Knock-offs / Fake - Bike parts / Frame / components / accessories

[akiraprime]

I recently bought a cheap full suspension MTB from quiapo. Bought it for less than 3k.
Its a heavy 21 speed.



I'll be using it on 80% road then 20% trail.
And will be using it mainly around our village, which has slopes and trails. And will be biking for at least 5 hours a week.

Now that I found this forum and read some of the threads.
I think I've bought the wrong bike. I should have bought the Hard tail.

Can you guys give some advice on which parts will I expect that will give out first? The gear shifters and the breaks seem to work well, as well as the suspension.

Thanks for the oppurtunity to join in your forums

[quiesledaddy]

Those are not cheap knock offs, they're just economy bikes, with constant use, they even won't last a couple of years without replacing the major components.

Hardtail or Full suspension will not matter, for the riding that you mentioned, shop around for a bike with10k to 15k price range.

[paulbaguio]

Picture should help us determine, but with the price of 3K.. we willl expect something to definitely give in (considering you will make it a beater bike). minimum 10K should give you sturdy step up for your commuting. Will last longer than the 3K bike as long as you do maintenance.

[Alphabolt]

Originally Posted by quiesledaddy

Those are not cheap knock offs, they're just economy bikes, with constant use, they even won't last a couple of years without replacing the major components.

Hardtail or Full suspension will not matter, for the riding that you mentioned, shop around for a bike with10k to 15k price range.

Yup. bro Nono said it right.

and you are right also, for 3K I'd stick with a solid Hardtail .. like an oldschool GT Avalanche 2.0 or KHS Alite

[terminator]

Originally Posted by akiraprime

I recently bought a cheap full suspension MTB from quiapo. Bought it for less than 3k.
Its a heavy 21 speed. Will post a picture of the bike later.
I'll be using it on 80% road then 20% trail.
And will be using it mainly around our village, which has slopes and trails. And will be biking for at least 5 hours a week.

Now that I found this forum and read some of the threads.
I think I've bought the wrong bike. I should have bought the Hard tail.

Can you guys give some advice on which parts will I expect that will give out first? The gear shifters and the breaks seem to work well, as well as the suspension.

Thanks for the oppurtunity to join in your forums

Had my 1st MTB before with the same price range, 2 days after purchasing it the rear caliper brake clip lock broke, leaving me with only my front brake halfway during the last Tour of the Fireflies (luckily I survived and finished the ride back to Tiendesitas).

A week after purchasing it, while cruising along River Banks in Marikina with some bike buddies, the crank arm (left side) fell down...yes! as in it left my bike in the middle of River Banks bike lane and have to go back 3 meters to retrieve it, the bolt holding the arm loosened its grip from the bottom bracket so I have to walk with my bike to the nearest LBS in Marikina to re-tight the bolt since it requires a special tool and not an ordinary allen wrench. These leads me to replace the BB with a Shimano non-series with sealed bearing and replaced the whole crank with a Shimano Altus Hyperglide.

Another week or so, while heading to UP from home I experienced difficulty pedaling my bike, the culprit? the rotor was touching the brake pads of both my front and rear brake, I thought at first It was a simple problem of my rotor being dis aligned so again I sent it to the local bike shop (LBS) for checking, and of course shedding some more bucks again for the labor charge. Lo and behold! the real culprit was my hubs, "BENGKONG" na pala yung hubs that's why kahit anong gawin kong pag align sa gulong ko talagang sumasabit yung rotor sa brake pads. These led me to buy a better hubs which is Shimano Deore M-535, when I gave it to the bike mechanic he told me that I have to buy also a pair of new rotors since the rotors I have was undersized and the Deore M-535 I puchased was a center lock (mine was 6 bolts). So again I purchased a pair of Shimano Rotors thinking that this will finish once and for all my problems. To my dismay, the bike mech again told me that I have to purchase and replace my 7 speed screw type cogs to cassette type since Deore hubs are cassette type. So as a good soldier, I again purchased a Shimano Alivio HG50 8 speed cassette type cogs....saying good bye to my dinneros or whatever was left in my wallet.

And adding more insult to injury, my seat post bent despite following the required maximum height, I keep getting a flat tire with a cheap inner tube even when my bike is parked (replaced with a Panaracer DH tube, now it's bomb proof). And small but annoying problems keeps on mounting.

