Suitable Bike Upgrades?
 

Hi there i have an Apollo Mountain bike it runs great and looking for suitable upgrades for road use

I have just installed City jet 1.5 Road Tyres and had the Bottom Bracket replaced to a sealed unit as it became loose other then that the bike has worked fine the other half bought me it 2 years ago i was worried when i seen Apollo :cry: but it surprised me when it worked well and i rearly push it on the road 5 days a week:twitchy:

Now question at hand is there anything else i can upgrade or remove to make it faster lighter i am a skinny guy 5.9 12 stone
i have mud guards and bar ends for extra grip and a bottle rack the parts seem basic so in time i will upgrade any parts that either break or are cheap to install

Anything here thats rubbish

Approximate Weight (KG): 16.2kg
Brake Type: V-Brakes
Frame Material: Steel
Gender: Mens
Number of Gears: 18
Pedals Included: Yes
Suspension: Front Suspension
Wheel Size: 26"
Chainset: Square Taper
Fork Lock-out: No
Forks - Adjustable damping: No
Frame: Steel
Front Brake: V-Brake
Front Hub: Steel
Front Mech: Yes
Gear Shifters: SRAM Grip Shift
Handlebars: Black Steel
Headset: 1" 1/8 Caged Bearing
Pedals: Black
Rear Brake: V-brake
Rear Hub: Steel
Rear Mech: Shimano
Rims: Alloy Single Wall, Black
Saddle: Black Apollo
Seatpost: 350mm
Stem: Black Steel
Type: Mountain Bikes
Tyre Size: 26" x 1.95
Tyres: MTB Tyres 26" x 1.95"

Thanks in a year or two i will definitely buy a Road Bike but for now with the Baby considering a New Road bike is out of the question :-P

Thanks

Joe

Being realistic, apart from the tires you have already done, there isn't anything that you can do that will be cost effective, to make any significant weight savings, you would be better spending the money one a complete new bike.

You seem to have the bike working as needed as you describe, would leave as is/ride as is, and only replace parts as/if necessary, and save for a new one.

Given the bike brand, take it you are in the UK, have you looked at the cycle to work scheme? as most employers offer this now, as it could be a way to get a cheaper new bike.

Dont bother upgrading Got Mudguards? Good

have as rack to carry stuff, Good.

Maybe lose the sus Fork entirely and get a suspension corrected rigid one.



want a Better Bike , Save your Money, and go to a Bike shop and buy a Better whole new Bike ..

in the mean time ride what you have to get to work & Back . which Is Commuting..

Lock it up so You wont have to walk home.

Thanks guys i will just keep it as it as as long as nothing breaks :) sad thing is i am only working for a few more months before i am redundant so i wont be accepted for the Cycle To Work Scheme we are also moving away so i plan on cycling lots lots more when i move and at that point i will save save and save until i can get a good quality reasonable priced road bike :)

Thanks

Joe

For me personally, I would want to lose the grip shifters and change to trigger-type shifters, put on smooth tires, and switch to a rigid steel fork (US$50 from Nashbar).

Check out the thread I started about my old MTB back when I first joined in 2012, and how I changed it over the years to better suit my road riding style/needs.

http://www.bikeforums.net/hybrid-bic...-friendly.html

If your budget is tight, then you're probably best off keeping what you have. Beyond switching to slick/semi-slick tires the actual performance gains drop off pretty fast. Ride the bike you have a lot and you'll get stronger, then when you can afford a road bike you'll really fly.

If you had some spare money, the biggest opportunities for gain I see would be replacing the suspension fork with a rigid fork. Suspension forks, especially those lacking lock out, soak up a certain amount of your energy with every pedal stroke. Replacing that probably wouldn't actually make the bike much faster, but it would feel a lot faster. The trick is to find a fork that matches the the length of your suspension fork without changing the geometry of the bike. It's likely to make your bike look a little goofy anyway, but the important thing is to keep the riding position and handling correct. If you could do the work yourself to replace the fork, you could probably do it for under £75 (assuming you can get a basic steel fork as cheaply there as we can here in the U.S.). Off the top of my head, I think you could do the work with one or two hex wrenches (which you ought to have anyway) to adjust the stem and headset, a piece of PVC pipe and a hammer to install a new crown race, and a hacksaw to cut the steerer to size. Obviously we're talking about a lot less bang for the buck than you got with the tire upgrade, but it's probably the best thing left short of a whole new bike.