Bicycles

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Is it worth upgrading my cheap Chinese bike? (self.bicycles)

submitted 1 month ago by doyun to c/[email protected]

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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!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

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