I tried mtb riding over 10 years ago with an Astric Huckster 2nd hand my buddy got me to pay back an IOU. I rode maybe 12 times maybe 100 miles over 2 years before giving up. The bike was a beast to ride and I never felt the effort was worth the little enjoyment I got out of it and gave up.
Well just before covid I got a Giant Revolt 2 gravel bike and again put maybe 20 rides on it and just under 300 miles. It was a mix of XC trails and road, I just got too beat up by the rough trails near me to really enjoy it and never got into the road riding.
Well last year I got a good tax refund and saw the Specialized Stumpjumper Alloy on sale and decided I needed to get back in shape and that it would be fun.
Jan 30, 2023 I did my first ride and wow! It was so much more comfortable than the gravel bike despite being slower I was having so much fun! I couldn’t wait to get out and ride more and more. My long rides of 6-8 miles started to not feel long and kept riding longer and farther every week. The Sram SX drivetrain was fine the first few rides but after a while it just didn’t feel crisp and sharp. So I upgraded to the GX shifter and derailer, this made a big improvement.
A few months in I was having a blast but between the desire to N+1 and get the wife riding I grabbed a Specialized fuse comp 29 that was on sale. Now the Fuse HT had an NX drivetrain that performed absolutely flawlessly! I found smother sections I beat the SJ and rougher sections felt beat up and slower. Most of my trails I averaged the same lap times between the bikes, but XC trails the Fuse was awesome!
Now I ran across a 60% off sale on a Fox Factory 36 fork that I threw on the SJ and it was incredible! Hands down a night and day difference. It was like a whole different bike! Rough sections felt smoother and drops felt so smooth compared to the stock fork! It was shortly after this I cased a jump over a cement drainage ditch and could no longer run tubeless in the rear. Knowing the benefits of carbon rims and having some early birthday money and Christmas money I ran into my LBS and explained I was trying to find a rimset quick because I had an out of town biking trip planned with the wife for my birthday. They hooked me up from a bike they were parting out because they couldn’t sell it. They got me DT Swiss EXC 1501 + 240 hubs with 54t engagement out the door at MSRP with tax included. They also set up tubeless magic Mary, Hans Fampf, included the XO1 drivetrain with carbon cranks, raceface next carbon bars, raceface turbine stem, Sram Code RSC brakes F/R + 200mm rotors, and new niner lock on grips and 175mm rockshock dropper. With all those upgrades I noticed how quiet the bike was the x01 derailer and carbon rims are so much quieter, on downhill trails it was bliss. The weekend my wife and I did trails in the forest east of Flagstaff Az USA, and the wife for the first time realized why I liked to MTB.
Sadly on the way home the Fuse fell off the back of the Jeep and despite highway patrol moving it off the roadway and giving us the location it was gone before we could backtrack to it, never to be seen again.
Knowing the bike only had the stock shock left I grabbed a Fox Factory float X shock during the black Friday sale, and traded my rockshock reverb for a fox transfer to get the kashima bling. The shock definitely improved small bumps and the bike feals great. But even running the max volume spacer and 20% sag I still bottom the bike out a lot. With 15% sag it handles most of my trails well.
My base model SJ now was only a frame away from being S Works. But really the biggest and most valuable upgrade was the fork, everything else was nice but not as big of a deal.
As the year grew to a close I did one final ride on South mountain in Phx Az USA, I went up javelina to national and up national to the top and came down national. I felt beat and despite riding a lot and feeling like I improved I left the trail wondering if i improved that year. It wasn’t until I looked at Strava that I saw how much faster I rode even the steep climbs and downhills that I realized how much I had improved. On climbs skill and conditioning doesn’t equal easier, as a lot of new riders wonder it doesn’t get easier you just go faster.
Now most of my rides I did solo but I did find a few riding friends. I definitely enjoy solo rides but sometimes having someone close to your skill level makes the rides better. I have ridden as the weaker rider feeling like I’m holding someone back a little and as the better rider waiting on people. As long as I was close to them I still enjoyed being ahead or behind someone. The only time I didn’t enjoy the group ride was when I started to be way faster than the other riders. I rode with one couple who at the beginning of the year I was faster than husband but slower than wife. Towards the end of the year I would spend as much time waiting as I did riding. And my wife never did get the MTB bug like I did and will occasionally want to ride by herself but I’ve given up trying to ride with her.
So as my first year drew to a close 900 miles on the SJ 100 miles on the Fuse and another 200 on my Revolt. I loved almost every mile and can’t wait to ride more this year. My thoughts on upgrading is do it if you want and can but not because you feel like you won’t enjoy it without the upgrades, the stock bike was still a blast. And if you ride rougher areas don’t feel like you have to start on a HT if you can get a decent FS go for it.
Although as I write this my ankle is in a boot from a not so graceful bail I had on a climb on my last ride, only 5 more weeks to get back in the bike…
by AFewShellsShort
1 Comment
Great writeup. Thanks!