Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
That's a nice bike. 27-speed Shimano Deore shifting, Hayes brakes, Manitou fork.
(Bikepedia link). Compared to the average commuter bike, yours is already better.
In order to upgrade your shifting you are looking at a complete drivetrain swap. When Shimano went 10-speed with their mountain groups, they changed the rear cable pull, narrowed the chain and cogs, narrowed the cassette spacing, and nothing is compatible any more.
You might have trouble with racks and fenders due to the disk brakes. You may lack the mounting points that are usually at the brake bridge, you might lack eyelets at the fork ends and dropouts, and even if you have them, the calipers might interfere.
I was afraid not everything would be compatible. Thanks for the info. Also, I did get a rack and fenders mounted which have been life savers so far.
Originally Posted by
Slaninar
If one intends to ride off road, a lockable suspension fork is the way to go. All the decent suspension forks are lockable anyway for all I know. So for the sake of off road (if I understood the OP correctly), a lockable suspension and road tyres.
Though I off road on a rigid MTB, which I also commute on. I don't like suspension.
I currently ride with the suspension locked out which works fine. I mainly want a different fork to lighten up the bike a little bit and make mounting my front fender a bit more professional looking. My large p clamps are working just fine, but I'm not a fan of how they look on the bike.
Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
That's what student loans are for
Ha that or just divert a bit of one's beer funds to the bike fund. I probably shouldn't ride while drinking anyway.
Thanks everybody for the responses. Looks like I will start with tires, and then maybe a fork if I can ebay something super cheap. Component upgrades will wait till after I ride with slicks and determine if I really want to spend money on the bike.