Trinx M166 29er Upgrade Path - Part 1

First on the upgrade list for me is addressing the riding position. Cheap bikes usually don't have sizes, so I'm stuck with a medium size frame. I'm six feet tall, so to be able to ride my bike comfortably, there are a few upgrades that I need to make. With the seatpost way above the recommended maximum height, I find that I'm too bent over the handlebars. I prefer a more upright position, so the stock setup won't do. The bike came with a long stem and 720mm handlebars.

To fix the stem height, I bought a stem mount extender. This raised the stem height about 1.5 inches. I also bought low rise short bars, which raises overall height a bit more. The bars I bought were 620mm, about 4 inches shorter than the standard wide bars. I chose short bars for personal preference since I grew up riding short bar bikes. Most people will find a short bar too twitchy. Lastly, I got a short stem, which moves the bars closer to the body (leading to a more upright position). To complete the cockpit, I also bought bar ends and bar end plugs. Bar ends are good for coasting on long rides, plus they give the bike a unique look since everyone uses wide bars now. All parts are from Wake, ordered through Shopee. 

Stay tuned for the next part, where I upgrade the groupset.

I Bought A Cheap Bike!

My brother-in-law recently got into mountain biking, so I decided to buy a bike so that we have something to do together. I've been biking casually since high school. When I was in Saudi, my dad had a Diamondback MTB that I would trash around Saudia City. I also go trail riding with my uncle at La Mesa, using one of his Trek or Giant bikes.

TBH, I'm not that good enough of a rider yet to notice the difference between a 5k and 25k peso bike. So, I decided to get an inexpensive, quality bike. My goal was to keep it under 10k, otherwise it would have made more sense to get a branded one. I also chanced upon one of Wil Dasovich's vlogs where he biked around Metro Manila using a Trinx bike. I thought that if someone like him who can afford a Merida, Trek, or Giant MTB, uses a Trinx, that means it's good enough for someone like me who's getting back into biking. 

The bike I got, after a month of research, was a Trinx M116 29er. It's an older model, but I needed a bigger bike to match my 6-foot frame. Cheap bikes in the Philippines usually don't have sizes, so I decided to go with a 29er. I chose the Trinx brand because they had a solid reputation. I also seriously considered Keysto and Foxter, but the M116 from Trinx was the best value for the cheapest 29er. I bought the bike at Stan13 on March 13 for Php 6,300. It's a 21-speed with mechanical brakes, outdated stuff, but it has Shimano combo shifters.

I've charted an upgrade path to tailor fit the bike to me, with the goal of keeping the total cost under 10k. 

First, I'm addressing the riding position. Since the seat is raised to the max position, I'm hunched over the handlebars and I feel unstable and uncomfortable in that position. I want to take off a bit of weight over the handlebars and get into a more upright position.

Second, as a 90s teen, I'm used to mountain bikes that have shorter handlebars. I rode my bike through Filinvest trails and I was really weirded out by the wide handlebars.

To fix these issues, I've ordered four components from Shopee: a riser that raises the stem mounting point and a short riser bar. This should solve the hunched over problem and give me a more upright position. My stock steel bar is a flat 720mm, I got a 620mm riser. I chose a shorter bar because I'm used to a shorter turning radius. I also ordered a short stem, 35mm, to decrease the pivot point and bring the bar closer to my body. Lastly, I ordered bar ends for that 90s flair.

Stay tuned for the next post where I'll post installation pics. All in all, I've spent about a third of my upgrade budget (Php 3.7k) on changing the riding position. That leaves me with around Php 2.2k for other upgrades. A hydraulic brake set is around Php 1.5k, so that will eat up most of the budget. Since my bike has a combo shifter, I'll also need to get new shifters.

Down the line, I plan to get an single oval/narrow-wide crank and an 11-speed in the back, but that will take it over 10k. I'll save those upgrades once I've ridden the shit out of my bike.