What should you upgrade on your mountain bike?

Some things are worth the money. Some things very much are not. Here’s where you should splash your cash for maximum reward.

Every bike is different and so not every one of our suggested upgrades will be applicable to you bike. But there are still some common themes that we encounter (on the dozens of test bikes we get through every year) when it comes to swapping out components for something more suitable.

Even if you’re just starting out on mountain bikes (maybe inspired by our evergreen How much to start mountain biking? feature from a while back) or you’re more experienced and looking at higher end MTBs, there will be relevant advice for you below.

Bossnut boosting

This article was partly inspired by our 2024 MTB Of The Year. If you read our Calibre Bossnut review you may remember that we mentioned that although great out-of-the-box, the Bossnut was ripe for some choice upgrades.

Below you will find what we recommend prioritising (in order of er, priority) when it comes to replacing components…

Brakes

Brakes are absolutely the most important part of your mountain bike. If your brakes aren’t good, you’re just impeded everywhere. Capability, comfort, confidence and energy are all impaired.

The Bossnut’s brake levers and calipers (including pads) were all pretty good. They just benefitted from fitting bigger rotors. We fitted 203mm rotors to both ends, but you probably only really need to big-up the front rotor. Don’t forget to budget for new brake bracket adaptor(s) too. We needed to fit a Post Mount 160-to-203mm adapter on the RockShox Recon fork, for example.

You may wish to replace the brake pads whilst you’re doing the rotor upgrade. Although you may also wish to wait and see what difference the rotor makes on its own. It’s up to you.

Tyres

After brakes, the next most influential component on your mountain bike are the tyres. Again, especially the front one. Tyres are understandably one place where bike brands can’t get it right. Even on high end bikes we encounter tyres that aren’t quite right for our terrain. It’s just the way it is. Brands can’t spec tyres that work equally well in the English Pennines as they do in the Spanish Pyrenees.

What tyres to go for? Oof. Minefield. I’d recommend asking other local riders what they use. Find a decent bike shop and ask them also. If we absolutely must recommend a good do-it-all mountain bike tyre, then we’d say the Maxxis Minion DHR II in 3C MaxxTerra. Again, just upgrade the front and see what difference it makes. If the rear tyre still feels okay, leave it on.

In the case of our Calibre Bossnut, we’re currently running a pair of very condition-specific tyres (a pair of super skinny mud slicing Schwalbe Dirty Dans that you can ignore for now!). The tyres the Bossnut came with were actually perfectly good for British Summer Time. But the shallow tread rear in particular was a bit of a handful.

Dropper post

If your bike already has a dropper post, move on. If it doesn’t have a dropper post – or maybe it has a dropper post with not much travel (125mm for example) – then a decent travel dropper will do wonders for your confidence and bike handling and safety.

Contact points

There’s not many and they do not have to be mega expensive purchases.

Grips. Whilst I’m a fervent preacher of the delights of push-on grips, they are not a practical choice for more people (too faffy to install). Lock-on grips are the things to go for. There are two things that are usually the problem with grips: too harsh, or too fat. Much like tyres, what grip to go for is a very personal thing. Go to a shop and have a squidge.

Saddle. Despite being another highly variable component, I think you can put people into two camps. Those who like rounded-top saddles and those who prefer flat-top saddles. So if you’re struggling with your current saddle, have a look at it, decide whether it’s round or flat, and go for the opposite.

But before you buy a saddle, play around with the positioning of your current saddle. Saddle rails afford a good inch or so of fore-aft adjustment. And the seatpost clamp can be tilted nose-up/tail-down or vice-versa. As a starting point, I’d recommend tilting the nose of the sadlde down a degree or two below horizontal. That might be all you need to do.

If things are still not sitting right, read our Best Mountain Bike Saddles: Are You Sitting Comfortably guide.

Cockpit

Handlebars and stems. This is arguably too much of a minefield of variables to come out with any set advice. That said, handlebars should be wider than 720mm. If you’re around 6ft tall or more, you’ll probably benefit from a high rise handlebar (40-50mm rise).

And stems these days shouldn’t be longer than 50mm (for a regular trail bike, in the right size).

Easy gearing

Most ‘proper’ mountain bikes these days will come with a single chainring and a cluster of gears (cassette) at the back. Sometimes with entry level bikes the gearing is a little on the steep/hard side.

Changing the cassette can be relatively complicated in terms of adjusting the rear mech and chain length etc etc. Sometimes the better solution is to get a smaller chainring. In the case of our Bossnut, the rear cassette (11-48T) is almost easy enough, so we just swapped out the 32T chainring for a 30T to give us the range we wanted.

Suspension

Suspension stuff that performs significantly better than entry level stuff is very much a case of diminishing returns. So before splurging hundreds of pounds on a higher end fork/shock, the better thing to do is: learn about suspension. Learn what sag is. Learn what rebound damping does. And, most importantly, learn how to do a lower leg service. A well maintained ‘cheap’ fork will perform way better than a megabucks fork that’s not been serviced for 18 months.

The Recon fork on our Bossnut is a classic example. It didn’t feel very good at all for the first few rides. But once it had bedded in, and once we’d dropped the lower legs off for a clean and relube etc, it was working impressively well indeed. We’re in no rush to replace it now.

Wheels

Wheels. Dang wheels. I wish these weren’t important. But they are. And they’re expensive. Wheels are the one and only place that it is worth saving weight on (well, apart from tyres if you’re a less aggressive rider who get away with light rubbers!). And weigh saving costs money.

Our advice? Spend as much as you can. Sorry. Maybe just upgrade the rear wheel first as that’s the wheel that has more of an effect on the ride experience.

We’ll be covering wheels in more depth in the near future.