John_V 

Take the bike to a shop and let them tell you for sure if this is the problem. If this is indeed your problem, it seems to me that the cheapest way to fix it is to have the wheels trued. My LBS charges $35.00 per wheel. I can't see why yours would charge much more that that. If truing the wheel fixes the problem, I don't see where you would really need an expensive upgrade to an inexpensive bike.

Wilfred Laurier

Give two pieces of information - your general location (nearest city, for instance) and your height, and some of us might take a minute and see if we can't find a suitable used bike for you to consider. Your claim that used bikes are hard to find does not agree with my experience.

Also, what make and model of bike is your current $100 ride?

Wilfred Laurier

The greatest advantage of disc brakes, in my opinion, is that they do not rely on or require the wheels to be true to function properly. The same could always have been said about shifting - an out-of-true wheel should not hinder shifting.

dedhed

We don't know your location and what type of bike you're riding, but I can find lots of stuff here.

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...043746946.html
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...055422985.html
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...054671478.html
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...028797504.html
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...039375105.html
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...050045529.html
https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik...048052637.html

And that's just CL

uratex1

Mine charges $2 for truing. I just think upgrading an inexpensive bike is a pretty wild idea. A person I know uses an SLX groupset in his bike that's maybe around the same price point as mine.

I live in Manila, Philippines. I'm around 5'10" or 180cm tall and I currently use a 29er bike. Idk about the frame size but i think it fits me well.

The problem is not that I could find a bike that's my size but rather a bike that's in relatively good condition. It's a personal experience that most people that I have encountered here do not take care of their things properly.

Please read reply above as my response is the same. Thanks.

Ferrouscious 

Your response did not answer the question. If you would like advice, then you need to give us more to work with. If you believe that your bike suits you well, then what are you trying to accomplish? Once you reach 10 posts, upload a drive side picture (the side with the gears on it) of your bike. We can go from there.

Caliper

The freehub body may be the same, but the spacing between each individual gear, plus the thickness of the gears are different. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/cribsheet-spacing.html

There are some games you can play depending on what parts you are swapping, but if it's an 8sp freehub, just buy an 8sp cassette with the cog you want and swap. More cassettes are individual cogs for 8sp units, unlike 10sp+ where there are increasingly clusters that can't be separated.

Ferrouscious 

He doesn't have a cassette hub. He only has a thread-on freewheel hub.

Leinster

If you can stretch to $500, do that. I can’t speak for pricing in your LBS in the Philippines, but here in the US, $500 will get you a nice, brand-name, aluminum hard tail mountain bike, probably with a 3x9 groupset at a respectable level of Shimano or maybe even SRAM components, disc brakes, and a half-decent fork.

That $500 hard tail will be more bike than your $100 bike can ever be. But with the added bonus that the scope for upgrading the hard tail (if you still have an itch to do that) will be waaaay higher than on your current bike.

if you want to know all about cost-effectively upgrading budget mountain bikes, check out the KevCentral channel on YouTube.

uratex1

​​​​​​​Noted, I'll check the YT channel right now, thanks.

uratex1

Here are the pictures you asked for.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RK...39m8XP4dra9hNO

I've planned on buying a cheap bike and upgrading it as I go forward, but then I encountered some issues along the way and now I try to rectify those issues. But the end game is a bike that won't give up on rides and it should shift as expected and should brake without any issues.

side note: I'm currently using this bike on rides to lose weight since i'm on a diet but I will be using this bike to commute to my university once the school year starts.

edit 2: sorry for the dirt on the bike, it's actually ash from a volcano that just recently erupted. It's usually clean just saying.

This is one of the more popular LBS in our area

https://www.facebook . com/pg/bikesouth/photos/?tab=albums&ref=page_internal

(Apparently, FB links do not work.)

If anyone bothers looking, there are some pretty good brands in that shop.

Thanks to everyone here, you've all been a great help.

Caliper

Still swappable, but will definitely want an 8sp freewheel to swap cogs from, may have to match brands as well so the cog splines are the same.

79pmooney

Forget Facebook. A coop could help you a lot. We do not know where you live so we neither know if there is one close to you nor can we recommend one, Coops are bike shops owned by either the employees or by community members. Many have as their mission getting bikes into the community, more bikes being used and spreading information about bikes; both as a concept and hands on; ie how to maintain and fix them yourself. You join or pay a very reasonable hourly rate for access to a stand and tools. There are employees you can ask advice from who are knowledgeable and helpful.

What really is needed here is the eyes of someone who knows bikes. Your rear wheel may well be quite salvageable and may have many miles left. It just may need a little loving (and knowledgeable) care. A coop can help you with the knowledge and you leave with a working bike, some knowledge yourself and probably not very much money spent. You will also know far more about what feasible options for upgrades are and what they might cost.

Ben

Ferrouscious 

In my opinion, the bike is usable. It will work as transportation, but I wouldn't want to ride it for fun. Saving up your money for a nicer bike-shop-level bike would be much better. I also second the idea of going to a co-op. They can teach you much better than the internet can. Here's what I would do if I was in your situation:
1-use current bike, don't upgrade
2-go to co-op, ask to learn about bikes
3-save up money for a better bike.
3a- learn through experience what you don't like about your current bike and what will fix/improve it

Wilfred Laurier

I looked at the picture and I also think that bike is acceptable. Many of the $100 bikes people are trying to upgrade are terrible full suspension bikes, but that rigid frame mountain bike is likely fine.

