my $.02
Nice bike, I used to own the same one. Heres my advice.
Don't touch the fork. The super fatty ultra DL is a great fork, plus using a converter to run a 1-1/8 steerer tube fork (rockshox, manitou, etc) would be a pain - expensive and not worth it. Plus that's a sub 3 lb fork.
You wont find much performance gain running nicer derailleurs. Those work great. I would look at a nicer wheelset or crank. I'm not a big fan of the deore shifter, I put LX on mine.
The 117/deore disc wheelset is pretty portly. going up to nicer hoops will save a ton of weight and not to mention amazing acceleration/handling on that bike. I would put a new XT crankset on there to save some weight and it will be very stiff. Those are probably the two areas where you will notice the biggest gains. Lastly I would look into a thompson post and a SLR or gobi Ti saddle. Hope this helps! :thumbsup:
Nice bike, I used to own the same one. Heres my advice.
Don't touch the fork. The super fatty ultra DL is a great fork, plus using a converter to run a 1-1/8 steerer tube fork (rockshox, manitou, etc) would be a pain - expensive and not worth it. Plus that's a sub 3 lb fork.
You wont find much performance gain running nicer derailleurs. Those work great. I would look at a nicer wheelset or crank. I'm not a big fan of the deore shifter, I put LX on mine.
The 117/deore disc wheelset is pretty portly. going up to nicer hoops will save a ton of weight and not to mention amazing acceleration/handling on that bike. I would put a new XT crankset on there to save some weight and it will be very stiff. Those are probably the two areas where you will notice the biggest gains. Lastly I would look into a thompson post and a SLR or gobi Ti saddle. Hope this helps! :thumbsup:
