Ok here is a picture of my bike. After riding a couple of times this is my opinion on the bike. Ride comfort is good. I need to get a spacer for the handlebars as I feel that the handlebars should be a bit higher so it won't put pressure on my wrist. Alivio shifter sucks. The up gear shift got stuck a few times. Not sure whether that can be adjusted at the cable or not. This bike comes with Deore rear derailleurs and Alivio fron't derailleurs. And damn! I had it only for a couple of days and I got ideas of what components I want to change.
Oh, ya. Just to add. Might need to get a water bottle holder and a bike pouch. The Spare tube and pump I will get abit later since I'm warming up to it and not riding that far yet. Allen keys I bought a set the other day together with the bike cos the shop owner said I have to assemble some parts myself as it cannot be bulky when courrier. Rode about 12kms today. I think it's peanuts for you guys. My quads feels like jelly. Hehe. Slowly then might catch up with other riders.
eohl, yes, will catch up for some yum cha session. Are you born in the year of the goat? If yes, then we are the same age la. Hehe. I'm year 79 also.
First of all, lots of noobs to MTB cycling would usually want to get the handle bar higher than the seat. That is more like beach cruiser...laid back and easy. For MTBiking, the handlebar at the grips should be around the same level as the seats. Check yours. If you feel too much weight on your arms after a long ride, then adjusting the handlebar a little higher would do the trick. If your back feeling the brunt of the weight, then handlebar could be too high. Need to get the geometry right first especially for a new bike. Getting a center balance is important so that going up hills and coming down hills feels comfortable and not taxing to the body.
Gears, cheap or expensive gears should not give you a problem during shifting. It is a new bike and I think the set up of the front derailleur is not right. Where it is clamped to he seat tube and how parallel it is to the crank rings is important to prevent mis-shifts and chain suck. Go to Shimano webs site and download the appropriate manual for your gear system. The manufacturer will correctly specify how to setup and tune the gears. Another thing, most chep gear system comes with cheap cablings. The cable housing can compress under tension and cable may stretch out too. It will take some ime for it to be worn-in. There are much better pre-stretched cables out there with Teflon coat for smooth shifting. There is also a high/low screw limiter on the front/read derailleur to prevent the chain from dropping out. This must be set correctly too. Most bike shops do not do a good job setting up the gears properly as they think that they are smarter than the parts manufacturer themselves. It is just like those "pokok ceri" mechanics...
Forget the water bottle holder... if you want to go for real MTBiking since yu have already invested a lot... time to save up for a bag with a water bladder like Camelbak. Go for 3L of water storage. Rule of thumb for real mountain biking is 1L of water per hour on a hot day. So a water bottle is useless unless for a short ride or you drink really little water.
BTW, get rid of the reflectors for the front and rear. Bette get those cheap LED rear red bike lights as you will be more visible when riding at night/low light conditions. For front light, get LED type too. How bright depends on what kind of riding you do...
So you felt beaten up after riding that distance. It will take a while to tone up the muscles. However, first rule when you get a new suspension bike is to tune the sag and rebound settings. I would assume that you fork and rear shocks is of the air type. Usually most bike fork or rear shocks manufacturer would go with a 20-25% sag level. This is to ensure you have sufficient travel for the big bumps and descent ride comfort. Next is the rebound settings, the slower the less vibration felt to your wrists which is nice but that would make you fork bottom out fast and sloppy. Faster rebound makes it snappier but may give you numbness or pain to your wrist. I would suggest you adjust it half way first. Read up on the fork/shock manual on how to set it up correctly. The reason why I am saying this is that you want your bike to be as efficient as possible without sacrificing ride comfort. Minimizing pedal bob is important - induced by you pushing on the pedal and letting your fork/shock absorb the energy instead of it going to the wheels. That's why I prefer a hard tail - take the abuse at the back but there is a direct feel and no pedal bob at the back. Go read up on pedal bob...
Yes, am a 79er... another goat here. Yum cha not this week, cause would be driving up North this weekend and be back by mid week. Maybe next. Can't help you set up or tune up your bike yet. I would suggest you to print out the manuals from the respective part manufacturers and read it first before going back to the bike shop for a tune-up. Enjoy.
---------- Post added at 06:45 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 06:43 PM ----------
Forgot... that you need a special suspension air pump for the fork/shock pressure. You can't use a normal tire pump.