So my wife’s bike is a 2011 Trek Mamba WSD. She has historically ridden very, VERY, little, but now that our 6 and 11 year old have started wanting to go on more rides, she seems to have renewed interest.

She isn’t the most mechanically inclined, and really dislikes having front and rear derailleur. Her bike is 3x8, and has what I consider a pretty decent frame, and a RockShox Torq 100mm travel fork, 29” wheels.

Dilemma is this: update her bike to 1x12, so new cranks, cassette, hub adapter, shifters, rd, or replace with something current. I can get a great deal on a SLX shifter/XT rd that are new takeoffs at local shop, but it looks to me like to update to something of similar quality in a new bike I’d have to drop over 1K. Any reason to do one over the other?