyone "needs" rear suspension on their bike. something with a nicer fork will make a big difference, though. I hope I can get at least another 10 years out of my body before things start falling apart and I want more squish. FWIW, some of the singlespeed guys with whom I ride all the chunkiest stuff on the Barton Creek ride rigid bikes and have passed their 50th birthdays a while ago. age is just a number, but listen to your body.

bikes like that Talon are designed to be comfortable and confidence inspiring for beginners, but I feel that the components and geometry will become a liability as you push the bike past beginner riding style. it's impossible to explain that to someone who doesn't understand why bikes can cost so much, but it makes a difference. trying to upgrade that bike to be more capable will quickly become a money pit and not worth your effort. you can keep it as a humble "back up bike" or a loaner bike to get friends riding with you, or put it back together close to stock and sell it to fund the new bike.

just don't forget to keep riding your bike and having fun. I have a bad habit of finding something wrong with my bike and then letting that bum me out so much that I don't enjoy riding. go observe someone who is riding with a big smile on their face, while blissfully ignorant of the fact that their bike is objectively a pile of junk. they don't know and they don't care.

Edited by mack_turtle
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10 hours ago, Lacch said:

I've been riding an entry level hardtail (Talon 2) for the last 5 months. I think its fair to say that I'm hooked. I ride Walnut for about an hour every morning, and have started to explore Brushy on the weekends. This bike is fine for WC but Brushy destroys me. When I ride the rough parts of Peddlers or 1/4 notch, I feel like the bike basically has NO suspension.

So far, I've made a fair number of changes to the bike to get it feeling pretty good. Better pedals and grips, repositioned brake levers and shifters to fit my hands, dropper post and shorter stem. My newest focus is tire pressure, I'm thinking that could help smooth out the ride, but its a lot of trial and error right now.

My question is...

Should I keep powering through on this hardtail, continue to tweak its setup, continue getting into better shape, and learn more skills before dropping a ton of money? Or is riding a cheap hardtail potentially doing me a disservice? 

 

 

 

 

Lots of good info here already, but my $0.02 is that right now is not a good time to be buying a new bike. If you can even find something that might fit what you want, your options will be very limited and you'll likely pay a premium. 

Ride yours and get better. The bubble will burst. 

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I rode my Rigid SS all over Brushy until 5 years ago when I just lost the thrill of it.  Now I ride my FS Scott out there and since it has full and half lockout I can choose the level of suspension at any given point.  I generally ride half locked and only fully unlock on some drops.  Now to the point is the FS a plusher smoother ride- yes absolutely, was I more aggressive faster rider on the Rigid- yes absolutely the limits of the bike forced me to be more active.  I could see myself with a Decent hard tail in the fleet as well or even a full rigid with gears and I would ride all over brushy.

*My previous Scott FS was manual lock at fork and shock.  Rode most all the trails from the Y to Peddlers fully locked one day before I was in Attack of the Clones/ Rim Loop and realized it.  Since I was ending at the Y I just said whatever and finished it.

To the poster- keep learning how to use the bike you have while the market cools off.  I do see more used bikes on the FB Bicycle buy and trade group so perhaps the market is more doable there.

Edited by Taco Man
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What's your budget? An entry level full suspension is going to have similar pitfalls as your entry level hardtail. On the other hand, even just a mid-tier full suspension will likely blow your mind. If you can't afford/justify spending the money for a total upgrade, keep riding the hardtail until the time is right.

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I have a comparable HT to the Talon, and a FS, dated but highly functional. In general every component is "better" on my FS than my HT.

The FS is a 150mm bike and is like riding a Cadillac through the beginner trails on Brushy. I am always looking for ways to ride over bigger obstacles, harder lines etc. to keep entertained. It is fun to mob through obstacles without worry. In the end, it rides more comfortable but does wear me out faster. 

The HT has a decent entry level fork (100mm), better than most factory ones on entry level machines but not great. It's a blast to ride at Brushy on Picnic/ Peddlers/ even 1/4 notch. It's built more skill in me and is more engaging than the FS. I can put on more miles but it does take a harder toll on my body. I'm under 40 (getting close...) so it's not big issue for me but noticeable. 

Strava tells me that I ride my HT 2:1 when looking at accumulated mileage. 

I 90% agree with upgrading your current bike. To a point. There are limited forks out there for bikes with strait steerers that are actually any better than what you have. Because I like my HT so much I recently decided it was worth it to upgrade the Rockshox 30 Silver TK 100mm fork to a Manitou Markhor 120mm fork. My comments above are based on the TK Silver, I haven't put enough miles on the Markhor to give an opinion. 

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2 hours ago, notyal said:

What's your budget? An entry level full suspension is going to have similar pitfalls as your entry level hardtail. On the other hand, even just a mid-tier full suspension will likely blow your mind. If you can't afford/justify spending the money for a total upgrade, keep riding the hardtail until the time is right.

Yep, I have a garage full of bikes and can pretty much configure whatever I want. I just did a trip with this:

IMG_0661.thumb.jpeg.c0b0e099856074c0da92f2ff14ce2145.jpeg

Steel, fully rigid, on a trail with some pretty chunky sections and 3000+ feet of climbing.

As a hardtail it both sucked, and was a ton of fun. There were points where I wished I had my carbon FS bike with 130 front and rear suspension, but, guess what, I had fun.

Half the ride is you, half the ride is the bike. Nothing wrong with riding a hardtail as long as you make it fun. Before you go too deep in a new bike, ride something first. The worst thing you can do is get it in your head that you need a new bike, then you hate everything about your old one (been there, done that).

Try out some bikes and seriously see if there is a difference. As others have said buying bikes now is a bad idea. Be 100% sure before you make the plunge. And don't go into it trying to figure out how to do it on the cheap. Bite the bullet and pay for what you really need. Every time I cheaped out it came back to haunt me. Every. Single. Time.

