Dug my old MTB from the garage - Upgrades possible?

"Benje" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

Ok I dug my old Raleigh Mtrax 1000 out of the garage yesterday. It still
works after being in there for about 4 years. However riding it brought
back
some thoughts from when I originally rode it.

It's 21 speed, however it uses the Gripshift system which I was not a fan
of
(Always thought it was [censored]) Could I move to normal shifters (i.e. thumb
shifters) It uses Shimano Alivio components. If I can could anyone point
me
to some decent ones? Looked on the likes of ebay and there all 9 gears etc
etc and I'm somewhat confused by the selection, i.e. deore XT etc, what
would be a good upgrade? Secondly, is it worth changing the derailluers?
Cant get the cureent ones to work properly (Almost certainly a set up
problem), but if I'm going to upgrade the shifters maybe worth changing
the
mechanisms as well.

Finally, anyone recommend a decent saddle, the one on it is rock hard and
I
swear it's damaged me.

Deore and above Thumbshifters are now sought after and getting expensive. To
the point that people make adaptors to fit bar end shifters to flat bars.
Boggo SIS thumbshifters cost naff all, and will work with alivio mechs.

in message <[email hidden]>, Benje

(') said:

Ok I dug my old Raleigh Mtrax 1000 out of the garage yesterday. It
still works after being in there for about 4 years. However riding it
brought back some thoughts from when I originally rode it.

It's 21 speed, however it uses the Gripshift system which I was not a
fan of (Always thought it was [censored])

At the world cup at the weekend virtually all the top teams were using
gripshifts. Mind you, none of them were using Shimano gripshifts.

Quoted message said:

Could I move to normal shifters
(i.e. thumb shifters) It uses Shimano Alivio components.

Yes. Any Shimano 7 speed trigger shifters will do.

Quoted message said:

If I can could
anyone point me to some decent ones? Looked on the likes of ebay and
there all 9 gears etc etc and I'm somewhat confused by the selection,
i.e. deore XT etc, what would be a good upgrade?

The Shimano MTB range is, in ascending order of quality

Alivio
Deore
XT
XTR

There's also Deore LX and I can never remember whether that's better or
worse than standard Deore.

Quoted message said:

Secondly, is it worth
changing the derailluers?

Once you get into this you get into the question of what the bike is
worth and how much you're prepared to spend upgrading it. I don't know
how old your bike is. Twenty years ago Raleigh still made good bikes,
but the state of the mountain bike art has moved on immeasurably in
twenty years and I would not have thought any twenty year old mountain
bike was worth spending a lot of money on except as a retro statement.
Any Raleigh less than about fifteen years old is definitely not worth
spending money on.

Yes, new, reasonable quality derailleurs will shift better. But they'll
also cost more than the bike is worth. Before you do that go and look at
a Claud Butler Cape Wrath, or an Edinburgh Bicycles Cuillin Sport.

Quoted message said:

Finally, anyone recommend a decent saddle, the one on it is rock hard
and I swear it's damaged me.

Your saddle may not fit you, but it isn't hard saddles that damage
people, it's soft ones. Get a hard saddle that fits.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

[ This mind intentionally left blank ]

Doki said:

Boggo SIS thumbshifters cost naff all, and will work with alivio mechs.

Can you tell me who makes and sells standard SIS shifters? I have XT
Thumbies which have lasted 16 years and it brings me out in cold sweats
when I think they may break one day and I will have to adapt to grip shifts.

Also what gearing do MTB'ers have these days? My lowest gear is 24x28
but some tracks I know people have ridden up are too steep with that
gearing? Do they have some secret gearing weapon?

"davidof" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Doki said:

Boggo SIS thumbshifters cost naff all, and will work with alivio mechs.

Can you tell me who makes and sells standard SIS shifters? I have XT
Thumbies which have lasted 16 years and it brings me out in cold sweats
when I think they may break one day and I will have to adapt to grip
shifts.

Various people make brackets to let you fit modern bar end shifters to MTB
bars, so that they emulate thumbies. However, a set tends to cost about £60.
SIS thumbshifters surely still come on cheap kid's bikes?

Quoted message said:

Also what gearing do MTB'ers have these days? My lowest gear is 24x28 but
some tracks I know people have ridden up are too steep with that gearing?
Do they have some secret gearing weapon?

