Jesse Smith
I picked up an Ibex for around $300 in October. I've spend a bit winterizing it and this is as far as I think I need upgrade it. It might be quicker to tell what's still original rather than list the upgrades.
1. The bike came with a cheap shock. I bought a rigid suspension corrected fork from Nashbar. It's just as heavy as the shock, but I figured there's no maintenance, it's somewhat less attractive to a thief, and there's no bob.
2. I got rid of the stock stem and riser handlebars. I'm tried to duplicate my road position as close as possible with a 09 degree stem and flat bars bringing them about 4" lower and a couple inches further out.
3. I got rid of the stock saddle and went with one of many Rolls I own.
4. I got rid of the stock plastic clips and flat pedals and went with an old pair of Time ATACs I had.
5. I got an Old Man Mountain Red Rock rack, which is designed to set further back, so you don't have to worry and striking your heel on it. It has brackets with sliding slots so you can mount it using the rear brake posts instead of clips and clamps. On this, I put the biggest trunk rack I could find, a TopPeak DX. This holds a pair of work shoes, pants, shirt, etc. I haven't used the fold-down panniers yet.
After riding this setup for a few weeks, I started adding more winter-specific upgrades. I bought front and rear Avid BB5 discs, a pair of XT/Sun Rhyno rims, SKS fenders, front and rear Lizard Skinz derailleur covers, and Nokian studded tires, and Nokon cables/housing.
I installed the front brake with no problem. When it came time to install the rear, I quickly found out the Red Rock's struts got in the way of mounting the rear caliper. I emailed Old Man Mountain, and he quickly sent me a spacer to set the left strut out far enough from the mounting hole to allow room for the rear caliper. I had to bend the fender stuts out quite a bit to clear the calipers as well.
The brakes themselves are nice, but the performance isn't far above cantilever or linear pull brakes. The disc saves the rim surface, looks and feels cool, and that's about it. They haven't been noisy, but any one of a thousand factors could change that tomorrow. I got a pair of Avid FR5 levers just for kicks. Again, they aren't light years ahead of the stock DiaComp levers.
I've probably thrown more money away on cables and housing than anything else. The stock cables cracked after only a couple months. I replaced them with Avid Flak Jacket cables and housing. After one rain storm followed by cold weather, the Avid cables were frozen. I could see water and ice crystals through the red cable liner. That was annoying, so I replace the Avids with Nokons, more to just see if ANY cable system could be honestly waterproof. The Avid's liner runs in segments using nosed ferrules at the cable stops. The Nokon's teflon liner is sturdier than the Flak Jackets, and it runs the entire route's length. But another problem arrose when I discovered that the nice Jagwire teflon brake cables I bought on Ebay were too thick to slide freely inside the Nokon liner. The yellow tefon coating on the cables was applied too thick. So I went with generic uncoated cables. I drilled out the rear brakes cable stops to run full-length housing. So far, no Nokon derailleur or brake cable has froze, or even felt rough.
The front and rear derailleurs, shifters, bottom bracket, crank, seatpost and headset are about the only surviving stock components. I'd like to get rid of the stock Truvativ cranks. They're bent outward much further than the Suntour Cyclone cranks on my road bike. The difference in Q-factor is HUGE. Plus, the Suntours are 165mm while these are 175mm.
The Nokon tires have paid for themselves already. Like most people say, they work best on ice, be it black ice, refrozen glaze, or frozen over packed down snow. In fresh, as in still falling fluff or slush, they're little better than regular knobbies.
I got an extra SRAM PC58 8-speed chain. If the stock KMC lasts all winter, I'll throw it away come spring. I'm coming up on 1000k's of commuting so far and lubing the chain is about the only consistent maintenance issue I've come up with so far. I periodically check the frame's welds for cracks and shake the fenders and rear rack to make sure they're not going to fall off.
1. The bike came with a cheap shock. I bought a rigid suspension corrected fork from Nashbar. It's just as heavy as the shock, but I figured there's no maintenance, it's somewhat less attractive to a thief, and there's no bob.
2. I got rid of the stock stem and riser handlebars. I'm tried to duplicate my road position as close as possible with a 09 degree stem and flat bars bringing them about 4" lower and a couple inches further out.
3. I got rid of the stock saddle and went with one of many Rolls I own.
4. I got rid of the stock plastic clips and flat pedals and went with an old pair of Time ATACs I had.
5. I got an Old Man Mountain Red Rock rack, which is designed to set further back, so you don't have to worry and striking your heel on it. It has brackets with sliding slots so you can mount it using the rear brake posts instead of clips and clamps. On this, I put the biggest trunk rack I could find, a TopPeak DX. This holds a pair of work shoes, pants, shirt, etc. I haven't used the fold-down panniers yet.
After riding this setup for a few weeks, I started adding more winter-specific upgrades. I bought front and rear Avid BB5 discs, a pair of XT/Sun Rhyno rims, SKS fenders, front and rear Lizard Skinz derailleur covers, and Nokian studded tires, and Nokon cables/housing.
I installed the front brake with no problem. When it came time to install the rear, I quickly found out the Red Rock's struts got in the way of mounting the rear caliper. I emailed Old Man Mountain, and he quickly sent me a spacer to set the left strut out far enough from the mounting hole to allow room for the rear caliper. I had to bend the fender stuts out quite a bit to clear the calipers as well.
The brakes themselves are nice, but the performance isn't far above cantilever or linear pull brakes. The disc saves the rim surface, looks and feels cool, and that's about it. They haven't been noisy, but any one of a thousand factors could change that tomorrow. I got a pair of Avid FR5 levers just for kicks. Again, they aren't light years ahead of the stock DiaComp levers.
I've probably thrown more money away on cables and housing than anything else. The stock cables cracked after only a couple months. I replaced them with Avid Flak Jacket cables and housing. After one rain storm followed by cold weather, the Avid cables were frozen. I could see water and ice crystals through the red cable liner. That was annoying, so I replace the Avids with Nokons, more to just see if ANY cable system could be honestly waterproof. The Avid's liner runs in segments using nosed ferrules at the cable stops. The Nokon's teflon liner is sturdier than the Flak Jackets, and it runs the entire route's length. But another problem arrose when I discovered that the nice Jagwire teflon brake cables I bought on Ebay were too thick to slide freely inside the Nokon liner. The yellow tefon coating on the cables was applied too thick. So I went with generic uncoated cables. I drilled out the rear brakes cable stops to run full-length housing. So far, no Nokon derailleur or brake cable has froze, or even felt rough.
The front and rear derailleurs, shifters, bottom bracket, crank, seatpost and headset are about the only surviving stock components. I'd like to get rid of the stock Truvativ cranks. They're bent outward much further than the Suntour Cyclone cranks on my road bike. The difference in Q-factor is HUGE. Plus, the Suntours are 165mm while these are 175mm.
The Nokon tires have paid for themselves already. Like most people say, they work best on ice, be it black ice, refrozen glaze, or frozen over packed down snow. In fresh, as in still falling fluff or slush, they're little better than regular knobbies.
I got an extra SRAM PC58 8-speed chain. If the stock KMC lasts all winter, I'll throw it away come spring. I'm coming up on 1000k's of commuting so far and lubing the chain is about the only consistent maintenance issue I've come up with so far. I periodically check the frame's welds for cracks and shake the fenders and rear rack to make sure they're not going to fall off.