cycletheworld78

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping someone can recommend a good mountain bike. My sister got into mounting biking this summer but is very hard on her bike especially up hill riding. She has broke a few chains already and damaged the gear shifters on some of the cheaper bikes. If anyone can recommend something from a rider with very strong legs. To get an idea of what we're dealing with I posted some pics. Thanks

70sSanO

While it is possible to break a chain from someone’s pure power, it is more likely caused by someone’s poor shifting technique. Shifting under power is highly stressful on components and chains. A drivetrain can be destroyed because someone just forced a shift under full power.

Granted, poor quality does break easier, but too many people are beasts on the trails and don’t break a drivetrain.

John

Rolla

Sounds like the problem is with the parts rather than the bike, but asking this forum to suggest a "good mountain bike" without knowing the kind of riding, terrain, budget, etc. is pointless.

Chinghis

Anything from a Local Bike Shop, rather than a department store, perhaps? That would be my starting point. What's she riding now?

Speedway2

With legs that Strong....all you'll need is a decent Single Speed MTB! No much to break. Just carry any extra chain/bits

gsa103

I'm sure she's strong, but it's hard to push down with more force than you weigh, unless you really pull on the handlebars. My point is that it's unlikely that she's putting down that much more force than some of the larger men.
Any of the major manufacturers (Trek, Specialized, Giant, etc) have quality bikes, see your local bike shop (LBS). Expect to pay around $1k for a new hardtail, $2.5k for full-suspension.
For good quality component you want Shimano Deore or higher (SLX, XT, XTR). Once you get above Deore, reliability and quality don't improve much, you get more features and lighter weight. Deore and SLX are a good sweet spot for Shimano components.
Some of it is likely a combination of technique and poor or bad components. You want to ease off the pedals while shifting, and soft-pedal until the shift completes. Better components make the bike shift faster, so you can get back to pedaling faster. Shifts should be a quick click on both up and down shifts so it takes less than a pedal revolution.
Anticipating your shifts is very helpful, a strong kick or two will give you enough momentum to soft pedal while the shift completes. Shifting as your cadence drops, before it bottoms out is critical.

cycletheworld78

Currently she's on a Hiland 26" Aluminum mountain bike

cycletheworld78

this is true, she's not a small women at 180 lbs 5,10. She was a competitive weightlifter and can squat almost 480 lbs and has lots of push in her legs enough to wreck the last two bikes she's owned

dedhed

Sounds like she was on a Dept store entry level bike.

Toadmeister

Go on...

Kapusta

This^^^^

veganbikes

The bike she is on is probably not rated to any sort of MTB standards and looks like it probably wouldn't hold up well on the road, If you want something of quality you will want to at the absolute bottom end look around $800 if you are an occasional rider but 1k if you are serious and want more durability. If you want full suspension 2k is really the lowest you would want to go. Make sure the components are known quantities and qualities. Unfortunately Shimano and SRAM do put their logo on some pretty low end equipment sometimes as well as some really excellent stuff. If you are putting out some power I would want external bottom bracket cranks, hydraulic disc brakes, quality derailleurs and other parts. Right now we are in the 12 speed era so 10-13 is generally decent quality and below that it goes down quickly. Properly spoked wheels are also the norm and "mag" wheel are typically relegated to cheap bikes or vintage BMX. Thru axles are also becoming pretty standard on MTB so instead of a thin skewer you have a big thick axle holding the wheel and the nice thing with that is you cannot put the wheel in crooked and tightening it is easy.

I would recommend taking her to a local shop especially one that deals in MTB stuff more exclusively. Anything near trails and such tend to be good options. Amazon and Wal Mart are not bike shops and never have been and never will be. Stay away from the stuff online unless you can actually ride it in person but even then support your local shop.

Reflector Guy

Sometimes the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, and in this case I think this is it.

Maelochs

The Hiland is close to the least MTB you could buy---https://www.amazon.com/Hiland-Mountain-Bike-Inch-Red/dp/B07ZKCK6WG/ref=asc_df_B07ZKCK6WG/?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=&hvpos=&hvnetw=o&hvrand=&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=& hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584276303975273&psc=1

As others have said, plenty of super-strong riders have ridden for hours over extreme terrain at max effort and not broken a thing. Sounds (as others haver said) like she is trying to shift under full load, which will indeed break chains and tear derailleurs right off bikes.

