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Having had a fleet reduction x 4 I managed to acquire a 456C HT. The £240 seems OK, but its firmly sat in 2009 with 3 x 9 gearing, 26" wheels etc.
I have a set of ctossmax wheels so they will be instantly better than the non UST wheels.
Now the big question
Is it worthy of a 1 x 10 upgrade on the cheap?
I reckon mech, cassette, chain, shifter, cable, plus a wide narrow 104bcd 32t,
Thinking 11-40 on the back
By shopping carefully on ebay I think I van get in around?£ 140 to £150 all in making £390
But it will still be 26 in wheels
Or do I sell it on and put the money toward a 29er carbon HT.
Bike would most likely be used for hour ish blasts or maybe 1 or 2 xc events and honc
Is this your only bike?
How much money do you/will you have to spend on something else?
I'm on 26 wheels on both my MTBs. They're not bad bikes by any means. I put them together cheaply and have fun on them. But they lag behind more modern bikes. I can't afford a new or nearly new bike with bigger wheels and more modern geometry, so they'll (have to) do for now.
I think the market has dropped right off for 26ers now. I'm trying to sell one of mine (Inbred SS), no interest whatsoever. I could drop the price by 50% and it might sell, but it's probably worth more to me to keep (future retro classic?) than the £120 I might eventually get for it.
So, if you're not in a position to put money towards something else for a while, then a bit of careful upgrading will make it nicer to ride for the time being. But if you're already planning, and within reach, of your next bike, I wouldn't bother ...
Run 3x9 until it's worn out (a year or two) then going 1x is a nice saving instead of an outlay.
But yeah, depends on you, your other bike(s), would have thought that's a great bike for short hour blasts and the odd XC race or event.
Id say it’s worth doing.
But probably not worth spending a lot.
Wheels gears forks etc will be no problem I’d say, but getting good quality tyres is likely to be problematic at some point in the future.
Cheap tyres, no problem at all.
Have you checked whether 1X10 is actually suitable for the terrain you ride?
While fine for most places, it might not be that good if you live somewhere really steep for example.
I still ride my C456 a lot, upgraded to 1x10 a few years back but I'm starting to feel that if it needed new wheels or a fork I'd probably look for a discounted 29er. I needed some new tyres this year and selection wasn't great, especially if not wanting to pay full rrp.
Great bikes - I updated mine last year with new Pikes & gearing.
Be careful with chainring size/clearance - I tried to go 2x10 on mine but a 28t inner ring fouled the chainstay so I ended up 1x10 with 32t in the middle position on a 3x10 chainset but the gearing isn't ideal with 11-40 cassette lacking both at the bottom & top so I'm going to change to 11speed + XD driver with a 10-42 cassette.
Run a rocky mountain element fs 29er carbon as a main bike
That's 1x 10 with 32 x 11-42 and its fine, completed the sdw on it with very little pushing
The frame and fork are good, the wheels I have sitting in the garage already
Just wanting something simple and easy light, nimble, quick on the ups
Probably will start getting some bits together, and build it over a few weeks
I reckon it's worth doing.
I ride 26 on my Dialled, it still rips.
Tyres are much cheaper for 26 and can even be bought second hand for peanuts.
I use Pinkbike regularly for bits.
Why bother with 1 x 10? You can still have the range with 1 x 9. I use Sunrace cassettes with the added bonus of the chain being stronger.
I ride my 456C a lot. I started with the frame, put some 2nd hand manitou forks on it, changed to 1 x 10 and used parts from my old zesty and have been very happy with it. I definitely don’t look at 26” wheels as a draw back as I can’t tell the difference between these wheels and the 650b wheels on my other bike.
Edit: the guy who had it before me ran it with 650b wheels on it. There is a lot clearance within the frame for mud, or bigger wheels.
Love my Carbon 456 Evo
1x11
650b without problems