You should be able to get the shifting working with the derailleur and shifter you have. One thing that might have been overlooked is the derailleur fixing bolt - are you sure that the derailleur has been securely tightened against the derailleur hanger? The picture makes it look like the bolt is not tightened all the way in, and that will make all efforts to adjust the derailleur a waste of effort.

Also it is important that the derailleur hanger is perfectly straight and parallel to the wheel - often judging this by eye is not good enough, there is a tool made specifically for checking and aligning derailleur hangers.

The only 'upgrade' that could make any positive difference is to get a new rear wheel - one with a 'cassette' type freehub, and an 8 speed cassette. The reason is that 8 speed freewheel hubs like yours are very prone to axle breakage and bending. A freehub has no such weakness.

alcjphil

+1 about the bolt affixing the derailleur to the hanger. To me, it looks as if that bolt needs to be tightened. If that is the case, tightening it could cure all kinds of shifting woes. If it is already tight, it looks as if the derailleur could have a lot of unwanted sideways movement that would mean that either something is missing or that the derailleur was not installed properly in the factory, a not uncommon problem for bicycles built to an inexpensive price point

uratex1

Hi! Sadly, I don't think we have a coop here in our place. Fortunately, I have a bike stand, albeit not as expensive as the better ones but it gets the job done. I am a mechanic, although it's about airplanes, heh. For minor works that require tools, I do it myself. I do watch instructional videos on how to do it properly.


Noted, thank you.

I'm actually looking for something like the Giant Escape 2 Disc. It seems like it's within my reach.

The first bike I bought actually was a cheap $100 full suspension bike. After riding it for less than 5kms, something in the rear wheel broke and caused intense wobbling, so I brought it to the shop and exchanged it to the current bike I have. Returned it because it was too heavy and I fear because it already broke once.

I'll have the hanger checked, I'm weighing all the options right now, if I can find a good all-rounder bike around $500 then I might just buy a new one instead of upgrading the current bike I have.


That's actually a replacement derailleur. I actually removed it and then reinstalled it again just to be sure a few days ago. It really shifts nice on a stand but sometimes when it's uphill it acts up. Idk if I am shifting correctly, I just hope that I'm the problem because it's much easier to fix.

Miele Man

Check your derailleur to be sure that it's not loose; that is there's no side to side play anywhere.

Check your dropouts to be sure they are aligned properly. Here's a YouTube video that shows how to make a dropout alignment tool and use it.


When shifting on a hill it helps a lot if you can ease up but don't stop pedaling as you make the shift.

Oh, check your frame for cracks too.

Cheers

Russ Roth

This isn't fully true, a bike at this level doesn't always have the design or the equipment to work right. Not uncommon to see shifter housing that is really brake housing, poorly designed indexing and most modern freewheels I've dealt with have a lot of built in wobble that really screws up the shifting. Some bikes aren't designed to work.

Don't bother rebuilding the wheel, it just isn't worth the effort and should just be replaced. The rim is going to be too soft and the job too difficult if you don't know what you're doing. As far as a foundation goes it isn't as bad as it could be. Cost of hub and spokes will probably exceed the cost of the replacement wheel unless you can find them cheap. An 8sp cassette will **** better from there. It may be that some of your brake rub and poor shifting is also from the current hub needing adjustment, hold the top of the wheel and shake it back and forth, if it moves at the axle there's a good part of your problem. Now watch youtube on how to fix it.

uratex1

Thanks, I actually brought it to the shop earlier, they replaced the shifter housing and the cable itself, shifts way better. It recently became worse after the ashfall we've encountered here. It corroded the cable. It's since been replaced with a teflon coated cable. I think I'll use this bike until I have saved enough money for a Giant Escape City or their adventure bikes.

got it fixed at the shop. will not be making any drastic changes to the bike but will only maintain it until i can purchase a better one, preferably an adventure bike.
But is it possible to convert this to a hybrid bike? Or at least fit a 700x32c tire on the rims? Current tires are 29" 59x622 as it says on the tire wall. Maybe I can make it a tad more efficient on the road.

Russ Roth

Yes you can. 29" and 700c use the same diameter rim, there can just be a significant difference in the width. A 32c tire is wider and will fit a wide range of rim widths. You should have no trouble at all.

Oso Polar

This is not true. Even though rim diameter is the same, 32 mm tire is nearly twice narrower than currently mounted 59 mm tire, so the existing rim may be too wide for it. It really depends on the rim width. Also, changing 59 mm to 32 mm will significantly change the bike handling and may increase the probability of pedal strikes. It may be a better idea to get a set of good but wide slicks (40-50 mm). In any case a decent set of tires will probably cost at least as much as half of your bike...

uratex1

double check and it's actually 35c sorry. I cant find any slicks that are 29. I use it on the roads 99% of the time. So smoother tires are probably better for me. The right height may drop about half an inch. I know a decent pair of tires will cost me as much as my bike. stop hurting me.

Oso Polar

29" is really just another name for wide 622 mm (which is also called 700c) tires. You might want to read this about different tire sizing systems: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html
Better find your rim width (it should be written on it) but if your current tire size is 35-622 than IMHO it is a pretty safe bet that 32 mm tires will work fine. However, 32 vs 35 mm width difference means nearly nothing - it is much more about tire tread, suppleness, weight etc. If you have 35 mm MTB-like tires than switching to good slicks (even of the same size) will be quite noticeable.