Ranking the most critical component
11-08-18, 10:59 PM
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Most critical component
I am planning to redesign my mountain bike. Below are the shortlisted components. Please rank it for me based on which component do you think is most critical for your riding performance and experience. Thank you.
- Wheel(rim,hub,spoke)
- Seat(saddle,seat post,seat rail,seat clamp)
- Rear Shock Absorber / Suspension(base,nut,spring,top rod)
Last edited by Tiffany21; 11-08-18 at 11:01 PM. Reason: Change title
11-09-18, 08:14 AM
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Bike parts are a lot more expensive piecemeal than as an assembled bike. Thorough upgrades are rarely economical if you have to buy the parts at full price.
The same goes for wheels. With few exceptions, treating wheels as single items tends to be far more economical than faffing about with replacing a hub, rim or spokes.
And "most critical" is really a too vague description. They ALL have to work for the wheel to work. Front hubs rarely give any troubles. MTBs generally have a fair number of spokes, so can usually deal well with losing one or two. But should the rim utterly fail, then that's it.
So rim would be "most critical" based on both severity and likelihood of failure.
Hub would be equally important, but far less likely to suffer a failure.
Rear wheels are more prone to both spoke failures and can also suffer freehub failures.
I'd probably go with spokes as most critical based on failure rate.
The saddle rails are integral parts of the saddle, and can't be purchased as separate pieces. A saddle is what it is. For some types of MTB, most of the "important" riding is done out of saddle. It's mainy roadies who might talk about the damping effects of CF or Ti rails.
For better seat posts, seat clamps are part of the post and can't be purchased separately. Separate clamps only go together with the more basic seat posts - which IMO shouldn't be used for MTBing due to the possibility of getting skewered somewhere real inconvenient at a hard landing.
I prefer posts with "micro-adjust" or any other two-bolt arrangement after having snapped a single bolt clamp once.
Since I ride a hardtail, I use a suspension seat post to reduce sorenessduring long XC rides.
I really don't understand why you list parts of a rear shock. Can't see how that would be of interest outside having to repair that exact shock. A big majority of riders would be entirely content simply to treat the shock as one unit. If you wish to replace, get one with the same length/travel and eyelet arrangement.
Prioritizing between these three is difficult. It hinges on how bad "bad" is. I think I'd have to go with saddle as least important. Rear shock is probably most important for the ride experience, with wheels in the middle.
The same goes for wheels. With few exceptions, treating wheels as single items tends to be far more economical than faffing about with replacing a hub, rim or spokes.
And "most critical" is really a too vague description. They ALL have to work for the wheel to work. Front hubs rarely give any troubles. MTBs generally have a fair number of spokes, so can usually deal well with losing one or two. But should the rim utterly fail, then that's it.
So rim would be "most critical" based on both severity and likelihood of failure.
Hub would be equally important, but far less likely to suffer a failure.
Rear wheels are more prone to both spoke failures and can also suffer freehub failures.
I'd probably go with spokes as most critical based on failure rate.
The saddle rails are integral parts of the saddle, and can't be purchased as separate pieces. A saddle is what it is. For some types of MTB, most of the "important" riding is done out of saddle. It's mainy roadies who might talk about the damping effects of CF or Ti rails.
For better seat posts, seat clamps are part of the post and can't be purchased separately. Separate clamps only go together with the more basic seat posts - which IMO shouldn't be used for MTBing due to the possibility of getting skewered somewhere real inconvenient at a hard landing.
I prefer posts with "micro-adjust" or any other two-bolt arrangement after having snapped a single bolt clamp once.
Since I ride a hardtail, I use a suspension seat post to reduce sorenessduring long XC rides.
I really don't understand why you list parts of a rear shock. Can't see how that would be of interest outside having to repair that exact shock. A big majority of riders would be entirely content simply to treat the shock as one unit. If you wish to replace, get one with the same length/travel and eyelet arrangement.
Prioritizing between these three is difficult. It hinges on how bad "bad" is. I think I'd have to go with saddle as least important. Rear shock is probably most important for the ride experience, with wheels in the middle.
11-09-18, 04:38 PM
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The BRAKES. Everything else is merely nice to have
11-10-18, 08:33 AM
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I am planning to redesign my mountain bike. Below are the shortlisted components. Please rank it for me based on which component do you think is most critical for your riding performance and experience. Thank you.
- Wheel(rim,hub,spoke)
- Seat(saddle,seat post,seat rail,seat clamp)
- Rear Shock Absorber / Suspension(base,nut,spring,top rod)
Also why are you breaking these down into subcategories? Are you really considering replacing just the rails on your saddle? How would you even do that? And the seat clamp is part of the seatpost, not the saddle.
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