I am suggesting the grinder to grind the teeth off of the big ring to make it a bash ring. Trying to remove the rings and replace them is probably a fool’s errand.

In all honesty we are discussing a bikes direct bike shaped object. It's come to point of trying to put lipstick on pig.

Your opinion...I've ridden mine for several years w/o issues.....can still keep up with a lot of younger riders on newer and more expensive bikes....and that's all I can ask of a $900 bike.

Have you ever purchased a bike from Bikesdirect? If you've been on bike forums long enough, you should know that term is reserved for a different class of bikes than this one.

No I have not and for good reason.

The circle of friends that I run with in my biking circles have all purchased bikes from BD with the same idea that you and many others have of falling for BD marketing fluff (their bikes are nothing like what the crazy marketing mumbo jumbo claims they are) and thinking that they are getting a good or better deal on a bike vs. what people are buying from Trek, Specialized, Giant or another reputable bike manufacturer. Every single one of them has had to deal with cracked frames, failed hubs and a myriad of other issues that you don't have when you spend more money on a good bike from a reputable manufacturer. I'll end this by saying that all of those people I'm referring to no longer are riding Motobecanes and that they all have stated they wished they would have spent more money on a better bike in the first place.

I bought a used BD road Bike. A bandmate of mine toured on one. And I know a few folks who have owned MtBs from them over the years.

They have all been perfectly fine, I don’t think anyone regretted the purchase. All but my friend who owns the touring bike eventually moved on to something nicer, but they were solid bikes to get one into the sport, and not hold you back. Definitely not BSOs.

The mtb frame designs (geo and suspension) are almost always a bit out of date. But heck, so are a lot of older high end bikes out there being ridden at very high levels.

You do need to go over the assembly, in particular and bearings that are preloaded (headset, cup and cone hubs) as they often over tighten them.

I think the issue with bikes direct is that if you’re going to buy one you need to know something about bikes to be able to make sure it’s assembled right, and also need to be comfortable doing your own wrenching . But many people who know enough about bikes to do those things have been riding long enough that they may be more particular about what they want.

All that said.... I am bot crazy about that particular bike the OP is looking at. The frame design is fine, albeit a little dated. But the specs on it - especially the fork - are lacking. For that price point, I would be looking at one of their hardtails.

I would not bother dumping money into converting the drivetrain on this bike. Just ride the bike as is. Eventually you’re probably going to realize that you want to upgrade the fork, the tires, the rear shock, the drivetrain, and put a dropper post on It. And by the time you do all that, you could’ve just bought a nicer bike to start with The most expensive way to get a nice bike is to buy a cheap one and upgrade everything.

I should clarify that the bikes I'm referring to were fat bikes and mountain bikes. I would assume that their road bikes would hold up a little better since they aren't subjected to the same stresses that Mountain Bikes and Fat Bikes are.

Personally after having witnessed what I did, I prefer to steer clear of BD.

Well, it sounds like we've had complete opposite experiences. We'll just have to agree to disagree and move our attention back to the discussion on hand.

It's interesting to me how I post a thread line this, and inevitably people sweep in and say how it would be a waste to upgrade anything on this bike because it's not top of the line. I think I said in my original post that there weren't any other bikes in stock that worked for me, except some $5,000 bikes at local shops, which I could never justify buying. I DON'T GET PAID TO RIDE MY BIKE. If for a net cost of ~$150 (new drive train minus sale of old), I can go 1x10, would that make MY riding experience more enjoyable on THIS bike?
That is the question.

Nobody gets paid to ride their bike unless they are a professional cyclist. So not sure what that has to do with how much a person spends on a bike.

I don't get paid to ride a bike either yet I have ~$13k wrapped up into the 4 bikes I ride.

I think your only problem was asking if it was worth upgrading. Based on that question you are going to get people who say no.

The truth is that it is probably worth upgrading to 1x10 for you.

I setup my bikes for me. I need no affirmation. If someone thinks they would never ride it, I say good, you’ll never get the chance.

Just build it, ride it, and enjoy it.

John

Precisely. If people could just add the caveat "for me"...

I bought a nearly 30 year old bike and gave it a 2x2 drive train. Was it worth it? To me it was. I had a lot of fun building, and enjoy riding, it. The cost was minimal. Would it be worthwhile for someone else? I dunno. I post about it because forums are designed for sharing ideas and information. If someone wants to know how to do it I will tell them what I did. If they don't - move on to the 10,000 other threads available for comment.

I think it’s a cool bike.

The 2x2 definitely fits with the frame design being able to drop the wheel and chain easy.

I didn’t tell you it was worthless. I told you to do the fork.

Thanks

Fwiw, I wasn't trying to derail the OPs thread by going in a different direction, just illustrating that we should do what makes us happy and not worry about how what others think.

Another thing that gets missed a lot in discussions is the intended use for the bike. Depending on conditions one can over/under bike pretty easy in terms of capability and cost.

For nothing too hard trailwise, and for a moderate budget, the OP can either stay as is or invest a small amount into a 1x system. He may not wind up with a "Superbike" but he may also not require one. On his current platform he can see if he likes it and go from there.

I bought a cheap Chinese dropper some time ago for my fatbike just to see if I liked them and am still using it. Does everything I need it to do so far including so pretty rough mtbing.

I actually preferred my 2x for trails like that, because I could do relatively big jumps with a single front change up/down vs multiple shifts on my 1x. For everything else then 1x just seems easier.

I wouldn't bother changing a bike from one to the other though.

OP: you asked if switching to 1x10 was worth it. Well, some folks think it is not. Now that I know your cranks can’t be converted, I am also in that camp.

But none of us know how badly YOU want it. It it is something you are dying to have, then do it. Personally, I think it is an improvement, but by no means a game changer.

Also what the bike is DOES matter in that calculation. The reason is that one needs to prioritize upgrades. And in your case I would do the fork before the drivetrain.

OP look into Kev Central on youtube(he does a lot of budget builds) there are plenty of cheaper options for 1x10. technically you can do it but it takes ditching the crankset and getting a whole new cassette derailleur and shifter. If you can get parts getting an ixf crankset which comes with bottom bracket chainring then get one of the microshift advent X 10 speed drive train. its fairly inexpensive.