Advice on tires and fork.
 

I just bought a specialized hardrock disc. My plan for it is commute to work daily and ride hard packed dirt trails for fun. Now, I realize that a mountain bike with suspension isn't ideal for commuting but it was a screaming good deal, $150 under msrp, which leaves me some room to tinker. I'd like to put some more road oriented tires on it that will still be OK for the light offroading I'm going to do, and eventually a fork with a lockout. I believe the tire size is 26x2. I'm brand new to the world of aftermarket bike stuff. What brands, websites, are known to be pretty good? Any advice on either the fork or tires? I don't want to break the bank, or buy anything that is junk.

tires:
http://www.amazon.com/Bell-26-Inch-C...6553471&sr=1-1
these work well on pavement, hard pack and any other surface you don't sink into; not so good in deep sand and deep mud. Wal-mart also carries them.

The fork is a little harder; do you have threadless or threaded; 1" or 1 1/8" ?

I generally purchase stuff through Amazon, eBay, Harris Cyclery and Niagara Cycle Works.

I'll probably give those tires a try, thanks.

How do I tell those specs on my fork? All I know is it's for 26" tires, has 80mm travel, adjustable preload, made by suntour and has 28mm hi-ten stanchions whatever those are.

Is this hardtail with front suspension? Or is it full suspension?

Here are the tires that I got for similar usage:
Serfas Survivor Drifters


These are cheaper, but with lesser flat prevention:
Serfas Drifters

ETA: Sorry, forgot to mention that I really like these tires. I don't actually commute on the bike that they are on, but I ride it all over the neighborhood near my house, and they've been great.

Hardtail with front suspension.

Specialized Hardrock Disc. That's gotta be 1 1/8" threadless.

Some of the tires mentioned before look like they would work. Also, why do you want a fork with lockout?

What I would like to know is how long is your commute and over what surfaces (i.e. 5 miles all city streets)? What is the split between commuting and offroading (i.e. 70% commuting 30% offroading)?

I thought about replacing the fork (non lockout) on my hardtail, but I couldn't justify the cost vs. benefit for my riding purposes.

My commute is about 4.5 miles one way, and probably an 80/20 split between pavement and offroad/"shortcuts"

I'd like a lockout because with the preload at it's stiffest setting it still compresses a lot when I'm really riding hard on the pavement. The preload set between a third and halfway from the stiffest setting seems best for the offroad stuff so far. I'd like to be able to quickly go between that and rigid.

How about this one? I'd like to keep the fork under a hundred dollars.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-SR-Suntour-X...#ht_5785wt_905

A decent lightweight suspension fork alone will run you at least $400-500. Cheap suspension forks are heavy and completely unnesessary for most commuters. For commuting and light offroad use, you'll be fine with a rigid steel fork (suspension corrected) and slicks. Pretty much any shop can order from QBP, which sells Surly forks, or look for sales at Performance/Nashbar. The fork and tires should run you about $150 max. Pay a shop to install the fork and do the rest of the work yourself.

Update: got a set of serfas drifter survivor tires. Thanks for the tip on them. The bike shop put 1.5 inch tires instead of the 2 inch that were on there. Seems to ride really nice. Was this the right thing to do in terms of size? Haven't decided on the fork yet.

They should do you well. That's what I have, and in 1.5. I think the 2.0 look really cool, but the 1.5 are lighter, and work great for me. Enjoy!

I run Specialized Crossroad on the rear and the Hemisphere on the front on one of my bikes. 1.95 width Does well in anything but mud. Just need to be carefull of really leaning over as the Cross has knobs on the side and it wil slide out on pavement if you are overly aggressive.

I have a 2010 Specialized Hardrock Sport Disc. The Fast Trak LK sport tires (26 x 2) that came with it IMHO are not bad on both pavement and trails with the reduced knob height but I preferred to put slicks on as most of my riding is on pavement. I replaced the Fast Traks with Michelin City Tires. Put them on my other bike ..a Gary Fisher comfort bike ..a year ago and like them...no flats..but are a few grams heavier than the FT's. On the Hardrock I put the 26x 1.85 size Michelins. On the GaryFisher I have 26 x 1.4's . Why did I go for the fatter Michelin's on the Hardrock? In that I use both bikes primarily for fitness. I ride everyday year round so weight is not a huge concern to me but are important factors to most cyclists which I can understand.. I have had great experience with Nimbus Armadillos on my comfort bike but found the same durability and puncture resistance on the Michelins at a lower price.