Mountain Biking - Upgrade my old bike?

I purchased a 04 Specialized Enduro Comp bike I purchased a month or so ago. I have been riding it as much as my job lets me. One of the usual trails I ride is tight singletrack with a lot of switchbacks and a number of longer uphills. The uphill sections give my overweight (250lbs), out of shape, cigarette smoking body a real work out with a 30 lb+ bike. I also don't need that much travel for the majority of trails I run. I am quiting smoking so I will have some extra money and am thinking of building up my old bike to use along with the Enduro. It is a mid/late 90 something Schwinn Moab Elite. It is a cr-mo frame, full rigid, cantilever brakes, alivio derailleurs, and other stuff I don't remember. I was thinking about upgrading front and rear derailleurs to LX or XT (or used XTR), suspension fork, V brakes, new rims/tires, clipless pedals, and some lighter components (seat, seat post, stem, bars). Am I crazy or does this seem resoanable? Any recommendations on what else or what specific part upgrades? What fork?

I think it's worth it, as long as you like the schwinn. They used to be a GREAT company.

How are you liking your enduro. If you think that you want a bike just to have fun with or to commute or something, spend less money on your schwinn. That way if it does get stolen, hey its not your enduro.

I say deore lx is probably all you'll need, because xtr is too expensive and there's not that big a difference as long as you keep it dialed. In fact, if your alivio's working well, why not keep em?

V brakes are good for non wet conditions/non extreme riding like Downhill or extreme free ride. If it's light trails, discs would still be good to give you some extra stopping power if there's mud. Avid mechs are expensive but nice. Avid Single digit 7's are good v brakes.

Sacrifice some money from your tires, and rims and some seat stuff to get a better fork as they are getting more and more expensive. Make sure the steerer tube is 1 1/8 inch first.

What's your budget, we need to know that in order to help you out more.

- Most unorganized post ever written. Edited

PS Quitting smoking is definetly good, not only do you get more money, you get better health too!! You can't lose!

- Most unorganized post ever written. Edited



Hahaha. We are all proud of you.

Don't want to tell you not to,but you could get a new hardtail cheaper than you could rebuild everything on your old one. :(

Ya can sell the old frame to me.

Buying a new hardtail has crossed my mind. But, I am not completely sure I want to buy new. I would consider buying used, but XL frames are not common. I have been checking on ebay and there are only a few XL (or 20"+) hardtails listed at any time. If I were to upgrade my budget would be $200-350 for fork and maybe $200-300 more for everything else. If I did upgrade the Schwinn I would buy the fork and probably new tires/rims (my old ones are in bad shape), and the V-brakes before anything else would be upgraded.

Yeh, try to put used and old parts on the shcinn. Make it your commuter so it's less valuable.

the moab is a kick ass bike to upgrade. although if i already had a primary ride, i'd leave the moab as-is for nostalgia sakes. i think i'd make a singlespeed out of it rather than "retrofitting" it with newer technology.