'Lo
I've recently bought myself a '04 Giant XTC3 (Sorry modem'ers, the image is ~250kbytes), its not too bad a bike for me thus far (I'm new to offroad/XC stuff), and it performs admirably on the road.
At this stage, I havent switched to clipless since I havent found a set of shoes I want, but thats not the point for this post.
In its stock form, the XTC3 comes with (Official Specs):
rear derailleur - Shimano LX 9 speed
front derailleur - Shimano Deore
crankset - Shimano M440 22x32x44T splined
derailleur shifters - Shimano Deore 27 speed
cassette - SRAM 9 speed 11-34T
fork - Manitou Axel Comp w/FFD Damping 80mm travel
Now, I've been riding it and I've found that the minute I put any real load on the crank/chain etc, I can hear a clicking sound. Kinda like the chain is about to slip off, and its not an especially reassuring sound. I dunno what to do to it (I'll be talking to the bikeshop about it, seeing how they have by far the best service I've seen yet) to reduce that sound, but its a pain on the road since I'm afraid to push too hard in the few gears it does it in (basically the middle 3 on the cassette).
Now me being in IT, I like my gadgets...quite a bit. So much so, that I try to always update my gadgets where possible...and this bike is no exception. I'm sorely tempted to go off and buy an Deore XT groupset to fang onto the bike...but finances dont permit for that, yet.
What benefit would I get from sticking on Deore XT derailleurs onto this thing? Or should I just equip with LX gear instead? Is it worthwhile bothering to do individual parts, or is it better to save, then buy the entire set and fit it all at the same time?
Lastly, I'm 6ft 5 (and 115kg) and that fork compresses far too much for my comfort, whats the best way to increase stiffness (Beyond what it offers)? Or is it worthwhile for me to go buy something that would better suit my weight?
Your help is appreciated!