So, I built a Banshee Darkside with a Dorado in the front a few years ago. Love how that rides, but for pedalling, not so much. 26" wheels. Could be talked into a 27,5" in the front, but I'll get into that later. Reasonably priced is the goal here. Not looking for real weight weeny gear, just reasonable and solid.
I'm thinking of doing a couple of things.
New cassette with a 42t as the lowest gear. Can it be done with a Zee derailleur, or do I need to find a different SLX or XT RD to do the job? I have a 34t N/W ring at the crank, btw. that paired with a 11t top gear is about as slow as I want to be, so not really looking to switch that out.
Cockpit mashup: I have a 44/56 Cane Creek headset for the straight 1 1/8" steerer of the Dorado. Am I on the right track if I believe (and hope) that all I need to do here is get a new preload assembly and a fitting crown race for a tapered steerer? New stem: Reach is on the long side with a 50mm stem, so I run it at 30mm DM. Keeping things simple, I see there are multiple options for a 30 or 31mm stem (steerer mount), so that's not gonna be a problem.
Fork/front wheel: Thinking of a 170mm travel fork. Options are: Fox 36, RS Lyrik (both way out of my budget, but the former at least has a 20x110mm option), and an XFusion Metric. Haven't researched much further, but seems like if I want to keep my Hadley up front, it's either the Fox or the Metric (this would be the absolutely cheapest option). Unless there are inexpensive boost adapter kits, that is. Hadley's website is still nowhere to be found. Any decent, semi light and solid 27,5 front wheels available? I live in Yurp, as some of you might know.
Seatpost: Can't run anything stealthy, unless I drill holes in the Darkside. I'm led to believe that's not a great idea. There's a very pretty Thomson Elite there now, but it's just pretty, not intended or able to move anywhere easily.
Shock: I just need a shorter stroke shock than the one on it, a CCDB CS. A pedal mode would be great, but not really necessary if it has decent LSC settings. Any recommendations?
Cheers.
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