Hi, I hope this is the right place to ask. I decided to start commuting by bike as it’s only about 15 minutes each way. So I got my first bike and learned how to ride. It’s a cheap Chinese MTB from my country’s version of amazon. This was a few months ago now. Since then I’ve been riding almost everyday and taking longer trips along the river trail near my home.
So I’m thinking about getting a lower end Shimano groupset. But I’m wondering what I’ll get out of upgrading. Will there be a noticeable difference in performance? Smoother shifting? More speed in top gear?
Thanks for any insight you can share :) any essential gear recommendations would be great too!
Just to throw in my 2 cents, when I started bike riding I had a cheap supermarket bike. At the time I didn’t care much for reliability, I just rode for fun. As I got more into it, I bought a used hardtail for about the same price as the supermarket bike was brand new. That switch over was what defined my relationship with bikes.
Riding my bike turned from just a leisure activity into exercise, grocery runs, going to class, anything I thought I could make it on 2 wheels to. The quality is night and day.
But I think you kinda gotta appreciate how bad supermarket bikes are first, before appreciating the joy of a light, rigid frame
I can’t speak to the doom scenarios (death trap and whathaveyous) but I can share my experience. I was faced with buying what’s considered a new “decent” bike for close to $1K and went the other way - I bought a used one for $80 in sorta OK shape; no idea who made the frame but the majority of its components are of chinese origin.
the rationale was a) to see if I even want the thing - what if I ride it a couple of times and then decide it’s too much bother, and b) I should learn how to maintain it and fix the usual stuff.
three years later, I’ve replaced close to all of the key components by myself - wheels, crank shaft, pedals, front and rear derailleurs, brakes, calipers, cables, chains, tyres, etc. I had no experience fixing anything and got all my education from youtube. some of the gear failed and was replaced, other was upgraded preventively, mostly with shimano’s value line. I’m not blaming the original components for failing, there’s ample wear and tear the way I ride it and I also happen to be kinda oversized for this bike, shoulda gotten an XXL frame.
my advice is, ride the bike as is and replace components as they fail, you’ll learn how to fix stuff in the process and the replacements are super cheap. only then, when you’re a seasoned rider start looking into better alternatives.
Good to hear it’s worked out for you:) this is basically what I landed on after weighing all the comments. If I notice something that makes me think the frame is going to fall apart under me I’ll replace it lol but I’m not really in a place to drop a lot of money on a bike now.
Anyway I’m glad I asked because I learned a lot from this thread alone
Not much point upgrading a bike with a cheap frame. The frame is a critical component of the bicycle ride and handling. The problem is a new bike with a good frame is expensive. Second hand bikes are much better value if you’re willing to learn how to modify and maintain them.
It’s easy to get obsessed by these details and forget the joy of cycling. I was riding in Amsterdam recently and looking around at the bikes these ardent cyclists are using every day is surprising. Very basic machines, many looked fifteen years old, at least. No one wears helmets or spandex pants. They just go about their business swiftly and silently on a vast network of dedicated paths. It was cycle heaven.
Given you got it online, I assume you built it? Before buying anything, I’d recommend doing some basic retuning to ensure optimal tension and that everything is still positioned well, as things will move around over time. Installing a new groupset would be worthwhile for the experience, but I think you’re better off saving for a new bike. With the entry level Shimano sets you’re more or less paying for the brand name, and in my experience it’s unlikely to make a big difference. You’ll still have a cheap frame, likely with less than ideal geometry and materials used for its construction. That could bottleneck its performance regardless of your groupset, and the sets used on the more recent cheap bikes I’ve had weren’t all that bad anyway. Provided you’re able to get into most of your gears, prevent your chain rubbing on the derailleurs and don’t have weird noise indicating energy being wasted or other specific performance concerns, it’s probably fine as is. It might help tide you over if you’re struggling with your current setup though.
No. In fact, your cheap Chinese bike will have a cheap Chinese frame, which in turn is basically a death trap. You should get yourself a decent trail hardtail from a reputable brand instead.
Note that these days there are some cheap Chinese bikes that have decent aluminum frames. Don’t know if they are the majority yet or not. It’s safer to bet they’re not. A reputable brand would guarantee a decent frame as you said.
There’s cheaper reputable brands as well, like Ragley for example. Of course prices differ with the regions & import taxes but with Chinese products you typically can’t tell for sure what you’re getting. And a bad frame is really something I would stay away from if you value your own health and safety. If that thing breaks mid ride it can have fatal consequences.
