I bought my first mountain bike (Felt Nine 80) last fall and have enjoyed the sport much more than I thought I would. I went with a low end 29er for a couple of reasons; 1) I did not know how much I would enjoy ridding or if I would stick with it. 2) I had to buy three other bikes around the same time for my wife and two boys.
Now that I see it is something the whole family enjoys and I know a bit more about bikes, I knew nothing when I started and only know a little more than that now, there are a few things I would like to improve on my ride.
First, the wheels. If I have a hard impact, I can hear the spokes "ringing" and my rear wheel is slightly bent. I am going to take it to the bike shop and see if this can be repaired. But assuming the wheels were properly assembled, I have no doubt this will happen again. I'm around 200 lbs and not taking this bike off of jumps over maybe a foot high. Should this happen? Do I need better wheels or will a properly tensioned set work for me? If I do upgrade I want to go tubeless. I figure $500 minimum to upgrade the wheelset.
The second area I would like to upgrade is the fork. I can get a Raidon LO R Air for $175 though their upgrade program. Is this a significant upgrade? Can I get a better fork for near the same or a little more money?
So fork and wheels would cost around $675. That's more than I paid for the bike. Would I be better off getting another bike instead? The Airborne Goblin looks very good to me, but I don't know how I could demo one. If I upgrade wheels on my bike, would a $500 wheelset be better than what comes on the Goblin or similarly priced bike?
Felt Nine 80
Airborne Goblin
Sorry for the long post. I'm still learning and trying to get ready for spring. Thanks.
Now that I see it is something the whole family enjoys and I know a bit more about bikes, I knew nothing when I started and only know a little more than that now, there are a few things I would like to improve on my ride.
First, the wheels. If I have a hard impact, I can hear the spokes "ringing" and my rear wheel is slightly bent. I am going to take it to the bike shop and see if this can be repaired. But assuming the wheels were properly assembled, I have no doubt this will happen again. I'm around 200 lbs and not taking this bike off of jumps over maybe a foot high. Should this happen? Do I need better wheels or will a properly tensioned set work for me? If I do upgrade I want to go tubeless. I figure $500 minimum to upgrade the wheelset.
The second area I would like to upgrade is the fork. I can get a Raidon LO R Air for $175 though their upgrade program. Is this a significant upgrade? Can I get a better fork for near the same or a little more money?
So fork and wheels would cost around $675. That's more than I paid for the bike. Would I be better off getting another bike instead? The Airborne Goblin looks very good to me, but I don't know how I could demo one. If I upgrade wheels on my bike, would a $500 wheelset be better than what comes on the Goblin or similarly priced bike?
Felt Nine 80
Airborne Goblin
Sorry for the long post. I'm still learning and trying to get ready for spring. Thanks.