Hey Y'all, Long time member here was formerly under another username but the e-mail associated with it isn't in use anymore and I couldn't get anything reset... Anyways,

after a bit of a hiatus due to always moving, school, deployments etc, I picked up a 2016 Fuji Auric 1.7(price was right... wasn't sure about a Fuji for the dirt... but so far it seems pretty slick, my true love was a Kona Process but couldn't swing the $$$$) yesterday and can't wait to see if I can't break it... Just moved to The Scottsdale AZ area, so I am sure I will have AMPLE opportunities to thrash. I am coming from my ancient and well loved 2007 Kona Dawg, that is STILL bone stock except for the tires. I will be repairing this old relic and using it to get the GF into biking, hopefully I'll turn her into an Enduro monster so I have a riding partner.

Anyway, seeing as I have been out of the sport for a while... when I last rode 27.5 wasn't even a thing... any cool gadgets or nifty upgrades y'all recommend? Bike currently has a 2 x set up but want to put it as a 1x. A friend recommended the black Oval chain rings... any insight on these, having an oval chainring seems like a strange concept.

got the bike home, flat tire. No sealant. He pulled a fast one. All well, replacing the valve stems with removable core and retaping with gorilla tape does the trick!

Welcome back! Ride it 'til something breaks, then worry about upgrades.

Always, usually replace things that break with better. Probably will be converting to 1x10 instead of 2x10 sooner than later. Should be able to do 1x11 since it's boost spacing back there

You don't need boost spacing to upgrade to 11 speed or 12 speed for that matter. And now that Sunrace makes a 12 speed cassette that fits the normal freehub body you don't even need Sram's XD driver body to go to 12 speed which I would seriously consider if I were going to bother upgrading from 10 speed at this point. Speaking of which sunrance also makes a 11-40 and 42 range cassette for 10 speed.

Awesome... 1x12 sounds like what I'll do

besides JensonUSA, where else do yall do your online shopping... I'm lost since pricepoint went away

Dropper post if it does not already have one.

As far as online stores, I really like Jenson. Universal and Tree Fort Bikes are also good on-line shops run by serious cyclists, and I occassionally buy from them as well.

It has a dropper, not a high end one but it works well enough. it's a KS eten integrated or something like that. Cable is a little finicky but with some zip ties I think i got it figured out.

The bike seems pretty solidly spec'ed, so I don't see a lot of places to make a big difference cheaply.

Tires are always a good upgrade IMO. Getting the best tires for your given application is totally worth ~$150 in my book.

The fork and shock are both Fox's "performance" level models. I am sure they are pretty good, but there is better stuff out there.... but it is not cheap.

Personally, if that were my bike and I had some money burning a hole in my pocket, I would be looking at tires (if it still has the stock Nobby Nics.... not bad, just not my thing) and looking into getting a PUSH tune/damper mod on the fork and maybe the shock... but that is getting into a few hundred bucks.

For now, just ride it!

That's why I jumped on it lol. Seemed to be a decent spec. It has Vitoria Goma 2.4's on, running tubeless so tires have been addressed. I am looking at that on-the-fly damper adjuster that replaced the top cap (Seths bike hacks seems to love his) the only other thing I really want is a solid 1x11 or 1x12 setup. Rode it yesterday and it goes pretty well. Remote lockout would be nice... but that's just being spoiled lol