a little help updating my '03 Fit custom

[Radical_Rick]

Hello, I am just getting back on my bike after a 13 year vacation from riding. I plan to just be doing strictly park and some dirt riding this time around since my local park has a dirt jumping section. All I plan to be doing in the park are grinds, 180's, 360's, manuals, and pretty much just flowing around the park. Same pretty chill on the dirt jumps too just flowing through having fun. I have no plans on street riding atm or anything crazy whippy or spinny or even too technical to be honest. At my age now I am just happy to ride.

I was wondering what everyones opinion would be to updating my bike, or should I just build something new and start from scratch? I'm 5'11 175 with long arms, and after not riding for some time I have noticed I am hunched over a bit on this bike setup. Now this may be normal and I just haven't been riding in so long to remember.. Also I noticed my tires I am using seem outdated from Back to the Future or something?

I would really appreciate everyones options and opinions as I could really use the help from all you riders. Thanks!

Here is my setup I was riding in 2003:

'03 original Fit frame
T1 bars
Primo headset
Kink stem
Primo cranks
Profile 14mm hubs
Sun Big City rims
Odyssey forks
FBM Threshold 36T sprocket
Snafu pedals
Odyssey evolver brakes
Dirt Harry brake lever
T1 pegs
HB seat
Primo dirt monster Front
Primo wall Rear

[Prodigal Son]

Get a complete. It is the most cost effective thing you could do. Pick which one looks good cause they're all nice.

Welcome back to the fold!

[condrbkr]

Probably the bars and frame depending on the sizes you run.

There's a lot of frames out there that are plus 21" toptube these days which will definitely make it a more comfortable ride being 5'11 and older and all.

A lot of bars out there that are plus 8" too. 8.25' is  about the new median height for bars so getting something higher will  helps with the back aches.

With that being said... If you do upgrade to a new frame, pretty much everything on the market is intergraded headsets and press fit bottom bracket meaning you gotta upgrade that too.

Rear triangles on frames are shorter so 36t may or may not align well with your new frame. Anything below 30t sprocket is a safe bet. Your probably gonna want to run a driver that matches the new engagement but I think Profile hubs are the same as what they always have been so finding a replacement driver shouldn't be too hard.

Good luck!

[LeonLikesToRock]

We the People are pretty hard to beat for a high end complete.

If you part out your old bike on bmx museum you might be able to get some funding for a new bike. T1 shit in particular is getting pricey these days.

[Radical_Rick]

Excellent, thanks for the feedback! I think what I am going to do is slowly part together a new bike, I actually really enjoy the collecting, and researching for custom builds. In the meantime ill continue to shake the green behind my ears on this '03 Fit. Stoked to be back on the bike, see ya at the park!

[LeonLikesToRock]

If you're feeling a bit hunched maybe just try some bigger bars and keep riding your Fit.

[JFax]

I second getting a complete. Good quality for your money and you get a brand new looking bike.
Could also go for parts if you like to work on your bike, but it will cost you more and have less of a dramatic effect I guess.

Sounds like you will be doing similar style riding to what I do. Most bikes today are designed for street, as that is what most people ride.
Can get a really light and responsive bike that hold up to your style if you chose park-ish parts.

[Radical_Rick]

Really thankful for all the feedback,

LeonLikesToRock, I agree i'm going to get bigger bars for my Fit bike I think that will help a bunch for my back. I was looking at some Odyssey and also We The People bars, anyone have any preferences I should try? I was going to go with between 8.25 or 8.75ish? I don't want to go too big either as it may mess me up also, It's looking like the T1s I have on it now are 8s.

I know a complete bike is the way to go cost effectively for me, but I am riding my Fit bike happily for the time being shaking the rust off of myself. I just figure in the meantime slowly collecting the parts to build up a custom on the side is the way to go for me. I enjoy the whole waiting for parts to come in the mail thing ha ha i'm a kook I know.

My new question today is, If I am NOT going to be riding street well except for the rails and grind boxes etc at the park. Should I be looking at Dirt jumping bikes or Park bikes since thats what I will be doing? Or is a Street bike considered a park bike? This is where I get myself super confused on what I need to be researching?