I think my lowest gear is 22x32 (presuming the first number is the chainring
end). You can get 34 tooth cassettes. Highest is 42x11. And there are plenty
of people on singletrackworld who seem to think taking your big ring is a
good idea (lunatics? people who never ride downhill on road? people who
never pedal downhill? people with roadrunner type legs?).

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Benje

(') said:

Ok I dug my old Raleigh Mtrax 1000 out of the garage yesterday. It
still works after being in there for about 4 years. However riding it
brought back some thoughts from when I originally rode it.

It's 21 speed, however it uses the Gripshift system which I was not a
fan of (Always thought it was [censored])

At the world cup at the weekend virtually all the top teams were using
gripshifts. Mind you, none of them were using Shimano gripshifts.

The one Steve Peat won? The one down a ruddy gert hill? Doesn't really bear
much relation to someone on an old Raleigh if you ask me...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Could I move to normal shifters
(i.e. thumb shifters) It uses Shimano Alivio components.

Yes. Any Shimano 7 speed trigger shifters will do.

Quoted message said:

If I can could
anyone point me to some decent ones? Looked on the likes of ebay and
there all 9 gears etc etc and I'm somewhat confused by the selection,
i.e. deore XT etc, what would be a good upgrade?

The Shimano MTB range is, in ascending order of quality

Alivio
Deore
XT
XTR

There's also Deore LX and I can never remember whether that's better or
worse than standard Deore.

LX is better than Deore.

in message <[email hidden]>, Doki

(') said:

"davidof" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Also what gearing do MTB'ers have these days? My lowest gear is 24x28
but some tracks I know people have ridden up are too steep with that
gearing? Do they have some secret gearing weapon?

I think my lowest gear is 22x32 (presuming the first number is the
chainring end). You can get 34 tooth cassettes.

22x34 is common on mountain bikes.

Quoted message said:

Highest is 42x11. And
there are plenty of people on singletrackworld who seem to think taking
your big ring is a good idea (lunatics? people who never ride downhill
on road? people who never pedal downhill? people with roadrunner type
legs?).

The serious XC boys in our club run doubles, not triples, but it isn't
the big ring that goes, it's the granny ring. They can also spin quite
unbelievably.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

I shall continue to be an impossible person so long as those
who are now possible remain possible -- Michael Bakunin

in message <[email hidden]>, Doki

(') said:

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>,

Benje (') said:

Ok I dug my old Raleigh Mtrax 1000 out of the garage yesterday. It
still works after being in there for about 4 years. However riding it
brought back some thoughts from when I originally rode it.

It's 21 speed, however it uses the Gripshift system which I was not a
fan of (Always thought it was [censored])

At the world cup at the weekend virtually all the top teams were using
gripshifts. Mind you, none of them were using Shimano gripshifts.

The one Steve Peat won? The one down a ruddy gert hill? Doesn't really
bear much relation to someone on an old Raleigh if you ask me...

I was meaning the XC; the downhillers were many of them using trigger
shifters. I didn't pay so much attention to the downhillers' bikes,
since they aren't any good for riding up to the top of a hill, so unless
you have a ski-lift they're sort of useless.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; 99% of browsers can't run ActiveX controls. Unfortunately
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[seen on /. 08:04:02]

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Doki

(') said:

"davidof" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Also what gearing do MTB'ers have these days? My lowest gear is 24x28
but some tracks I know people have ridden up are too steep with that
gearing? Do they have some secret gearing weapon?

I think my lowest gear is 22x32 (presuming the first number is the
chainring end). You can get 34 tooth cassettes.

22x34 is common on mountain bikes.

Quoted message said:

Highest is 42x11. And
there are plenty of people on singletrackworld who seem to think taking
your big ring is a good idea (lunatics? people who never ride downhill
on road? people who never pedal downhill? people with roadrunner type
legs?).

The serious XC boys in our club run doubles, not triples, but it isn't
the big ring that goes, it's the granny ring. They can also spin quite
unbelievably.

Yeah, but how do they survive without 9 inches of buttery smooth plush
travel at either end of the bike? Oh, hang on, I've just turned into a
journalist 😉.