Upgrades Every Mountain Bike Needs

Today, I'll be walking you through five key upgrades I'm gonna do to this bike right here. They're gonna make it a whole lot better without breaking the bank. And to be completely honest, these are upgrades I recommend for just about every bike out there. So even if you don't have a CISC UT7, keep watching because each one of these upgrades is gonna help you make your bike just a little bit more comfortable, more capable, and more fun to ride. Woo, yeah! In my last video, I took the Polygon T7 out on its very first ride and it performed good for being a budget bike, but by the end of that ride, I knew there were at least a couple things I needed to upgrade on this bike right here to take it to that next level. First up on the list is the grips on this bike. So the stock grips that come on this, so these entity grips, they're just a little bit thin and I would like something with just a little bit more cushion, especially for those more like technical style downhill trails that I like to ride. Now let's be honest, all of us have our own personal preference when it comes to grips for our mountain bikes, but the ones that I chose to upgrade this bike with are the P&W Loam grips in a size extra large. These are a good set of grips provide like a lot of extra cushion, a little bit more ergonomic feel in your hand, and a set of grips that I would recommend for a lot of people for a lot of different riding scenarios. You can see those P&W Loam grips in the size XL are just a little bit thicker around. So that's definitely going to fit my hand better. Man, the rubber is a lot softer on those things. You can just like feel how much softer that rubber is on there. So it's going to provide me a bit more grip as well for mobbing on those gnarly like downhill trails. In case you guys are wondering, this video is not sponsored. I bought all of these parts with my own money. The Polygon CisQT7 was sent to me from Bikes Online, and I do have affiliate links there down in the video description, using those links to purchase this bike. Like, yes, it does help me make more videos like this, but at the end of the day, I'm just an average rider like you, and I make these videos to hopefully help you guys out, help you make a little bit better decisions. I've spent a lot of money over the years upgrading my bikes, and I really think these are the top five upgrades you can do to your bikes, your bike, or especially like your budget bike. When you first get it, that'll really make the most difference, no matter what type of mountain bike you're riding. But now it's time to move on to upgrade number two, which is the pedals on this bike. The stock pedals that come on this bike, they work. It's good that this bike comes with pedals out of the box, but they definitely don't have enough grip. There's a couple of times on that first ride when I felt my foot kinda slip off that pedal a little bit. So I want a pedal that is probably just a little bit wider, fits my foot just a little bit better, definitely a pedal that offers more grip, also a pedal that doesn't have reflectors on it, right? You don't need reflectors on your trail bike. And the material this pedal is made out of, it's aluminum, but it's probably like the cheapest possible aluminum. So I doubt these pedals would hold up and really stand the test of time. So let's go ahead and get these pedals removed and then I'll show you the pedals I chose to upgrade this bike. And while I'm down here, may as well remove these stickers that are on these cranks as well. Damn it. Come on, man. Freaking stickers. There we go, good enough. The upgraded pedals that I chose, you guys, are the P&W range composite pedals in this red right here. These things are gonna offer way better grip, way better durability, a little bit larger platform than the stock pedals. And the red on here matches somewhat closely to the P&W Loom grips. Although I will be honest, I was just a little bit disappointed that it wasn't like a perfect match. But I don't know, from the time you get to the bars, all the way down there to the pedals, I guess it's close enough. P&W, did I order the wrong pedals? Do you offer a different color red? And why in the heck wouldn't they just match perfectly? P&W, oh, I'm sorry, these are the range pedals with the P&W Loom grips. So what, if you get the aluminum Loom pedals, do they match perfectly with the grips? I don't know, minor gripe, right? But red, red matches close enough, right? With these upgraded pedals, my feet are gonna stay planted, even on those chunky descents, or if I find myself like pedaling through some nasty rock gardens. Now moving on to upgrade number three, which is the saddle. The stock saddle was decent, but it was clear after just a couple hours of riding that I needed something with just a little bit more padding, something that wasn't so slippery, provided just a little bit more grip for those steeper uphill climbs. And I had to go with something that matched the rest of the upgraded components. I was doing to this bike. I upgraded to the SDG Components, Bel Air V3 Luxe Alloy Mountain Bike Saddle, and getting the right saddle is an absolute game changer for your bike. Like I said, personal preference, but this is definitely the one that I like after trying a couple of different brands. Now what I'm looking at here is, I also like to angle my saddles a little bit nose down and kind of slam them just a little bit forward on the rails. All right, now moving on to upgrade number four, and this is where things can get a tiny bit more complicated, especially if you're new to mountain biking, because we're talking about taking off those wheels, removing those tubes, and doing a tubeless tire conversion. And if you guys are riding single track trails, then doing a tubeless conversion to your bike is really essential. It's gonna help you prevent those flats. If you do get a flat, you got that tubeless tire sealant that's gonna seal those things up. It's gonna allow you to run just a little bit lower tire pressure. I remember when I first got into mountain biking, this was a conversion, doing a tubeless conversion. I would take it into the bike shop and have them do this for me. But it's really not that complicated, especially with these polygon bikes. All you gotta do is remove the air out of there, pop off one side of that tire right there, pull out those tubes, throw in a set of tubeless valve stems. These are the ones I got, these Buckloss tubeless valve stems. Got the link in the description. Got these ones on Amazon. They're just like the cheapest ones that I could find. I wanna test these out to see how a budget set of tubeless valve stems would work. The rim is already pre-taped. It's already ready for that tubeless setup. So all you gotta do is throw that tubeless valve stem in. And then after you throw that tubeless valve stem in, all you're gonna have to do is add in a little bit of that tubeless tire sealant right there. Pop that tire back on there. Rotate that around a little bit. Get some of that sealant swishing around. And then I should just be able to take a regular bike pump. This is a charger pump, so I could charge this up and pop that tire on there. But we'll try and just do it pumping it on there. See if we can get this thing to pop on without an air compressor. It's looking good. All right, now's a good time. If you guys are still watching, like, subscribe, share this with a friend. Hopefully it'll help somebody else out. Now I just gotta do the same thing to this rear tire. And while I'm down here, I'll go ahead and remove that dork disc. Now I've seen some people, they'll remove the entire cassette to pull that thing off there. But what I like to do is I just like to go ahead and just pop it off and then just cut it, kind of get it off just a little bit easier without having to remove that whole cassette. Removing those tubes also helps you shed a little bit of that unwanted weight. Let's go ahead and throw these on the scale real quick. So two inner tubes weighing in at about, about a pound, something like that you're saving. Is that accurate? Let's try that one more time. Get those on there. Yeah, about a pound on the scale right there. Now keep in mind, that's not accounting for, you know, you took a pound out, but then you added in those tubeless valve stems as well and the sealant. But either way, saving a little bit of weight, helping you run just a little bit better tire pressure and preventing those flats. And last, but definitely not least for upgrade number five, we've got the PMW Loam dropper post lever. Not only does it look amazing and match the bike's color scheme, but this thing is going to give the dropper post a smoother, just a little bit more precise action. It's a small upgrade, but it makes a big difference every time I use it. And there you go, guys. We've got those five key upgrades we did to this budget bike right here. We ditched the stock grips right there. We got rid of those cheap pedals. Got rid of that slick saddle that wasn't going to do for those longer rides. Did the tubeless tire conversion, upgraded the dropper post lever. One, two, three, four, five key upgrades for every mountain bike. If you guys are looking to upgrade your bike, this is definitely a great place to start. But go ahead, leave down in the comments below, let me know what upgrades you've done to your bike. And until next time, remember it's all about getting stoked, going riding, and having some fun, people. ♪♪♪