Also what does JFax mean by park-ish parts? What companies should I be checking out for this type of build that I am planning? Call me dummy but I kinda thought all the part companies were pretty much park stuff? Gosh 13 years away and I feel like a caveman over here banging on rocks ha!

Thanks guys I really do appreciate the help!!

[MSBNL]

Bars: 8,25 to 8,75 should be perfect, one thing you might wanna take into consideration is the amount of upsweep, normally between 1 and 5 degrees, in my opinion more upsweep is easier on the wrist, but maybe you can try out some different bikes at the park to see what you prefer.
Don't get too hung up on street vs. park vs. dirt bikes. The main difference I would say is that streetbikes nowadays have a crazy short backend. I would assume your '03 Fit frame has a 14'' backend, whereas for streetbikes nowadays the standard seems to be 13,25'', so find something in the 13,5'' - 13,75'' region. Anything longer is usually dirt frames and since you mentioned you will be grinding dirt specific frames are maybe not ideal. Also look out for headtube angles, again, I assume your '03 Fit frame has a 74,5° headtube, whereas nowaday you find alot of frames with 75+° headtubes, which makes the front more twitchy, so I would advise to not change it up too much and stick to a max headtube angle of 75°. Part wise the save bet seems to be anything from sunday odyssey or gsport because they are backed with a true lifetime warrantee, so if anything ever happens to your fork frame bars cranks or rims or whatever, you usually get it replaced for free. Have fun getting back into riding!

[Radical_Rick]

MSBNL Excellent thank you for taking the time to respond, Now I know exactly what to focus on

[montymitch]

I agree that updating your bars is going to make a bigger difference than anything. I went up to 8.25, which felt huge, then 8.75, then 9.75. The 9.75s are a smidge too big for my taste so I ended up using a lower rise stem. I'd put my preference right at 9-9.25.
As for the upsweep, I feel like shorter bars feel better with 4 deg up and bigger bars feel better with 1 deg up. Just my two cents.

[LeonLikesToRock]

For the bars I'd suggest going for some T1 2 piece bars. They're going to feel more or less just like a bigger version of what you're running just now.

As for the style of bike for what you want to be doing, I'd ride a couple of bikes down at the park. A modern street/tech style bike is going to feel twitchy but you might actually like it more than a stable trails style bike. 

[Radical_Rick]

Update:

well riding at the park the other evening I noticed my rear profiles cog took a good ole bashing toward the end of the session. Along with my Sun rim multiple spots had massive dents to it working on icepick stalls on the ramp and some boxes. I guess I was coming in a little to hot huh?  Thats just how I roll man unfortunately..

On my way home I decided instead of fixing this Fit bike back up and putting money into it, I would take everyones suggestion and buy a complete bike. I got to looking around and comparing, and found a couple nice set ups from a few companies that met the dementions MSBNL had suggested. I gotta agree with him, after looking at bikes dementions for a while it seems I am right in-between a street frame and a dirt frame and that sounds perfect.

In the end I spent a little more than I had planned, thankfully I had a 15% off Dans comp code from buying a new helmet the other week. I went with the 2017 Sunday Soundwave Gary Young bike, it comes pretty loaded with solid parts I just had to buy some pegs. It's supposed to ship out 8/30, I know I said I loved waiting for parts in the mail.. Now I really feel like a kid I WANT IT NOW ha.

I just couldn't go with the plastic peg deal call me old school I know I am, maybe one day but for now since I am only riding parks anyways I went with a set of Kink park 2's. The bike comes with the 9.25 Sunday Solar bars so we will see how that goes for me. It may take a little getting used to of course, But i'm game for it and super stoked too!

Thank you to everyone for the tips and suggestions! I couldn't have done it without your help!

[dude...]

sunday's completes are banging, especially for the money. id hold onto your old bike as well so you have to option to switch out any parts you dont like, and cos it sounds like an awesome build for the time

[Prodigal Son]

Hell yea. Always come in hot.