Milez

Ive had my trek 3500(no disk) for 3-4 months now. I like it but am starting to see the downsides. So, Do you guys think this is a good entry level MTB?

https://treads.com/m/product/13trek-3500-173749-1.htm

Scroll down to specs. Is 63 mm of travel even decemt for entry level?

jimc101

Good for what? if fire roads, & very light off road, it will be fine, but start to do anything more adventurous, and your will find its limitations quickly. For fork travel 63mm is very short (even your basic Suntor forks are normally 80-100mm), anything under 100mm is short, 63mm will take the sting out of a bump, but not much else.

roccobike

There's a dude on this forum asking the same questions about upgrading a Trek 820. The 3500 is pretty close to the 820 and has similar limitations. I'd ride one on a medium level single track, technical trail, but stay away from big jumps. You need to know your bikes limitations. As for upgrading the fork, you've got another problem to consider. Changing that fork will raise the front end and could impact the handling of the bike. Forks are expensive, even for a good used fork. If you want to upgrade don't go any higher than 100mm. If you look at the 2014 specs for your bike, TREK upped the size of the fork on your model to 75mm. It looks like the frames were not changed much if at all. That means your bike could handle a 80mm aftermarket fork no problem. Maybe a 100, but I most certainly would not go larger than 100.

trekker pete

Ahhh, go with a 160 fork. It will look/ride like a chopper!