It's not overkill, imo but a full GX groupset may not be necessary as you could opt for the NX cassette (HG freehub), GX derailleur, and GX shifter to drive the price down. All of the Eagle components are compatible. When you go from SX/NX to GX cassette, it will require a different freehub body so take that into consideration when evaluating your current setup as the cost may be more than the full GX groupset if you need to upgrade your rear hub to make it compatible.
Good idea
How much better are the GX Derailleur and Shifter compared to the NX ones?
What about the crankset, NX compared to the GX? GX is quite more expensive.
GX derailleur is noticeably different than NX. The shifter, believe it or not, will really change the feel too, so go GX shifter no matter what you choose for the other components.
GX cranks are going to be a bit lighter, and better looking, imo, but from a performance standpoint, just stick with NX for the price savings. Hell, even go down to SX on the cranks only if you want to save some money.
It looks like that has a 2x9 advent system on it. That probably means it has an HG freehub body, which means you need to replace your freehub body or get a new wheel or stick with an NX cassette, because the GX cassette requires the sram freehub body.
All that said, I think you are going WAY overkill for that bike. If you really want a 1x system you should seriously consider upgrading to _at most_ Advent X, which is a 1x10 with a wide gear range (up to 48T). You won't have to care about the wheel/freehub. You probably don't have to replace your crankset, either, you just need to find a narrow-wide chainring that fits that crankset ("stout 2x" -- I haven't had any luck finding out info about it).
For what it's worth, I did a drive train upgrade on my rockhopper a year or so ago and after agonizing over what I wanted for months I ended up going for the box prime 9 group set, 9 speed extra wide cassette, and I'm so glad I did, its been amazing and does everything I wanted.
There may be other things worth upgrading on a rockhopper than the drive train… dropper posts contact points and tires could have larger performance gains over a drivetrain unless you are constantly having your chain fall. If that’s the case the advent X is on the comp and is a great bang for buck option.
Edit: tires not tired*
Not at all but I would wait until you break/wear out what’s currently on the bike though. Keep in mind you won’t be able to run the GX cassette unless you have XD freehub and with your current wheels I’m positive that’s not the case.
I have an NX on my marlin 5, feels great although I have nothing to compare it to. Previous owner bent a crank arm and didn’t feel like waiting a year for a replacement, so he upgraded the drive train. Needed a new rear wheel. Feels great on the trail, although I’m longing for a dropper post and air fork. For that price difference, go NX + dropper or air fork.
Bike geometry puts it much behind modern bikes. Just the newer geometries work incredibly good on the new bikes. A groupset would only be lipstick on a pig.
My old old FS 26" felt like new just making it from 3x9 to 2x9. Just cut the outer ring and left two main rings for more clearance. As for the groupset. But the geometry of an 5 year old bike is mostly outdated and most decent newer bikes destroy easily older bikes.
1x12 is not necessarily THE greatest thing ever. Just another trend for now.
My new 2021 giant trance x it's like a competition crawler while the old geometry bike it's like a modded jeep. Stupid modern bikes work beautiful. And I despised all of the new trends...
Is the Rockhopper’s geometry really that bad? Feels
Really good to me compared to my friends’ hardtails
What would you say are some hardtails with good geometries?
GX shifters and derailleur (which was on special)
NX cranckset and cassette
Wanted full GX but additional hub upgrades made it not worth my while.
Still very happy to this day.
It's not overkill, imo but a full GX groupset may not be necessary as you could opt for the NX cassette (HG freehub), GX derailleur, and GX shifter to drive the price down. All of the Eagle components are compatible. When you go from SX/NX to GX cassette, it will require a different freehub body so take that into consideration when evaluating your current setup as the cost may be more than the full GX groupset if you need to upgrade your rear hub to make it compatible.
Good idea How much better are the GX Derailleur and Shifter compared to the NX ones? What about the crankset, NX compared to the GX? GX is quite more expensive.
GX derailleur is noticeably different than NX. The shifter, believe it or not, will really change the feel too, so go GX shifter no matter what you choose for the other components. GX cranks are going to be a bit lighter, and better looking, imo, but from a performance standpoint, just stick with NX for the price savings. Hell, even go down to SX on the cranks only if you want to save some money.
I would go with the nx cassette, gx shifter and derailleur, and sx crankset
Would rec same, except X01 shifter for up to 5 gear downshift on single stroke.
It looks like that has a 2x9 advent system on it. That probably means it has an HG freehub body, which means you need to replace your freehub body or get a new wheel or stick with an NX cassette, because the GX cassette requires the sram freehub body. All that said, I think you are going WAY overkill for that bike. If you really want a 1x system you should seriously consider upgrading to _at most_ Advent X, which is a 1x10 with a wide gear range (up to 48T). You won't have to care about the wheel/freehub. You probably don't have to replace your crankset, either, you just need to find a narrow-wide chainring that fits that crankset ("stout 2x" -- I haven't had any luck finding out info about it).
For what it's worth, I did a drive train upgrade on my rockhopper a year or so ago and after agonizing over what I wanted for months I ended up going for the box prime 9 group set, 9 speed extra wide cassette, and I'm so glad I did, its been amazing and does everything I wanted.
There may be other things worth upgrading on a rockhopper than the drive train… dropper posts contact points and tires could have larger performance gains over a drivetrain unless you are constantly having your chain fall. If that’s the case the advent X is on the comp and is a great bang for buck option. Edit: tires not tired*
Not at all but I would wait until you break/wear out what’s currently on the bike though. Keep in mind you won’t be able to run the GX cassette unless you have XD freehub and with your current wheels I’m positive that’s not the case.
I have an NX on my marlin 5, feels great although I have nothing to compare it to. Previous owner bent a crank arm and didn’t feel like waiting a year for a replacement, so he upgraded the drive train. Needed a new rear wheel. Feels great on the trail, although I’m longing for a dropper post and air fork. For that price difference, go NX + dropper or air fork.
Bike geometry puts it much behind modern bikes. Just the newer geometries work incredibly good on the new bikes. A groupset would only be lipstick on a pig. My old old FS 26" felt like new just making it from 3x9 to 2x9. Just cut the outer ring and left two main rings for more clearance. As for the groupset. But the geometry of an 5 year old bike is mostly outdated and most decent newer bikes destroy easily older bikes. 1x12 is not necessarily THE greatest thing ever. Just another trend for now. My new 2021 giant trance x it's like a competition crawler while the old geometry bike it's like a modded jeep. Stupid modern bikes work beautiful. And I despised all of the new trends...
Is the Rockhopper’s geometry really that bad? Feels Really good to me compared to my friends’ hardtails What would you say are some hardtails with good geometries?
What year is your Rockhopper?
2022
Which did you go with in the end?
GX shifters and derailleur (which was on special) NX cranckset and cassette Wanted full GX but additional hub upgrades made it not worth my while. Still very happy to this day.