To make my story short, after a month use of my "CHEAP KNOCK OFFS" (according to this thread title) MTB, I overhauled and upgraded my whole bike, taking out all my Shimano spare parts and installed it to a new GT Frame, courtesy of KINGS, yes you guessed it right, from where you got your FULL-SUS MTB......in Quiapo.

My bike now may not be the most beautiful and expensive compared to other bikes I've seen and I still consider it low end, but mind you! In my eyes she's the most beautiful rig I've ever seen (truly beauty is i the eyes of the beholder). After upgrading, it has survived several battles on road, mud, trails, fire roads and even river crossings. It has conquered places I would not imagine using a bike (Licao-Licao, The Wall, Tagaytay, Antipolo, Sierra Madre Loop...and the list continues) without the crank arm falling, nuts or bolts breaking, misaligned rotors and BENGKONG hubs.

The moral of the story:
Better purchase one time a better MTB and yes, a 10 to 15k MTB with low end but branded spare parts would do wonders than XIAOMING & SHUN-TSU Taiwan made parts, rather than conking out in the middle of a fun ride....that would be one fun ride without the fun if your left under the scorching heat of the sun by your bike buddies with a broken bike, a broken pride and a broken pocket..

I hope you learned something from my story with my own run down 1st MTB, but this did not hinder me from continuing from this sport, I love to see the beauty of nature...I love the challenges...I love the romance between me and a mechanical beauty called bicycle...I love MTBing...and I love PMTB!! (sip-sip!)

O.T. Happy 5th Year Anniversary to PMTB and more power to the mods.

Ride safe!

[akiraprime]

Thanks for the quick replies.

Also for terminator for sharing his experience. i

I have had the bike for only a week with about 3 hours total "biking time" and so far so good no problems yet. I'll just be using the bike around the village for a little more time, just "brake it in" (myself and of course the bike) Will be biking out of the village when I start i get the hang of it. ehehehehehe.

I forgot to mention that I had my rims replaced. the stock ones were really ugly. (Still went for the looks noh )

[dayuhan]

Probably too late to matter, but yes, you'd have been better off with the hardtail. Two reasons:

First, these cheap FS bikes are really, really heavy.

Second, they are really inefficient, in design, in construction, and the quality of the rear shock. These bikes are heavily susceptible to what's called "pedal-induced bob", or bouncing up and down as you pedal. That means a lot of the power you put into pedaling is driving the bike up and down instead of forward, and it takes you more effort to go anywhere.

Good exercise I suppose, if nothing else. You will burn more calories/km, that's for sure!

[Melmd]

Originally Posted by terminator

Had my 1st MTB before with the same price range, 2 days after purchasing it the rear caliper brake clip lock broke, leaving me with only my front brake halfway during the last Tour of the Fireflies (luckily I survived and finished the ride back to Tiendesitas).

A week after purchasing it, while cruising along River Banks in Marikina with some bike buddies, the crank arm (left side) fell down...yes! as in it left my bike in the middle of River Banks bike lane and have to go back 3 meters to retrieve it, the bolt holding the arm loosened its grip from the bottom bracket so I have to walk with my bike to the nearest LBS in Marikina to re-tight the bolt since it requires a special tool and not an ordinary allen wrench. These leads me to replace the BB with a Shimano non-series with sealed bearing and replaced the whole crank with a Shimano Altus Hyperglide.

Another week or so, while heading to UP from home I experienced difficulty pedaling my bike, the culprit? the rotor was touching the brake pads of both my front and rear brake, I thought at first It was a simple problem of my rotor being dis aligned so again I sent it to the local bike shop (LBS) for checking, and of course shedding some more bucks again for the labor charge. Lo and behold! the real culprit was my hubs, "BENGKONG" na pala yung hubs that's why kahit anong gawin kong pag align sa gulong ko talagang sumasabit yung rotor sa brake pads. These led me to buy a better hubs which is Shimano Deore M-535, when I gave it to the bike mechanic he told me that I have to buy also a pair of new rotors since the rotors I have was undersized and the Deore M-535 I puchased was a center lock (mine was 6 bolts). So again I purchased a pair of Shimano Rotors thinking that this will finish once and for all my problems. To my dismay, the bike mech again told me that I have to purchase and replace my 7 speed screw type cogs to cassette type since Deore hubs are cassette type. So as a good soldier, I again purchased a Shimano Alivio HG50 8 speed cassette type cogs....saying good bye to my dinneros or whatever was left in my wallet.

