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How should I upgrade my hard-tail mountain bike?
I have a Giant XTC-850 Disc and would like to burn a little money on it. The chain got kind of rusted, so was thinking about replacing that of course. Other than that, the other parts work pretty well. I ride mostly on concrete trails with some light off-road riding. I’d like it to go faster on straight concrete runs. Any suggestions? Crank shaft assembly change make any difference? Thanks to all!
Replacing the chain may or may not be helpful. Exterior rust on a chain is not a big problem. Just cleaning the chain and applying lube will usually take care of superficial rust.
A chain actually wears from the inside. As long as the internal surfaces have not rusted and worn, you are OK. Chains needs to be replaced before they have worn. If the chain is old and worn, your cassette and chainriings will be worn, as well. Putting a new chain on a bike with worn chainrings and cassette will cause lots of shifting problems.
Your bikeshop can measure the chain to see if it is worn. If it has, your best expenditure will be to replace the chain, chainrngs and cassette. Be forewarned, this is an expensive operation.
Unless you need to replace your chainrings, and you can get a deal on a complete crankset, I’d recommend you forget about a new crankset. A crankset is an expensive component and will do nearly nothing to improve your performance.
The best investments in improved performance come from reducing the rotational mass of your bike. To go faster, your single best exenditure will be lightweight tires. To go the fastest on concrete, you may want to consider slicks. Slicks will both reduce weight, and rolling resistance on pavement. Unfortunately cornering performance of slicks on dirt is not good. Thus, depending on how fast you want to go when off-road, you may want to compromise with a semi-slick design with knobs toward the sides of the tread for cornering on dirt.
Hope this helps.
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