Alright, I'm gonna make good use of this subforum, since I am completely out of touch with today's offerings!

Here's my current bike, that I've had since ... errr ... since 1998, I think? So it's at least 14 years old. Yikes. I have never done anything to it other than very basic maintenance, and yet it keeps on working great.



I'm moving, and my new commute is a gorgeous 15min bike ride. Get out the front door, ride along a canal, get to the Old Montreal port, little side street, office. Bam. Beats the horrendous metro every time. Also, explains the road-ish tires. The knobbies were just ridiculous.

So here I am thinking I should be nice to the bike and do plenty of maintenance since I'm going to ride 10km daily. And I could do some upgrades while I'm at it.

And this is where it gets tricky with such old components, also doesn't help that I bought it as is and don't know all the details.
I'd like to get new brake pads ... I know they're Hope, hydraulic, measure 25mmx35mm, have 2 attachment holes on top 20mm apart. Hope C2 seems to be it, but I'm not sure.
Internet photo of what they look like, can't find dimensions for certainty.


The forks are tricky. They're Judy DH, which makes them non-rebuildable as far as I've seen?
If I'm to replace them (for air!), I don't want to *uck up the geometry, but can't seem to find fork length listed anywhere. They are ~460mm from wheel to top of clamp.
Non threaded 1-1/8 (or 1", not sure, will have to double check) stem.
My issue then comes from the brake compatibility ... right now it's an old school ghetto setup (works well though!).
Not sure how I can ensure the new forks will play with my old caliper ... do all sorts of adapters exist?

My fear is that by changing forks, compatibility would make me change rotor, hub, caliper, m/c and goddam everything. I'd rather not.

Shock otoh seems quite straightforward, 165mm length. I'll probably replace it with an air shock with lockout if I can?

The reason I'm thinking air forks and shock is mostly comfort, and I love how air springs feel. Keep in mind this poor bike is now relegated to commuting duties, with the odd weekend out on the trails.

So? Ride it til the wheels fall off, or upgrade?

 

Without a doubt, upgrade to a new bike

 

No no, the bike as a whole is staying. The conundrum is between ride til the wheels fall off, or maintain/upgrade bits here and there.

 

i thought you moved to france

 

Nope! As it turned out, Montreal>France for everything but holidays!

 

The hipster in me (normally tucked into the deepest, darkest corners of my inner psyche) loves that bike. Definitely upgrade parts if you can or just keep it as is, maintain it, and ride the shit out of it.

 

Excellent

And good to see you out on the bike path...im starting back up my daily Dorval to old port and back routine SOON...might see ya out there!

 

If it were up to me (and there were no choice of picking up another bike to ride instead) I'd just ride it till it dies. You'd buy 1 part, and then realize you need another, and another, and another, and before you know it you'd have a 14 year old frame with nice components when you probably could have picked up a 2 year old commuter set up from Craigslist.

Now, if you do ride it til it dies, save up and have a few hundred bucks available to pick up a single speed / fixed gear, throw on some 28c tires, and some racks and you'd be set.

 

From Dorval? Now that's a workout and a half!

My commute is 15mins tops door to door. Out the front door on the Canal @ Charlevoix, and up Rue du Port for a minute. I usually GTFO work around 5:30, we should go grab beers at some point!


That's exactly my fear! So far it's going well, so there's nothing wrong in riding it until I make up my mind.
If I'm commuting mostly, I'll probably go hard tail.

 

Its a SERIOUS good workout bout hour 15 to 45 depending on traffic from other bikers and speed i go at and wind so on so forth...

Been meaning to cop a pinte or more at the St-Ambroise terrase along the path...you know what im takin about right?