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12 hours ago, Charlie193 said:

It might be worth taking out a demo bike

I called around and nobody is renting bikes right now 😐... sucks! It would be great to try a FS on the trails I know before dropping a few grand.

2 hours ago, notyal said:

What's your budget?

I didn't listen to you guys when everyone told me to spend more on my first bike and now I regret it. This time, I'll listen! How much should I expect to pay for a mid level FS?

1 hour ago, RedRider3141 said:

I 90% agree with upgrading your current bike. To a point. There are limited forks out there for bikes with strait steerers that are actually any better than what you have.

As for upgrading the Talon, I told myself early on that I wouldn't upgrade/change anything until I "felt" the need. At this point, I'm starting to feel the pain of this crappy front suspension, but it sounds like this isn't something I should try to address. 

 

I guess I can always keep working on my legs/core and be my own suspension 🙂 I'm 44 tho... not sure how much longer that'll be an option.

Edited by Lacch
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1 hour ago, Lacch said:

 

I didn't listen to you guys when everyone told me to spend more on my first bike and now I regret it. This time, I'll listen! How much should I expect to pay for a mid level FS?

I guess I can always keep working on my legs/core and be my own suspension 🙂 I'm 44 tho... not sure how much longer that'll be an option.

In my opinion, don't spend less than $2,500 for a FS. Most likely you are going to be in the $3,500 range for a decent one. I dropped $4K on a last year's model in 2019, I am sure it is worse now. Good news is that many companies switch to new models in the September timeframe, so there may be *some* deals on older models, but my guess is fewer older models to close out because everything is selling fast.

I'm 56, there is always time to work on your legs/core.

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1 hour ago, Lacch said:

I didn't listen to you guys when everyone told me to spend more on my first bike and now I regret it. This time, I'll listen! How much should I expect to pay for a mid level FS?

If you're ok shopping around for a used bike, I'd say at least $2k. Anything under that is probably either pretty old, pretty beat up, or started life too cheap. Any additional funds will only help.

New I'd say at least $3500. For reference, the cheapest YT Izzo is $3400. I just picked that bike because they are a direct to consumer company that has a good bang for the buck reputation. You probably won't find anything too much cheaper with that level of componentry.

I haven't really been in the market lately. There are probably people on here that have more of a finger on the pulse.

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Anything I can do to my front suspension to get it feeling better? (100mm coil spring)

- I've never messed with the preload adjustment.... 

- I've never cleaned/serviced them in anyway, other than wiping off dirt...

I've been pretty good about maintaining/cleaning the drivetrain, chain, shifting, etc. and all of that feels really good after some TLC.

maybe a lil suspension TLC would help?

 

Edited by Lacch
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I'd look into what is involved in a basic "lowers service" on that fork and see if you get lubricate the stanchions better. that fork doesn't really have much of a damper; it's basically a pogo stick. look up some videos and such for "how to maintain cheap coil fork" and some idea come up that should help.

there are not a lot of new bikes on the market that will fit your bike any more that would be an improvement. otherwise, finding a used fork that has a straight steerer tube, disc brake mounts, 100mm of travel, has a long enough steerer tube to fit your bike, and designed for a QR axle and 29er tire would not be hard. the tricky part is finding a fork that is in good condition and checks all those boxes. you might be tempted to put a longer fork on the bike (the next size up would typically be 120mm), but that will change the geometry of the bike in ways you might not like, and potentially compromise the frame because of the degreased angle of the fork. you might find something like a Rockshox Reba or Fox F32 for under $200(?). air-sprung and something with a proper damper would be loads better and make a worthwhile upgrade to keep the bike going for whoever rides it next.

it looks like that fork has a straight steerer tube, but the headtube on the frame looks oversized. I wonder if the frame could take a 1.5" bottom headset cup, which would open up the option for a newer fork with a tapered steerer tube. beyond that, changing to a newer fork gets complicated and expensive rather fast.

Edited by mack_turtle
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56 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

changing to a newer fork gets complicated and expensive rather fast.

You can say this about pretty much any upgrade to a bike. That's why on topics like these, I always encourage spending as much as you can on a complete bike vs. buying something and upgrading later. Buy once, cry once. 

Oh, and keep in mind that the value of your upgrades never translate equally to the next guy when it's time to sell.

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1 hour ago, RedRider3141 said:

https://www.probikesupply.com/collections/forks/products/manitou-markhor-fork-29-100mm-travel-9mm-axle-matte-black

I put the 27.5 version on my HT. Like I said, I've only ridden it a few times but it was based on a little bit of research on reviews. 

 

I second this fork as a worthwhile relative affordable upgrade. I have these on two of my kids bikes and it's relatively easy to service and change the travel. If you're willing to wait awhile you can find it for $200. Looking at the rest of that bike if we're to add a brand x dropper you would have a pretty solid ride. 

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44 minutes ago, RedRider3141 said:

Dumb question... What tire PSI are you running in the front?

I used the SRAM online calculator as a starting point and am currently running 33psi in the back and 31psi in the front. I only recently started to play with tire pressure, so I have a lot more experimenting to do.

 

35 minutes ago, 4fun said:

add a brand x dropper you would have a pretty solid ride. 

actually, I do have a nice dropper/remote installed on this bike and it has been great!

 

This $600 bike is quickly becoming a $1000+ bike.. I really should have listened to you guys when everyone told me to raise my initial budget. 😐

 

Edited by Lacch
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Yesterday AJ posted up on IGram that he has bikes. He no longer keeps them at his shop because of dirt bag low lifes like to steal bikes. But he said that if you want something to hit them up. Might be worth a trip in to see what he can do.

I believe Velogartun has rides as well now

 

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

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