a rear cassette is about $40 for a decent one. If you want light weight... its like 4x the price. Front isnt hard to convert. Probably drop a couple lbs while youre at it when you remove the derailleur, cable, shifter. Maybe $50-85 tops
You can do it super cheap if you want. Get a new 34 tooth chainring for the middle of your existing crank and take the other two chainrings off along with the front derailleur and shifter. Sorted. That way you can try it out and see what you think. Without knowing what your existing chainrings are, your cassette setup or wheel size, I guess I should just make a general suggestion on that chainring for 1x.
I currently have a full suspension cross country bike I use for trails. I’ve been thinking of getting a second bike with less aggressive tires and such for riding around the city and maybe some dirt jumping a couple times a year. Is it crazy to consider an entry level hard tail for this. I found a trek marlin 6 locally for $200 I thought about picking it up as a beater for that kind of riding. Am I crazy?
N0, a decent hardtail would be just fine for that use. I ride my hardtail on trails where a FS bike would really make sense as well as on gravel and doubletrack/fire roads.
I have a Gary Fisher Rig as my bike to go cruise around, run errands but could also hit a trail if needed, I swap between a set of rims with road tires and a set of Mavic Crossmax with 2.2 Mtb tires. It's a single speed 29er with cable brakes, super low maintenance and the geometry is just spot on perfect. And the anodized color is sweeeet.
I have way too many bikes right now, between mine and my kids stuff I'm at 18 total. All are really good BMX, road and MTB.
there's an old limestone quarry cavern in Louisville that they built a mountain bike park inside of. It's great because it's always the same temperature and dry, so you can ride year round. That's the only DJ place I plan to ride. I do know that when I take my full suspension bike there it seems like I can't get the distance off of the face of jumps that other people there will rigid tail bikes can. I guess I'm curious as to how well a hard tail bike would hold up to that stuff. The bike I'm considering is a 2016 Trek Marlin 6 listed for $200. Here's the specs: https://archive.trekbikes.com/us/en/2016/Trek/marlin_6#/us/en/2016/Trek/marlin_6/details I bought new tires for my XC bike this year that are pretty soft knobbies. They were quite expensive, which has made me hesitant to want to ride it around town and wear them out. That's really what started this idea of a second bike.
I rode one of these about a month ago... https://www.planetbmx.com/shop/se-racing-2018-big-flyer-29-bike-red.html Im 6'2" with long legs and didnt feel "cramped" on the bike. Was seriously considering getting one cause the weekly rides the local guys have is the closest thing to "urban" assault we have. Wheelies were a cinch... rolling down a flight of stairs or off a loading dock was pretty easy as well. I was suprised how easy it was to build momentum...lol. Alot quicker than I had confidence to clear stuff... The local guys like to terrorize the skate parks and I can see having fun doing that! Most of the guys are 40 and 50 yr old kids.
I’m looking to pick up a bike for gravel / pavement riding. Most of the riding will probably have a baby seat on the back as well. I might hit a trail or 2, but that will be pretty rare. I’m looking to keep it under 1000. Any suggestions?
If you want a gravel/cyclocross bike the Trek Ion series are decent bang for the buck. If you're looking for more of a mountain bike style check out some hard tails like the Specialized Stumpjumper series.
Yea but I’d even say why a Mtb if it’s mostly pavement? All that rolling resistants and humming tires, ugh. I don’t have a good recommendation because I’m not about that life though. In an effort to shift gears here, has anyone gone riding in Sedona? I’ve gotten more into mtbing the last couple years. Made a trip to bentonville ar and had a blast a few months ago. Got a friend living in flagstaff right now so I could crash as his place. Kicking the idea around as my post grad get away.
@cBJr I don't think I'd be looking at a Marlin if there was any jumping involved. The bike will do it but won't be all that happy about it. Certainly wouldn't last long. When you say ride around the city do you mean commuting or just cutting up having fun BMX style?
Sorry-You're right. My Stumpjumper is a 29er hardtail, It looks like they changed all the names in the last few yew years.
Yeah I’ve all but given up on a second bike for now. I’m planning to race more this year and am dedicating all of my financial resources to that. The stuff I wanted to do was full out dirt jumping. I’m a pansy so I don’t hit the really big stuff but either way I’m sure it’s hard on a bike not made for it. I know my full suspension bike says it’s not made for it.