Even if she were to perfect her technique, that Hiland would surely let her down very quickly. Since she is already an athlete, she really doesn't have access to beginner-level equipment, unless she wants to ride without much power, making little demand on the equipment. She needs to either forget abou mountain-biking or make a serious commitment---serious in the $1200 range or so, I'd say.

The absolute cheapest I can find at my favorite n-name lo-price retailer, BikesDirect, would be over $400, for a bike only a little bit better than what she has .... and with likely the same drive train (24-speed Shimano no-name. She could get a passable 29er hardtail with 1x2 (no front derailleur) for $800.

But .... if she doesn't learn to coordinate her shifting with her pedaling, she will be breaking chains and tearing of derailleurs of whatever quality. She is simply forcing the parts to move in directions and under loads for which they were not designed,

I have busted quality road-bike chains by miss-shifting, and I can barely squat at all, let alone squat any weight.

If she prefers, she can buy another cheapo bike and practice her technique. Then when she really is ready for the good stuff (and the cheap bike is broken in eight or ten places) she can move up to a better bike with confidence.

Rolla

Well, no wonder. That's $300 Wal-Mart crap. Go to an actual bike shop and spend some money on something real. I'd recommend your local Kona dealer.

freeranger

Two very different pursuits. Weight lifting--apply all the power to achieve the desired result-to make the lift. With shifting on a bicycle-if you apply all your power while shifting, things are gonna break. While shifting, the power needs to be eased (for lack of a better word) momentarily, while the derailleurs move the chain onto the chosen gear or cog. Very diff. techniques needed for two different sports. While shifting, easy does it, while lifting-apply all the power! And a better bike won't hurt, though even the "best" bike can't make up for lack of proper technique.

fooferdoggie 

yes even on my bosch powered e bike that puts out 300% assist on the highest level of assist about 65nm of torque and me standing on the cranks when I weight 190 trying to go up such a steep hill I could only do 3mph I never broke anything.

Pop N Wood

Teach her how to shift and she will stop breaking things.

Seriously, it is just that simple.

And the "buy a bike from a bike shop" is just pure nonsense. The quality of the bike has absolutely nothing to do with this problem.

something about posting a picture of your sister like that screams troll to me.

Drew Eckhardt 

In spite of weighing under 150 pounds, shifting correctly, and not splitting my chains for cleaning I occasionally broke them until I moved on to 10 cogs with flush riveted chains that had pinned over ends. It's a natural consequence of wear on traditionally riveted chains.

Unfortunately you're only guaranteed strong chains with a 9+ cog bike (10 with Campagnolo) that comes from a bike shop.

Per Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller...cle_chain_wear

Mushroomed pin ends hold them in place on contemporary bike shop chains so that doesn't happen.

You also need bike shop quality to prevent the broken rear axles which go with freewheels instead of freehubs using the Shimano design or oversize axles with smaller ends.

Reflector Guy

Then we'll be right back to Square One when she gets a bike shop chain and promptly breaks it too...

Pop N Wood

Are you baiting me or do you honestly believe what you are typing?

"Bike shops" have access to chains that department stores don't have?

This thread belongs in trollheim.

cb400bill

That's not what Trollheim is about.

Maelochs

Yeah .... some great misinformation here.

Chains are chains. You can buy the same chain the bike shop can buy. And the chain one a cheap bike might be the same chain as well. And even the best quality chain will break if it is abused.

It is hard to understand why people post stuff like this, which the poster has to know is simply not true ... are people so lost in their own internal fantasies that they seriously believe that Other people will believe their fantasies in the face of the reality that we all see and share?

This is why "fake news" gets traction---people have completely forgotten that there is objective truth, and are willing to accept the lies they tell themselves as equivalent to external reality.

Phil_gretz

Incredibly, I used to service bikes for a former football player who broke two chains in about a four year period. Although I didn't witness the actual breaks, I did have to repair the damage each time. Don't ask me know he did this, but neither involved a crash or foreign object in the drivetrain. These were quality chains, too.

icemilkcoffee 

Which brand 9+ speed chains have this flush rivet feature? Does KMC chains have this feature?