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!
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