Anyone want to talk me out of a Marin Fairfax 1?
It's a fine bike for your purposes but I wouldn't call it an upgrade from your Rockhopper. To be honest, I'd rather take that 90s Rockhopper, throw some slick tires on it for the road and hard pack, new cables, brake pads, maybe upgrade the drivetrain to a modern 1x with clutch derailleur and send it. If you want to be inspired with some old school MTB builds, check out r/xbiking Normally, building up a bike is more expensive than buying a new entry level bike but, if you've got the wherewithal to DIY and shop for parts with budget in mind, you could probably make all those upgrades even buying a few specialty tools and end up spending marginally less than the new Marin or Trek with higher quality parts. But if you don't want to deal with all that, buy the Marin and be sure to sell that Rockhopper to someone like me!.
sardonicmnemonic
3 years ago
reddit.com/r/whichbike