Is my bike any good?

Question

I have an Lumala Trigger ATB 26" bike and I have no problems with it, but I have never felt a better bike than that either. It costs about $300 and it is a full squish with 100mm travel fork and a oyi ch 501 back suspension (I have never heard of that brand) it has 21 (3 on the front 7 on the back) gears and comes with Shimano Revoshift friction Shifters. I wanna use it for proper mt biking but I wanna know if it will hold up or if I should sell it and get a new one. thanks :)

Answer 1

Is my bike any good?

It depends on what you mean by "good".

There are many definitions of the word "good". Definition 2.3 and 2.4 in the dictionary are a good fit for this situation.

Good
Lexico

2.3 Useful, advantageous, or beneficial in effect.
‘a little sun is good for you’

2.4 Appropriate to a particular purpose.
‘this is a good month for planting seeds’

If your bike is useful to you and appropriate to your purpose then yes, your bike is good.

I wanna use it for proper mt biking but I wanna know if it will hold up or if I should sell it and get a new one. thanks :)

We can't know how hard you will be on your bike and there is no data on how much abuse your bike was designed to take. How you ride is a key factor in how long a bike will last no matter how rugged your bike is.
In the absence of critical information we cannot make a determination on how well your bike will hold up.

My recommendation is that you ride what you have.

1. Time in the saddle will tell you what kind of riding you like. This information will be useful when or if you move to another bike.
2. As you ride things will break. This will tell you what features to look for when or if you move to another bike. For example - suppose you are unhappy with the braking capability of your bike. You can look into modifying your current brakes (better brake pads for example) or make sure that better brakes are on the list for your next bike.
3. Selling your current bike won't offset the cost of a better bike by much.

Everyone has to start somewhere. What's important is that you get out there and ride and keep on riding. Only you can determine what meets your needs and is "good".

Answer 2

Dunno where I first heard it, but I used to use the phrase, "the best bike is the one you've got," all the time at the shop.

To answer your questions:

Will it hold up? No - and no bike will if you're riding it. Every bike, regardless of what you spend initially, will require regular maintenance. From my many years as a mechanic I've come to believe that for most people, the skill of the rider determines the rate of maintenance required more than the "quality" of the components.

Should you sell it and buy a new one? If you want, but there's no need to. When stuff breaks on cheap bikes, it tends to be cheap(er) parts; when stuff breaks on fancier bikes it tends to require more expensive replacement parts. Essentially, the cost breakdown of bike repair is proportional whether you have a nice bike or a shitty one; that is, you don't normally "save" money by buying a nicer bike. Stuff might break down less often on a nicer bike, but when it does (and it will) it will cost more to fix. Over the life of most frames, the cost of maintenance will always come out more than the initial price of the bike if you're maintaining it regularly.

What you do get from nicer bikes is a better experience. You may love your current bike now, but some day you may hop onto a friend's high-end MTB and immediately realize what spending money gets you: the shifts are crisp and predictable, the bike is light and smooth, the suspension is plush but efficient, the geometry is forgiving; overall that sensation of flying that makes bike-riding so enjoyable is easier to achieve. THAT is the reason to upgrade, not cost equations.

So go ride your current bike until you decide you want a better experience. Then test-ride a bunch and see which gives you that thrill of riding and buy that one. Don't worry about "quality" or cost breakdowns, just get what you can afford.

Answer 3

This answer is admittedly not all that different from Nathaniel's and David's, but I'll try to be a bit more specific, and to build off the point Michael made in the comments.

First, bikes are actually quite complex objects. I realize that high-performance bikes can seem very expensive. It may seem absurd to spend $5,000 on a high-end bike. You can definitely come very close to an expensive bike's performance on a cheaper bike. So, on some level, it is objectively absurd for consumers to spend that kind of money. However, under a certain price level, you may get components with limited performance and durability.

Your bike is probably at that price point. Good suspension systems are costly. You have both front and rear suspension, so they're likely to be quite cheap. If you have disc brakes, they're likely to be pretty cheap as well, and it will take much more effort to brake hard than on a more performance-oriented bike. Basically, the components on a cheaper bicycle have relatively low performance, and they'll probably be less durable if pushed.

However, you didn't define "proper mountain biking", so we don't know how much you'll stress the components because we don't know how hard you'll ride. I'm admittedly handicapped in this section, because I mountain biked for a year in college and never really liked it. But you don't have to be a genius to know that there are basic, intermediate, and advanced trails. There are also various disciplines, like cross country, enduro, and downhill.

I rode a basic trail on a cyclocross bike, which is basically a road bike with no suspension and 35mm tires - definitely not a mountain bike, and not as capable on more technical terrain as a proper MTB. It performed fine on those easy trails. I passed a lot of riders on department store bikes, who were doing just fine. I definitely wanted my CX mountain bike on a more intermediate trail, but you might have been OK on a department store bike there. I don't believe I tried an advanced trail, or something more suited to enduro or downhill bikes. I bet that you could take your bike on an intermediate trail; note that depending on the weather and terrain, there may be sections you'd be better off hiking down or up.

Basically, we don't know what sort of "proper mountain biking" you want to do. On the road, my wife was perfectly happy taking her yard sale 10-speed bike on 40-mile organized or solo rides. Objectively, the brakes weren't very good, her shifting was clunky (so she didn't shift much), and the frame was slightly misaligned. However, she had a lot of fun for some time. She did get a more performance-oriented bike, and she's enjoying that more. However, her bike was adequate for her for some time.

That possibly lays out a roadmap for you. Your bike is likely to be adequate on many easy trails. You could start there and see if you like the sport. You may or may not wish to progress beyond a certain difficulty point. You could simply upgrade your bike when it doesn't meet your needs and you have the skill, fitness, and desire to benefit from a better bike. Realize that you don't need to go all the way to the top of the price point, and perhaps you should not until you know what you want out of a bicycle.