10 Ridiculously Cheap Mountain Bike Upgrades

So you just spent all your money on a new mountain bike. It’s your pride and joy. You stare at it, pamper it, and of course you ride it. Still, you want to spoil your bike but you’re totally friggin broke. I’ve got your back, these 10 super cheap upgrades can improve your bike, protect it, or just make it look nicer. Let’s get started.

These plastic cable fasteners are known as c-clips, and I’m pretty sure the C stands for crap because these always come loose and leave your cables hanging. For this reason, professionals use zip ties. Multi colored zip ties are not only slimmer and more secure, but they also can personalize your bike. Rather than matching your frame color, you should try to choose an accent color from your components so they stand out. Zip ties can be purchased at a hardware store, or online for just a few bucks.

Since you have a bunch of zip ties, why not use them to neaten up your brake and shift cables. Try to find a way to keep the cables from hitting into each other, but still move freely as you steer. This will make your whole bike neater, quieter, and better looking.

When you take a hard landing, your chain will sometimes hit your frame. This is called chain-slap, and the affected area is called your chainstay. Look closely and there’s usually a clear sticker there which offers some protection. To really protect your paint you can wrap your chainstay with electrical tape. Of course this comes in many colors. If you use the high quality 3M stuff, it’ll come off without leaving any residue. When the tape gets chewed up from the chain, you can pull it off and replace it again to keep your bike looking fresh.

Another way to protect your chainstay is with a neoprene guard. These are often given away for free when you order stuff, and they can be had for just a few bucks on Amazon. Since they’re fastened with velcro they can be easily replaced or removed for cleaning. Keep your bike fresh and protect your chainstay.

For the rest of the transcript, turn on closed captions.

[simonspencer]

I was sceptical but gave it a try. I did all the mods and now I am able to do double backflips. I think the weight reduction from the carbon spacer made the biggest difference.

[isaX]

U can also stick a empty plastic bottle on top of the back tire. wedged between the wheel and frame.

To get an amazing motorbike sound.

[bingefox]

Oh thank you so much for the colored wire end tips. Since i have switched from regular to blue I notice girls digging me left and right.

[ubreakitirepairit]

4:02 Grip tape on the chain stay? So every time the chain bounces against that grip tape, it's getting sanded down. Lol.

[JohnSeidner]

Thanks! I'm going to have the baddest Huffy bike on my block now.

[hudsonball]

"Everyone hates valve caps"
I don't. They look better than a sharp valve poker.

[urbanskr]

Put some carbon on the soles of your shoes, then when you walk the trail, people will see your carbon footprint..👟👟🥾🥾👟👟🥾🥾👟👟🥾🥾👟👟

[forqueenandcountry]

I went and bought all these upgrades now all I need is a mountain bike 🚵‍♀️

[potatoblin]

I asked my parents for some lube and i got smacked in the back of the head rip

[gman]

Best chain stay protector is to wrap 550 paracord wrapped around the stay then burn it to itself at the ends. It's quiet, cheap, looks pretty awesome, and who knows when you may need paracord on the ride.

[atilladebbag]

Two hacks for standard handle bar grips:
1. Inject water between grip and handlebar with a cheap syringe to get them off the handlebar.
2. Spray some standard hairspray on the handlebar to put the grips on. The hairspray will work like a lubricant while it’s wet and like glue after 1-2 hours after you attached the grips.

[bkdexter]

I'm relatively new to mountain biking...having ridden only 10-speeds in my youth. I am drawn to your videos because of your low-thrills video editing approach. In essence...you provide very useful information without all the sensationalism. THANK YOU! The vast array of subjects is also intriguing.

[orirbjrk]

I would NOT use griptape on the chain-stay. Its highly abrasive and tends to release bits of grit. I'm not saying this would happen immediately, but over time you'd risk having little bits of abrasive gunk in your gears. Much better options out there. And if you think to use it on your shifters rub it with another piece of griptape and soften the harshness of it a bit, your fingers will thank you.

[traingp]

"You stare at it, you pamper it, and of course you ride it." You talking about a bike or a girlfriend?

[ozzy_fromhell]

0:02 I spent my life savings 😢 a whole $90 bucks for a specialized hard rock😂

[benson]

If you have a downhill/freeride bike, I would recommend to wrap an old tube around the frame to protect it from the chain. Just secure it with zip ties at the ends. That's the best protection. It also has more of kind of an aggressive look to it which fits dh/fr pretty well.

[crispy-k]

Don't use electrical tape as chain protection. With temperature and time the sticky sides kinda melts but stays really sticky, nasty sticky, like melted bubble gum. I've done it, and won't do it again. Plus the tape starts hanging and it looks really "ghetto".
What i did instead was buy some cheap neoprene jacket at a thrift store, cut out some rectangle pieces and ziptied it around the part of the frame where the chain hits. Works great and it was cheap and you can make a lot of them.

[BowlOfYeetios]

"So you just spent all your money on a new mountain bike"

...Yes

[rickthedick]

"I save 20g with my carbon spacers!"

[EvolBobby]

This was the first video I saw a year ago when I got back into biking. And I was hooked all your little hacks you have shown us I use on all my bikes. Thanks Seth for guiding me in the right path. I started with a specialized Rockhopper and now proud owner of DB R5C.