Quoted By:
An absolute beginner to bikes and new to /n/ in general. (for reference, I'm 22 and only just learned how to ride a bike)
I posted this question a few times on the question generals but each time I get very few replies with different opinions, so I'd like to make a thread to see if I can get a clearer consensus.
I want to buy a bike for commuting, specifically longer commutes (30-50 minutes), and I was going around checking stores around my area.
I've found a tiny store run by a very nice, helpful old man that sells bikes for 3/5 of the price of a similar bike in the big chains. (the specific bike in question is equivalent to 335$)
To my untrained eye it looked good, 27.5 wheels, front suspension hard tail MTB, disc breaks, 3x8(I think) shimano gears, all that good shit.
But the catch is I absolutely can't locate the brand online, not in my native language, not on English and not in Chinese websites like aliexpress, it says "active" and "limited" on the tubes but those are just buzzwords probably.
Here are my questions:
1. Can no name bikes be considered or should they be disregarded immediately?
2. Assuming I live in a first world country, can I trust bike parts to be what the seller claims them to be? how big is the risk for counterfeit parts carrying a big brand's name?
3. What do I risk by getting bikes not from a familiar brand? I expect them to not be as good but just how much worse are we talking here?
4. How worried should I be about dangerous faults? like the breaks straight up not working or the frame snapping? (I weight 80kg so within a reasonable weight)
5. If I get that bike and find a specific part not to my liking, could I just change it relatively simply? and is it a legit long term strategy to just say "I'm a beginner and by no means an enthusiast, so I'll get a very cheap bike and replace parts as I improve or want more"?
6. What should I look for in a bike to determine it's decent? (riding it to try it out isn't really acceptable here).
