$500 towards upgrades, what to buy????
 

Well I just sold my motorcycle and have some extra spending cash and want to drop it into my 05 gf hkek. It is essentially stock except for the hydros i've got on it. I definetly wanted to upgrade the wheelset (or atleast just the rims). But do you guys have any suggestions as to where the rest of my 300 should be spent. I was thinking either spend a little more and get a new fork (currently on rs pilot sl) or just upgrade the shimano m505 pedals and maybe a lighter stem/bar combo with a carbon seatpost. As of now my fork has been good with no problems such as leaking oil or air, however is does weigh around 4.3 pounds and say for example a rs sid weighs 2 pounds less. I'd like my money to be as efficient as possible. Any suggestions

Keep in mind if you go to a SID you will lose at least an inch of travel. They are supposed to be 80 mm but most people get close to 70 mm out of them.

What wheelset do you have now?

If you want to lose some weight replace the bottom bracket with an American Classic Stainless Steel. You will lose close to a 1/4 pound with just that change. After that a carbon bar and seatpost would be nice, also check out some egg beater pedals to save some weight. Depending on your riding you could also go with some lighter tires to save some weight for minimal money.

I'd dump the whole five on a wheelset.

Forget about a carbon seatpost. What is the point?

I would either blow it all on the wheels, or blow it on a nice fork. I would definitely stay away from a carbon post. The weight difference isn't *that* big, and the bling factor isn't worth the cost to me (or risking the breakage).

EDIT: The more I think about it, I'd probably blow it on a nice set of wheels. That way you've got a huge weight savings where it really matters the most, and you can keep the old set of wheels as a back-up or with some slicks on them for some road riding.

[QUOTE=LowCel]

What wheelset do you have now?

Currently I have bontrager Maverick OSB rims on there. they are the original wheels set up for rim brake with disc hubs. Also, does anyone know the weight of these wheels, i've looked everywhere and can't find anything, even the bontrager website

$500 to spend???

Hmmmm. Tough call.

If lightening up your bike is your goal:

I'd budget $60 to$80 and get a Thomson Elite seatpost. Check Ebay for deals.

I'd budget another $150 and get a new stem (Race Face or Thomson) and an Easton MonkeyLite handlebar.

Figure another $80 for a pair of lighterweight set of tires/tubes.

Leave the wheels alone, they're decent.

And I'd blow the balance on a mid-level fork on closeout.

http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Rim/product_87054.shtml

This website indicates they weigh 450 grams.

I agree with the suggestion that you upgrage your seatpost and stem set, then spend the rest on a new(er) fork.

It sounds like you want a new fork. If you find one you like, it can totally change your ride.

So, controls are probably where it's at with the remainder:
Thompson seatpost - good choice
Saddle? - you can find good light comfortable saddles for $30 or less.
Pedals - I recommend eggbeaters (personal preference). These are a good deal. I own 2 sets of eggbeater cromo, one sl, one mag mallet. I like the SL the best, though the mallet have their own time/place.
Bar - there are often good used ti bar deals on ebay.
Stem - consider Ritchey. You could pay 4x as much for something marginally better.

I will say i have a SID on my bike and it is definantly very light, i am completely satisfied with the fork. but it is not for everything, you probably have 70-80mm of travel which is fine for some, and some want more. Personally im all about efficiency so its good for me.

I would look into a Ritchey stem as well. I have got a WCS stem and its got fantastic build quality. Im sure the Comp has equally good quality. The WCS is very light, but its not the cheapest stem out there.

Wheels will be a very noticable upgrade if your into lightness and i would recommend wheels but i dont know what you have now so its hard to say yay or nay

I've got an idea, why not give the money to me, and then you won't have to worry about what upgrades to spend it on.

I've decided for sure to get rid of those ugly shimano m505 pedals and upgrade to egg beaters sl. That will be $110 plus shipping. My rear rim has a nice crease in it so i think i'm going to upgrade the rims, keep the hubs, and get a new stem/bar combo and get a new seat. Any suggestions now on rims, I was thinking the $70-80 range per rim? (I wanted disc specific rims)

You can get eggbeater SL's, shipped, for $81

I know I got mine off ebay, maybe from the same seller (too lazy to check). Why pay $30 more?

WRT rims, I just built a set of road wheels for my gf on Velocity rims. Also, I helped a friend finish a build on some mt wheels, also with Velocity rims. Both sets of wheels turned out very nice, and could take a lot of spoke tension. So far, both riders are very happy with their rims. Velocity rims are sweet .

I've not had problems with Mavic - I run OP on my road bike and commuter. I know several builder around town who've pulled out failed Mavic rims though. Food for thought.

If you have a 28h hub, these Campy rims seem like a steal:
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...and=&sku=12743

What sort of hubs are you using?

If you dig your fork, investing in a wheelset is a great idea. You have all sorts of options, depending on riding style, desired optimizations (cost, weight, durability, tubeless, disc only, etc). And building wheels if fun.

Here are the crazy cheap Velocity rims my friend recently built with:

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...rand=&sku=9787

With Hope XC disc hubs, DT Competition spokes, they made for quite a sexy wheelset (1950g altogether, I think).

it's funny that you mention the $81 egg beater sl because inbetween the time i posted that comment of 110 egg beater, i found and bought the 81 dollar ones from ebay. My hubs are tricky, they are the stock hubs on the 2005 gary fisher hoo koo e koo but aren't labeled. I think they are just bontrager basic disc hubs but i'm not for sure?

The Hope XC hubs seemed like the knee of the curve in price/value. Check out the reviews on mtbr. You could keep the Bontragers as a backup set. Schraner's _Art of Wheelbuilding_ book got me started with, and now addicted to, wheelbuilding.

You can save some additional weight by going with something like Stan's ZTR/Olympic rims and a no tubes setup. Some folks don't like tubeless. YMMV.

You can get Candy SL's for 70 dollars shipped. Why pay 80? Or 110?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

Gravity dropper seatpost.I think they go for about $250