And adding more insult to injury, my seat post bent despite following the required maximum height, I keep getting a flat tire with a cheap inner tube even when my bike is parked (replaced with a Panaracer DH tube, now it's bomb proof). And small but annoying problems keeps on mounting.

To make my story short, after a month use of my "CHEAP KNOCK OFFS" (according to this thread title) MTB, I overhauled and upgraded my whole bike, taking out all my Shimano spare parts and installed it to a new GT Frame, courtesy of KINGS, yes you guessed it right, from where you got your FULL-SUS MTB......in Quiapo.

My bike now may not be the most beautiful and expensive compared to other bikes I've seen and I still consider it low end, but mind you! In my eyes she's the most beautiful rig I've ever seen (truly beauty is i the eyes of the beholder). After upgrading, it has survived several battles on road, mud, trails, fire roads and even river crossings. It has conquered places I would not imagine using a bike (Licao-Licao, The Wall, Tagaytay, Antipolo, Sierra Madre Loop...and the list continues) without the crank arm falling, nuts or bolts breaking, misaligned rotors and BENGKONG hubs.

The moral of the story:
Better purchase one time a better MTB and yes, a 10 to 15k MTB with low end but branded spare parts would do wonders than XIAOMING & SHUN-TSU Taiwan made parts, rather than conking out in the middle of a fun ride....that would be one fun ride without the fun if your left under the scorching heat of the sun by your bike buddies with a broken bike, a broken pride and a broken pocket..

I hope you learned something from my story with my own run down 1st MTB, but this did not hinder me from continuing from this sport, I love to see the beauty of nature...I love the challenges...I love the romance between me and a mechanical beauty called bicycle...I love MTBing...and I love PMTB!! (sip-sip!)

O.T. Happy 5th Year Anniversary to PMTB and more power to the mods.

Ride safe!

What a real life story in MT Biking Sir Terminator, your story has inspired another "padawan padyakero" like me sir, tnx...pero i still use my "generic jaguar" mtb while i am in the process of assembling my first entry level rig....

[daqs]

same bike with our neighbor... its heavy steel frame, just care on deep paint scratch, rust will definetely starts to appear.....

[mamumunrok]

My first mountain bike was a custom built which cost me Php7,000 about 12 years ago, now I have a bike which started out as a 2k frame and the whole bike now cost Php 12k, still a low budget but trail worthy bike in my opinion.

[tellybuhay]

Wow. I guess highly discouraged talaga ang mga ganitong bikes ha.

Howabout kung mga bata ang gagamit, pang-laro-laro lang nila? ano po ba masasabi nyo sirs?

[mongare]

Originally Posted by akiraprime

I recently bought a cheap full suspension MTB from quiapo. Bought it for less than 3k.
Its a heavy 21 speed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...DSC00748-1.jpg

after 20 years of not riding a bike, i finally decided to go back on biking again and i bought a very similar bike. it did me good, it openned me to mtbiking and infact, it brought me to some distance. but after 2 months riding on it, some parts started to break, the first is the shifter and then the derailures, changed them with non-series shimanos, including the v-brakes and whoola it runs good until i finally decided to get a good and more reliable rig.

i am still using the bike, especially sa pamamalengke, hindi nakawin and probably will use it for bike commuting. since mabigat maganda pang-exercise. and besides, its a gift from my wife, kaya minamahal!!!

[houndcat]

Originally Posted by akiraprime

I recently bought a cheap full suspension MTB from quiapo. Bought it for less than 3k.
Its a heavy 21 speed.

I'll be using it on 80% road then 20% trail.
And will be using it mainly around our village, which has slopes and trails. And will be biking for at least 5 hours a week.

Now that I found this forum and read some of the threads.
I think I've bought the wrong bike. I should have bought the Hard tail.

Can you guys give some advice on which parts will I expect that will give out first? The gear shifters and the breaks seem to work well, as well as the suspension.

Thanks for the oppurtunity to join in your forums

i think we have a similar bike (if not actually the same). anyways, i've had my bike for about six years na rin . . . what i changed? i replaced the brakes with the v-brake type . . mahina kasi ung stock. i also changed ung gear shifters (plastic ung stock, di ba). but aside from the brakes & gear shifters, that bike can last long without major troubles.

in the future, you can just upgrade later. . . . . like what i did with my bike (but that's another story)

[alexzkhy]

Originally Posted by tellybuhay

Wow. I guess highly discouraged talaga ang mga ganitong bikes ha.

