4mo ago

Is it worth upgrading my cheap Chinese bike?

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!

26 comments

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.

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

Before looking at groupsets, look at weight.
You always start with weight. Buy a light frame, be amazed, and then start upgrading other parts later.
Tyres are normally next and for a commuter bike that's MTB style I recommend you're using 27.5 (if you like jumping around and swerving) or 29" (if you like speed and ease), with tyres like Big Bens or many of Continentals ones similar. Low rolling resistance, very durable for punctures, super grippy on seal, dry grass, and dirt.
Already at this point, you will have more speed, ease, and response than getting new gears put onto an Amazon bike.
But if you want to go further, then you start looking at decent affordable gearing like Shimano's Deore. You won't need anything beyond that unless you start getting hardcore.
But better yet, just buy a good setup based around the frame. Like any Giant Talon, Rockhopper, Big Nine, and just upgrade bits and pieces later. Though most bikes like that will come with Deore groupset versions and you're good to go. If the Deore packages are too much, just get what's in your budget with good tyres—it'll ride way better than what you have—and slap a better groupset/derailleur on later if the cheaper one feels too clunky.
I was once like you and I learned the hard and expensive way
- This is really helpful! Thanks! From what you and everyone has said I think I'll skip the gearing for now. If it breaks or something it'll be a fun project to replace them later. So will big tires change the turning radius? I have 27.5 now. I'm interested in trying 29s but I do sometimes have to avoid cars and pedestrians as I don't have many bike lanes lol
  
  Yes, turning becomes harder and if you're not snappy enough with your bike yet, getting through pedestrians at low speed is definitely more challenging. However, the pay off is getting up to and maintaining speed and absorbing bumps.
  Sticking with 27.5 is fine. MTBs used to be 26, then 29ers came out, then 27.5 came out as an in between of speed and smoothness of 29, but agility of 26. I have both and prefer my 29er for commuting and light trailing/cross trail, and prefer 27.5 everything else. I used to commute 27.5, but had a lot of uphill and funky obstacles and shortcut sections over around 32 min trip. Once I moved to a flatter and more open town, I switched to 29 for the cruising. They are faster, but more of a handful.

There are several points to better bike components (frame, wheels included):
Durability
Chinesium (not made in China but crappy Chinese parts) parts are usually less durable. Softer steel on axles, bearings. Softer aluminum on frames and wheels that bend permanently with a bit of abuse.
Low end Shimano parts, low end reputable aluminum frames and wheels are made from appropriate materials and are significantly more resistant to wear and abuse. They're often close to bulletproof. Higher end parts up to SLX/105 could be more durable still. Above that weight savings might eat into durability.
Another component that I'll ascribe to durability is the ability to retain adjustment. That is to keep operating as adjusted without the need to readjust afterwards.
Niceness to use
This refers specifically to drivetrain. Nicer components are nicer to use. The physical feel of the action of control levers feels nice.
Performance
Better components shift faster, cleaner, can shift under load. For example there's dramatic difference in the shifting performance between say Shimano Tourney (bottom of the barrel) and SLX. Both work fine though.
Better wheels and tires are typically lighter and allow for significantly faster acceleration.
Reputable brakes can have significantly better performance than Chinesium ones. This directly translates in shorter stopping distance in emergency.
If your bike has a decent aluminum frame and a workable drivetrain, the cheapest thing that would make the most obvious difference is replacing the tires with something light and narrow. Keywords Schwalbe, Panaracer, Continental, etc. Next up would be replacing the wheels too. Mavic Aksium used to be a bombproof and light entry level wheelset. There might be better value alternatives these days. Once you're happy with the wheels, I'd spend money on comfort - correct saddle for my ass, stems, handlebars so that my riding position is as comfortable as possible. Only then I'd spend money on upgrading the drivetrain.
If the frame is garbage, then I'd start with a new (could be second hand) bike that has a decent aluminum frame and low end Shimano (Ideally Alivio/Acera) and if possible with Shimano/Tektro hydraulic brakes. Those usually come with decent wheels too and sometimes even with decent tires.
- the cheapest thing that would make the most obvious difference is replacing the tires with something light and narrow
  Apparently, the racing people have recently decided that wider tires are better these days.
  
  True but they're still narrower than what you get on a run-of-the-mill MTB. 32-38mm is great.

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.

What is your original bike? As long as the frame is solid and the standards aren't weird you should be ok to upgrade part by part.
What type of riding do you do? Trail riding will have different needs than full on downhill racing. My first recommendations for upgrades on a lower end bike are pedals and cockpit. A new handlebar and stem will change the most about your riding and new pedals will make you stick to your bike over rough terrain. Also a new saddle isn't a bad idea if you're riding for long distances. make sure you measure your seat bones in order to get the right size.
- The brand is called tragen and the drivetrain is all sunrun. After some googling it seems like a knockoff of a brand called sun race.
  I'm just commuting through the city mostly. I figured a mountain bike would be most beginner friendly and good for going over curbs and speed bumps and the like
  
  If you're just using it to commute you won't get a lot out of replacing the drivetrain. You'll just end up paying more to maintain it. Replace the drivetrain when it breaks.
  New tires and hubs/wheelset are going to get you the most bang for your buck. If you can find a local wheel builder you can upgrade your wheelset for fairly cheap by buying a new hub, spokes, and rim. Better quality hubs will make your bike roll much faster and you'll notice it immediately. If you want to splash some cash or can't find a wheelbuilder you can buy a whole wheelset with better quality parts.
  As for tires I would suggest something fast rolling like a Maxxis Pace or Ardent. That will have a little bit of tread in case you want to go roll on light trails but it will still roll really fast on pavement.
  I would also suggest upgrading the handlebar and stem as that can also improve your comfort and maneuverability.
  
