Have You Made any Major Upgrades to Your Bike this Year?

Big upgrades -- to suspension, wheels, or drivetrain -- can totally transform how a bike rides, and in many cases is a less expensive alternative to buying a whole new bike.

By Jeff Barber
August 13, 2023

17 comments

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We haven’t seen as many big discounts on mountain bike components as we have for complete bikes this year, though at least parts are more readily available now than they were a year or two ago. Big upgrades — to suspension, wheels, or drivetrain — can totally transform how a bike rides, and in many cases it’s a less expensive alternative to buying a whole new bike.

Tell us which upgrades you’ve made in the past year, and how they worked out, in the comments below.

Mountain Bikes and Gear

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Which MTB or Component do you Want to See Updated Next?

Drivetrain

Do Any of Your Mountain Bikes Have Electronic Shifting?

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What's Your Ideal Mountain Bike Weight?

17 Comments

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moctav Texas // 2014
Aug 13, 2023

Maybe not a major change, but my only change in the last 12 months was to replace the handlebars and stem combo to get more backsweep to reduce the strain my wrists on long rides. I went from 8deg to 12deg of backsweep with a SQLab handlebar, keeping the same width, and replaced the 40mm stem with a 50mm stem to compensate for the reduce reach the new handlebars induced.

3 reply

Fernandizzel Washington // 2023
Aug 14, 2023

Bigger brakes and smaller cranks!

Made a huge difference, can spin up hills, less pedal strikes and go faster with stopping confidence.

2 reply

OhioFatBiker Ohio // 2016
Aug 15, 2023

Carbon Rims, found a set on FB marketplace and could not pass it up.

1 reply

highland.hippie Queensland // 2021
Aug 14, 2023

Front wheel, back wheel, cranks (including chainring).

0 reply

BeholdersEye Pennsylvania // 2023
Aug 13, 2023

Here is my list for a now 'endangered' K2 mtb... Wider seat, 45° handlebars, from 8 to 11 speed cassette, derailer, and chain, from twist shifters to thumb control shifters, from 19 mm to 30 mm wide rims, two front hub generators for the two sets of wheels, and lights to go with them, 1.2 and 2.2 wide street tires for respective rims... What I didn't change was 3 speed chainring and cranks, and the disc brakes...

JeffL22 Illinois // 2020
Aug 13, 2023

I changed the handle bars, stem, and fork on my Roscoe 8 and the wheels on my Stump Jumper. Should be good for awhile!

flyingchipmunk 2017
Aug 14, 2023

I just got some ti bars for my enduro bike and am shocked how much they take the sting out of my hands

kegr California // 2023
Aug 15, 2023

I spend half of my time in the Owens Valley desert and half in the SF Bay Area. Got a second set of wheels: big nobby flotation tires for the sand, rocks, and moondust in the desert and lighter narrower tires for the firm, smooth Bay Area trails.

Orcaphil California // 2023
Aug 13, 2023

I think this all happened in the past 12 months...

- PNW Cascade dropper to replace Magura Vyron v2 (no more replacement parts made)
- Brake upgrade to SLX and upsized 200mm/180mm rotors
- converted to 1x10 from 2x10 (30T, new derailleur, 11-46 from 11-36)
- went tubeless on street/gravel wheelset (converted trail wheelset to tubeless during pandemic days)
- PNW loam pedals
- WTB Volt saddle

Math Teacher Wyoming // 2017
Aug 13, 2023

My major change is adding a hitch to pull a Burley Solo Chariot and adding a quick-release skewer to attach a Burley Coho XC trailer.

kc929 California // 2008
Aug 14, 2023

No single component upgrades here, but I purchased a YT Decoy to replace my Jefsey CF Pro Race. The Decoy is a nice bike, but I would not consider it an upgrade over the Jefrey, since the Jefsey is a really well sorted package. But for the poorly designed/maintained trails in my neck of the woods, the pedal assist sure makes the ride more enjoyable.

bmxking45 Michigan // 2011
Jan 5, 2024

Oval chainring (5Dev) / Smashpot (Vorsprung)

Black-Man West Virginia // 2011
Aug 17, 2023

ProCal 9.6 - broke my dropper lever and replaced it with Crank Bros lever. In the process of swapping out Recon Gold 100mm fork for the 120mm Pike Ultimate. Expecting smoother rides in my future.

domwrap British Columbia // 2023
Aug 15, 2023

Replaced some just terrible Code brakes with Mag MT7 and my Sentinel is a completely different bike. Already SO capable, but now I have confidence to ride anything again. Transformative. Way bigger change you could make imo than gears or wheels, even suspension. I've always said give me a bike with half decent tires and brakes that work and I can trust, and I can figure the rest out. SRAM should be ashamed they sell brakes so bad. Only ran them to start as came build spec but they are truly awful. Wish I'd keep the 6 year old Saints from the previous bike over these to start, but at least now the Mags have been excellent. Dropper post if you're coming from a rigid post would be the only comparible change to me, for replacing any semi-recent part. Suspension, wheels, and gears aren't gonna make *that* much difference.

brian.eggleton Idaho // 2023
Aug 30, 2023

Swapped out the FIT4 damper in the Fox 36 on my Rocky Mountain Instinct C70 for a Grip 2 damper. B/c the mid stroke support with the FIT4 damper was not doing it for me. The Grip 2 damper is like a party switch for that bike in terms of handling confidence to actually push the Instinct's front end into and through terrain. Very happy.

Also swapped the stock Maxxis Minion tires to WTB Verdict front and WTB Vigilante 2.5 rear both in light/fast rolling. These are my "control" tires. The SG2 sidewall tech works for me @ 155#s/5'9" and these tires have been a nice adjustment on the Instinct for my use, which is not lift serviced, and I like to climb, so all mtn trail/Enduro type use, no racing.

Forgot to add that on that same Instinct bike as above, I also swapped out the 180mm front brake rotor to 203mm to provide additional modulation in the brake set up with the 4-piston Shimano XT brakes (I am more familiar with the feel of Sram/Avid brakes than Shimano 's on/off brake action). The rear rotor remains at 180mm; I like the way offset rotor sizes perform.

GPFBoyJS Georgia // 2009
Aug 14, 2023

Upgraded rear shock to Push 11-6 and upgraded fork with more tokens.

-1 reply

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