Howabout kung mga bata ang gagamit, pang-laro-laro lang nila? ano po ba masasabi nyo sirs?

I also got 2 of this for my kidz and no problem so far. Just replace the shifters and brakes as mentioned earlier. One thing I noticed though... the tires get easily worn out even just the kids riding it.

[rodracing]

akiraprime,

I agree, first thing to go would probably be the shifters. A bad fall / drop of the bike would break it. I suggest you replace them with trigger type shifters (easier to use).

Rod

[Col.TED]

I can also relate to the story since I bought a mall bike too for my daughter, upgraded some parts too......iba ang pakiramdam paggamit mo,di comfortable at mukhang di matibay/tatagal..... sold it ng palugi in just a short time of use....

moral of the story....get a good bike frame first then everything follows/comes next....

[ayeeh]

I think kung kaya pa mag tiis ay magtiis muna.. unti unti lang ang bilia, in the long run mas makakatipid ka pa....ako kaka tapos lang maasemble ng mountain bike ko ngayon after 3 1/2 months of reading useful post here, finally! akala ko nga 15K pwede na pero inabot ako ng 24K (+ 1K sa helmet hehehe) sulit naman and tama si terminator once you've seen the finished bike na pinagtyagaan mong buuin.. feel mo yun na ang pinaka magandang bike sa buong mundo (opps medyo exag. lang

next step... long flat road ride muna.. baka hingalin ako sa akyatan

[akiraprime]

Thanks for all the replies....

Update lang po. After two weeks or ten hours biking. the shifters are beginning to show its real worth.... medyo nag-stuck up na sa ibang gears. and it started to shift down on its own (ganito ba talaga?)

What kind of shifters would be good for newbies like me? does it come in a set? should i have it done by the technician at quiapo?

Dami ko talagang tanong. ehehehehe

And also the brakes what would be a nice replacement?

Thanks for your help guys

[terminator]

Originally Posted by akiraprime

Thanks for all the replies....

Update lang po. After two weeks or ten hours biking. the shifters are beginning to show its real worth.... medyo nag-stuck up na sa ibang gears. and it started to shift down on its own (ganito ba talaga?)

What kind of shifters would be good for newbies like me? does it come in a set? should i have it done by the technician at quiapo?

Dami ko talagang tanong. ehehehehe

And also the brakes what would be a nice replacement?

Thanks for your help guys

A Shimano 8 Speed Dual Brake/Trigger Shifter would be a good replacement for begginers, 700 petot a pair yata sa King's. Shimano Cables are sold separately at 55 petot.

A good brake would be of course upgrading it to disc brake, but upgrading it to disc brake would mean you have to replace your hubs to be disc brake ready where you can attach a rotor to your hubs. A pair of Shimano Mechanical Brakes cost around 2,500 again at King's, am not sure if the rotor is included. A pair of Shimano Deore Hubs cost 1,350...and that's not all, most built bikes are having cogs that are Thread Type...a Shimano Deore Hubs are Cassette type compatible only, which means you have to replace your cogs also to cassette type. An HG50 Shimano 8 speed cogs cassette type cost 450 petot. Hope this would help.

[anthrax76]

@terminator, he can't go disc yet. frame and fork is not disc ready.

for brakes, your current v-brakes are okay. just get better pads. the problem is if the better pads are not compatible with your vees, but i think most of the pads in the market are compatible.

as for the shifters, yup, terminator is correct. even if it's a non-series shimano it's okay, basta triggers na. don't thet the shifters that has the levers above the handlebar, pareho lang yun nung nakakabit sa bike mo ngayon. integrated na rin ang brake lever dun malamang.

you have to watch out for the number though. if you have a 7 cogs, get a 7 speed shifter. if you have 8 cogs, get 8 speed shifters. kung hindi compatible, ex. 7 cogs ka, and 8 speed ang shifter. err...my suggestions is get 8 cogs. although haywire ang shifting mo, you might need to change your RD and chain. 8 speed RD's, you can get for P650, low end but it works. 8 speed chain, around P500 siguro, 'di ko na alam