There are more and more bike manufacture factories nowadays, and it is not a problem to produce a bike to meet simple needs, but why we usually don't recommend people to buy too cheap mountain bikes?
1. FRAME MATERIAL
Generally, low-end bikes use steel as the whole bike material, the disadvantage is that it is heavy and will rust. The advantage is that even if it is a low-end frame, the strength is still okay.
High-quality bikes generally use aluminum or bikebon fiber, but also useful scandium (very little). The advantage of aluminum and bikebon fiber is that they are lightweight, do not rust, and are easy to mold. Aluminum and bikebon fiber also have a grade. Mainly in terms of strength, welding process, extraction tube thickness / bikebon fabric layer, etc.
2. SUSPENSION DIFFERENCES
Bicycle suspensions and bike suspension absorber principle is basically the same, in general, there are two kinds: pneumatic suspension and spring suspension. The advantage of air pressure suspension is adjustable rebound strength, light weight. The disadvantage is that the structure is complex, not easy to maintain and repair, compared to the spring is more delicate. The main differences are weight, stroke, strength, support, lubrication, damping, rebound linearity and so on. Among them, stroke, damping, linearity and strength are the key points. Generally speaking, the longer the stroke, the more expensive the price. Fox forks also have a version with adjustable compression speed (RLC, i.e. Rebound, Lock, Compress, rebound, lock, compression are adjustable). But it should be noted that the suspension travel needs to match the frame type, generally XC level bikes, fork travel 80mm ~ 120mm, AM fork travel 140mm ~ 160mm, FR and DH can consider more than 160mm travel.
A good suspension can filter the large and small vibrations well, while avoiding instability when braking and encountering large vibrations. The low-end suspension is either almost 0 suspension, or bad linearity, easy to bottom out, too slow or too fast rebound, adjustable range and very little or almost nothing.
3. TRANSMISSION KIT
General low-end transmission materials are steel, finger paddles and the like with plastic, and low precision machining, low strength, high weight. High-end transmission is generally most of the aluminum + a small part of steel, finger paddle with aluminum, and many of the components require high strength are processed with CNC technology, precision, strength and weight can be very good. For example, CNC hollow cranks, CNC cassette, CNC finger paddles, and SRAM XX CNC flywheel (very good) for XT and above. Another part of the shift system that is worth more is the rear derailleur. Rear derailleurs like the Shimano XT and above even use one-way damping bearings to keep the chain stable. There are also some rear derailleurs that use bikebon legs to improve strength. Another area that is easy to overlook is the shifting cable and cable tube. Ordinary shifter cables and tubes are poorly lubricated and not smooth to use. High-grade cables and tubes (such as XTR's) are coated with Teflon material, which feels light and dry, and is more conducive to accurate shifting.
4. BRAKING SYSTEM
Brakes are divided into V-brakes and disc brakes, V-brakes are low cost, more reliable and easy to maintain, but they are easy to hold and fail in water, and when braking for a long time, V-brakes cannot be pulled. Disc brakes are not perfect either. First of all, the linearity of disc brakes is very poor, which only alleviates the problem of V brakes that are easy to hold, and the weight is only relatively light. Good oil disc brakes are light, linear, with strong clamps/pistons and little thermal degradation (mainly by high quality DOT oil or mineral oil, and similar oil discs like XTR also have a heat sink on the lining). Disc brake discs are also very important. The first is that it needs to be light, and at the same time ensure that the strength is high, so that it will not easily swing or break, and also require good ventilation for heat dissipation.
5. FRAME DESIGN
The frame has a lot to do with the material, design and function. The frame is divided into two kinds of soft tail and hard frame. Generally soft tail is more suitable for large intensity riding, while the hard frame is usually stop at XC level. Soft tail with rear suspension, rear suspension price often exceeds the fork, mainly because a good rear suspension is usually a dual-chamber design to avoid bottoming out, and the second chamber is filled with inert gas. In addition, rear suspensions place more emphasis on linearity and rebound. The welding process of the frame is also very important, which directly determines the strength of the whole bike.
6. WHEELSET
The wheelset is divided into rims, spokes, hubs, inner and outer tires. There are two general types of hubs: Perlin and ball bearings. Pellegrin can achieve good strength and lubricity at low cost, but for higher precision, the cost of pellegrin wheelset will rise significantly. Ball bearing structure is more complex, maintenance is not convenient, high strength also need high cost to ensure. Spokes seem to be the most worthless, but in fact a lot of names: there are ordinary steel spokes, there are reducer spokes (a spoke in different positions on the thickness of different), hollow aluminum spokes, bikebon fiber spokes and so on. And even the most common steel spokes, DT (brand name) is also much more expensive than miscellaneous brands. The main difference between the rims is the strength, as well as the adaptable inner and outer tires: the rims of high-grade wheelsets are compatible with vacuum tires. Inner and outer tires are relatively less complicated, but the price difference is still not small. The difference is mainly in terms of wear resistance, grip and weight.
7. OTHER ACCESSORIES
Is the handlebar set, seat tube, seat bag, water bottle cage and other accessories. The handlebar set mainly emphasizes strength and weight, the seat tube is similar to the handlebar set, but Fox and other brands have air pressure lift seat tube, which is very convenient when riding in the mountains. There are also a lot of seat bags, with base plate materials ranging from plastic to bikebon fiber, and rails divided into stainless steel, manganese steel and titanium alloy, with significant price differences.
Overall, the price of a hardtail mountain bike reflects the quality of the bike to some extent. If you just need a simple commuting tool, then there is no need to pursue too expensive mountain bikes. If you are a professional cyclist, then you should take bikee to choose a better quality mountain bike rather than a less expensive one for long hikes and off-roading in the mountains.
