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Just looking at a scandal/vandal to replace a very old 26in Cotic. Looking at the spec there is an option to upgrade the fork from the RockShox 35 Gold RL DebonAir 29" BOOST Fork to the RockShox Pike Select 29" BOOST Fork - 130mm / 15 x 110mm / Gloss Black & Crown Adjust for an additional £115. Is this worth it? Any other components letter it down? Any other recommendations?
Just wanting a bike for short 2 hours ride form home and then day rides in the Yorkshire Dales. I am not the best rider so something easy to ride and easy to maintain. Happy to look at other options.
I had this bike with that spec and the RS Gold fork. I was perfectly fine for the sorts of mild XC you could find in South Manchester that I was using the bike for, and if I was living somewhere like the Chilterns or North Downs, I'd have no issues with it. The Gold is a bit porky in of itself, but no really notable effect on the overall bike. If I lived somewhere a bit chunkier, Wales, Pennines, that sort of thing; I'd be looking to change it for something more capable.
upgrade the fork from the RockShox 35 Gold RL DebonAir 29″ BOOST Fork to the RockShox Pike Select 29″ BOOST Fork – 130mm / 15 x 110mm / Gloss Black & Crown Adjust for an additional £115.
That sounds like an absolute bargain!
I've done 500 commuting miles on a Vandal with gx.
It came ( second hand to me) with a rigid fork.
So no actual help on the fork. I'd upgrade the fork, because that doesn't seem a huge cost.
The gears and brakes have been absolutely fine. I didn't like the saddle at all. The previous owner had cut the bars down loads which I found uncomfortable, so I went for a Jones bar copy.
I wanted to change from a 32 to 36 chainring. Its £100 for a gx chainring! It was cheaper to buy an second hand shimano chainset, new chain ring and BB than buy the gx chain ring. I can't remember if it's just the 36t that was so expensive.
Yes, the Pike Select is actually (with a service and some better seals) a very decent fork.
Yea id upgrade the fork for £150. The 35 is good, but not great. I've got mine with 35s and they're fine over 99% of trails, they just struggle if you smack them into big sharp hits, and they pack down over rock gardens.
The other thing is the rear hub/cassette. It's a HG freehub, and NX cassette. Not much you can do immediately, but perhapse worth budgeting for a new wheel(set) arround the time the cassette wears out.
My brake lever pistons swelled up (usual SRAM problem, £6 Chinese metal pistons and some ground down needle nosed circlip pliars to fix it.