PatrickGSR94

I'm wondering whether I should do a disc brake conversion on my old KHS MTB or just get a newer MTB with disc, etc.

A little history: I got back into cycling in May of last year. Rode the KHS bike for many miles, and preferred road riding at the time. So I swapped out the 26x2.1 knobby tires for 26x1.5 inverted tread tires and also a rigid fork. The old Rock Shox fork was very tired and just bottomed out and did nothing while I was on the bike. I rode the bike on road rides for several months. Then in late September I picked up my first road bike, the 2011 Felt shown in my sig.

A few weeks ago I did a Trek MTB demo and rode several very high end, full-suspension, hydraulic-everything bikes on some trails, and really loved it. Then I decided to pull apart my old Rock Shox fork and found one of the elastomers had completely disintegrated, so that basically only 1 spring was working inside it. That explains why it always bottomed out under my weight. So I spent about $75 refurbishing the fork (new elastomers, new fork crown race ring), threw it back on the bike last week along with the 2.1 tires, and took it out on some trails over the weekend. Wow I'm really starting to love trail riding!

Well the fact is that the brakes are AWFUL on this bike whenever I ride in wet/muddy conditions. I love the bike itself. I bought it for $200 off a local guy back in 2006, but never rode it much until this past year. But the brakes are bad, and the Shimano Deore trigger shifters have been giving me fits when it's colder outside.

So I'm thinking that I REALLY want a bike with disc brakes for off-road riding. I just added up some parts: Avid BB7 brakes, Brake Therapy rear conversion kit, and Rhyno-Lite rims with Shimano M525 hubs, and all that will cost just over $400. Plus I would have to use my rigid fork with disc brake tabs, or purchase a suspension fork with provisions for disc brakes, which would likely send the total cost well over $700.

I'm leaning towards just getting a new MTB with disc brakes, perhaps even a BikesDirect bike since I'm much more familiar with bikes, what's good and what's not, what size I need, etc. than I was just 9 months ago. I just saw a pretty nice looking Motobecane MTB with 3x8 drivetrain (same as what my KHS has, but has lower gearing), and hydraulic Tektro brakes and 100mm travel Suntour fork for $550. Or there's something like the Trek 3500 with mechanical disc for $480, but it only has a 3x7 Tourney drivetrain, and the gearing is not as low.

Thoughts? I already went the brand new route with the road bike. Maybe I could go used/CL for a MTB, although that's what I did with the KHS bike. Or maybe I could even build up something myself as I've been wanting to give that a try.