  If you're just commuting & riding flat, even-ish trails, you maybe don't need a MTB at all. You'll get much bigger changes in handling/comfort/speed from changing the style of bike than the marginal gains from upgrading individual parts.
  What are you hoping to gain from a drivetrain upgrade? It might make more sense to look at changing the type of bike you have, rather than trying to transform a MTB to act like a hybrid/gravel/road bike

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.

Depends on how it compares to the current drivetrain.
Performance between various drivetrains doesn't differ much. The gear range and realistic top speed depends on the ratios that are possible between pedal and wheel.
How smooth the shifting is, is up to the shifter, derailleur, and cassette combination you have.
Depending on the rear wheel, you could even get more gears in general, if you're replacing the entire groupset.
Generally though, nicer parts are mostly just nicer to maintain. A hollowtech II BB does perform better than a square taper BB, but the difference is a single digit percentage. To me, the main advantage is that it's easier to keep clean and replace the bearings.
If what's on there is truly just the bare minimum though, the main advantage of a shimano groupset will probably be nicer shifting.
Once you have a nice drivetrain, though, you can modify the gear range and speeds in which it works well, by switching out the cassette and/or chainring. Bigger chainring means more top speed (but harder pedaling in all gears) and a "wider" cassette means a bigger difference between the lowest and highest gears, but the jump between each gear being bigger.

If you're riding for exercise, it's all the same. A worse bike is going to give you more of a work-out. That's the fundamental difference.
If you're commuting or going long distance, and you find yourself exhausted by the end of it, you might want to consider upgrading to a hybrid or even a road bike (depending on the quality of your bike trail). Thinner tires, lighter frames, and more gears will mean less effort peddling. That makes the ride easier and allows you to go farther without tiring or sweating as much. EV Bikes are also great if you do deliveries or need to go long distances / high speeds in a hurry.
I've had a Trek hybrid that I've been using for the last... 15 years, I think? It was actually my brother-in-law's bike before he moved, so the vehicle is ancient. $50 for a tune-up every couple of years and it runs perfectly well. So even if the initial price tag is intimidating (this one was in the $500 range, although I've seen vehicles go up north of $2500 back when the bike market was particularly tight) a good bike will last you a lifetime.
But, at the end of the day, the real question you have to ask yourself is whether you like your MTB. If you're uncomfortable or you're getting winded riding it or bits of it are falling apart on you, then absolutely. Upgrade. But if you're not really having an problems with the bike right now, you're likely not going to see a big different in a higher end model.

As you consider upgrading think about what you want not what an upgrade offers. Do you need smoother shifting now? If you do all the work yourself and buy used, upgrading just the group on a cheap bike can be fun and worth it but usually it's cheaper to just buy a nicer used bike than your current one. Speed is a function of gear ratio and cadence so not unless you add higher gears.
- I started thinking about it because I thought going to 1x would be simpler for me. I was leaving the front chainring on the highest gear for a long time before I ever heard about cross chaining. Once I was looking at options I was thinking it might be worth getting a full set of nicer parts since I'm commuting every day but I wasn't sure what the benefit would be. Reading comments now makes it seem like it's not going to change much for me as everything I have still works fine. Maybe I'll see if I can just change the chainring
  
  I think you got a good handle on it

Post pics, but if you know how to work on your own stuff and the bike uses standard parts: Sure, why not?
If the cheap bike fails, you can always rebuild with a better frame later and reuse the parts you already got. The only reason I'd say don't bother is if the existing parts work fine already/are well made enough that they aren't a safety hazard.
I upgraded the brake rotors on my shitty Engwe EP2 Pro and I wish I'd upgraded the fender (but then it failed and broke my arm because it was faulty and the company didn't give a fuck, thanks so much Engwe!).
You might also have some luck asking over at !micromobility@lemmy.world

I would save for a better bike which will come with everything you need and also have a better frame. Do a few upgrades if they improve quality of life, but many useful upgrades require modification of parts (racks often need some brackets cut to fit). Unless you are good there is a good chance you will bend/break something putting it on the new bike. So why not just buy a good complete bike with good components. Sometimes a good seat is a useful upgrade - bikes tend to come with seats that fit males pretty well (because of hip bone differences they don't fit females, seats that fit females are larger and thus more expensive), but a good seat is often a good upgrade for comfort and if you can find one that fits you generally easy to switch.

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

26 comments