Mountain Biking - Oh I know I'm going to get abused!

I've got a Fuji Monterey, it's to top of the "comfort bike line". I thinking of doing components swapping to change it over more to a "hardtail" MTB as it reminds me a lot of my old Raleigh Mt. Crestted Butte MTB I had back in the early to mid-1980's.

Is there any reason I can't do this from the "frame strength" aspect? I'll be changing the articulated stem for a solid MTB stem, dropping from a 28 tooth small chainwheel to a 24 tooth, changing to a more mountain bike style pedal and going from a 50mm to 100mm front suspension fork. I run 26x1.9 MTB tires on the rims and been following the mnt. bike riders in my local club on lot's of trails without seeing any serious damage to the rims or hubs. The bike has a 9 speed cluster, with triple chainwheel set up, currently 48/38/28 but I've found I really need lower gearing for some of the steeper hills.

LOL, except for telling me I'm "NUTS", is there anything else you'd change over, I'm more of a cross-country type rider, not interested in being able to thrash downhill, thanks all ideas, suggestions, even constructive critisisums are welcome!!

The frame, a jump of 50mm is a huge change, and would risk the breaking of the frame at the head tube.

The frame, a jump of 50mm is a huge change, and would risk the breaking of the frame at the head tube.


Thanks, maybe you can answer another question for me, if the extra 50mm suspension in the fork would cause damage to the head tube on my Fuji Monterey, how come I ride with a guy who's got an old GT MTB that had a old "U Fork" and he's switched to a 150mm suspension fork and doesn't seem to have any problems, is that because it was possibly built with a heavier (thicker or larger) head tube than my comfort bike??

Thanks, maybe you can answer another question for me, if the extra 50mm suspension in the fork would cause damage to the head tube on my Fuji Monterey, how come I ride with a guy who's got an old GT MTB that had a old "U Fork" and he's switched to a 150mm suspension fork and doesn't seem to have any problems, is that because it was possibly built with a heavier (thicker or larger) head tube than my comfort bike?? Because the geometry would most likely fit the 150mm fork.

It doesn't matter if the frame is strong enough or not, if you put a 100mm fork on a bike designed around a 50mm fork, it will steer like a chopper. It will also raise the bottom bracket and stand over clearance significantly also adversely affecting the ride. Go ahead and ride it off road for now but save the money you would have spent on a new fork towards eventually replacing the bike with an actual mountain bike. Seriously, I'm not trying to be elitist at all - you will have much more fun on a bike that is designed to ride off road and it would be less likely to fall apart. A decent used mountain bike would be way better.

It doesn't matter if the frame is strong enough or not, if you put a 100mm fork on a bike designed around a 50mm fork, it will steer like a chopper. It will also raise the bottom bracket and stand over clearance significantly also adversely affecting the ride. Go ahead and ride it off road for now but save the money you would have spent on a new fork towards eventually replacing the bike with an actual mountain bike. Seriously, I'm not trying to be elitist at all - you will have much more fun on a bike that is designed to ride off road and it would be less likely to fall apart. A decent used mountain bike would be way better.


Thanks, sounds like a smart opinion, ya looks like it's best just ride the Comfort Bike as is and slowly save the bucks for a true Mountain Bike!! LOL, I didn't take your statement as "elitistist" just as good common sense and trying to save a fellow rider from makining a expensive mistake, again thanks! :)

I would probably just sell that bike and put the money toward a new mtb since it doesn't seem you would have missed the comfort bike anyway. Once you ride a new mtb, I doubt you'll go back to the comfort bike and it'll just collect dust.