Did i buy a suitable bike?

[Count_Shagula]

Havent ridden mountain bikes for years. I want to ride to and from work which is only a few k's but i want to do trails and jumps (Theres huge jumps 5 mins ride from my house). Probably should have just come here and asked first but after a few weeks of considering Merida and Polygon i bought a Silverback bike online https://www.99bikes.com.au/silverback23 ... bow-silver. Hate the colour but the specs seemed great for the money. Anyone care to comment on whether i've gone for somethign decent or made a mistake? I was looking at Canyon bikes but could'nt justify the price since im just getting back into things and havent ridden in years. Thanks

[uart]

Havent ridden mountain bikes for years. I want to ride to and from work which is only a few k's but i want to do trails and jumps (Theres huge jumps 5 mins ride from my house).

Pretty heavy at 17 kg, but at the "club price" it still looks a fair bit of bike for the money.

Should be fun on trails, but bear in mind that it's a downhill orientated MTB, so not exactly efficient for commuting. In particular the "double-down" tyres will be relatively heavy and slow rolling. I can't comment on it's suitability for jumps through, as they're not really my thing.

[bychosis]

I’ll start by saying I hope you didn’t buy it at $3499 or whatever ridiculous mark-up-to-mark-down price they listed. Otherwise it’s not bad spec if a little heavy. The proof will be in the riding. Won’t be brilliant at commuting on road, it should be fun on trails.

Lately I’ve been riding my trek remedy 140mm travel ‘trail MTB’ to commute. 8km on road with a fair bit of climbing to work takes about 4min longer than a flat bar commuter, but the bush detour home is a lot more fun! I rode the bush detour on a decent hardtail a while back and it was a little quicker, but not as much fun to descend on. I’m willing to take the hit on the road ride to work for the fun to get home.

Ultimately you can ride anything for a few kms. If your MTB isn’t great for commuting on, you can pick up a decent flat bar roadie for under $300 second hand. There’s a reason I’ve got a flat bar roadie (amd some others) to go along with my Remedy - I really want to ride the remedy, but it’s not the right tool for every job.

[Duck!]

If your commute is mostly on road or other generally flat ground, that thing will be a dog, however it will become a lot better when stuff gets lumpy.

The single pivot rear suspension is good for response to trail bumps, but is very inefficient for pedalling; every downstroke on the crank will pull it into compression, causing it to bob horrendously and suck most of your energy, while at the front the slack head angle gives steering stability so you're not pinging off every rock on the trail, but the trade-off is it handles like a bus when you do want to steer the thing.

Microshift transmission and Suntour suspension systems have improved a fair bit in recent years, but are still a step down from the bigger players. Tektro brakes are pretty underwhelming, but at least they're not SRAM.....

[Count_Shagula]

My commute is about 5 mins drive, unsure what that is on a bike. Lots of up and down with hills but theres heaps of things to play with/ride on and hone skills on the way. I was looking on maps and theres actually a small offroad bike trail thats pretty much on my route so that should be awesome for a little after work de stressing. Not overly conncerned about the weight of the bike. I work on my feet for a living so fairly fit. I paid $2000 for the bike and the RRP is many times more than that on the Silverback Germany website. I know its not a Canyon and high end specs but figured it would be a good stepping stone if i decide to get back into things. Was originally considering a Polygon and Merida around the same dollar mark but this seemed a bit better for the price. Oh well guess ill find out once it arrives. Going to have a blast im sure, just hope it can stand up to some fairly heavy riding. I am also considering the ALDI wednesday special bike if its a Polygon as a hardtail backup to ride to and from work. Thanks for the comments guys, i noted how many times you guys have commented and its a hell of a lot for any forum. Much appreciated.

Edit actually one more question. I went to the local bike store... I live quite rural and asked if they could build it for me. They were pretty uninterested even though i said i dont really care how much they charge. Should i just buy some torque wrenches and do it myself or should i travel to get it built properly? (I used to ride but its been many years and this bike is like nothing i've ever ridden so im kind of cautious and dont want to build it myself and bugger it up)

[Andy01]

Edit actually one more question. I went to the local bike store... I live quite rural and asked if they could build it for me. They were pretty uninterested even though i said i dont really care how much they charge. Should i just buy some torque wrenches and do it myself or should i travel to get it built properly? (I used to ride but its been many years and this bike is like nothing i've ever ridden so im kind of cautious and dont want to build it myself and bugger it up)

I might be wrong, but I wouldn't expect that there would be much to "build" - most "bikes in a box" that I have seen only need the handlebars turned 90°, front wheel fitted and pedals fitted, and that's about it. My experience is limited to hardtail type bikes, but I would be surprised if a dual suspension needed to have the frame assembled as well.

It is, of course, sensible to go through everything else to check bolt and screw tightness etc.

I think that is it a very good idea to start building your bike maintenance skills and getting some basic tools because bikes are not maintenance free - there is always something to adjust, replace, lubricate or tighten.