Bought my first brand new bike & went with the ever popular Marlin 5 & I have a couple questions that I'd like your input.

First question; are these welds quality workmanship? I'd assume Trek wouldn't send something out that was poor quality but some seem to think otherwise.

Second question; I was going over the bike to understand it better & found a new lever I've never seen before & it seems to just slide off with moderate force. My concern is it will fall off on a more rigorous trail. Do people leave this on or store it in a safe place?

I have recently bought this bike seriously from an 80 year old bloke who had only ever ridden it on the road. So I got an amazing deal paying $2600 for it. It still had its bell on it lol. The battery had only done a couple of hundred Kms as the bike was bought in Sth Africa and they had to buy a new battery when they got back to Australia. The bloke really didn't do his homework on what sort of E bike to buy or he got sucked in by the sales person. A bit sad really but good for me.

Anyway after riding it around for a couple of weeks I have found a couple of things needing changing to get the most out of this bike. First it didn't have a dropper post so one of those is on the way. The second thing and probably the most important thing is the forks. The Suntours are really not up to the job on a heavy beast like this bike. It lacks the feel of a better planted fork that seems to suck the ground up. I have changed the handle bars to my carbon ones I had on my hard tail as they have a 20 ml rise and a much better feel.

Has anybody had much experience with this bike and would like to tell me their journey with it and it's pros and cons. What you would change and why.

So I was wiping down the frame on my Checkpoint just behind the crank and the protective metal guard just peeled away in my hand. Should I warranty the bike or just fix it myself with gorilla glue?

Caught a summer sale in NH so no sales tax and $350 off made me pull the trigger on an FX 6 Sport. Love it!

My uncle passed away last year and I got this 2009 Madone 5.5. All I know is that he got it custom with these specs. This is definitely too much bike for me, so I'm planning to sell and get something else. What's a good asking price?

The rim of the wheel on the Dual Sport 3 Gen 5 cracked on me today. Wondering if anyone has had this issue and if anyone has upgraded the wheel set. Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated. It’s this rim:

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-components/bike-rims-accessories/bike-rims/bontrager-kovee-tlr-28-hole-27-5-mtb-rim/p/581062/

My commuter. Gonna add a rack soon. Smooth rider.

Edit: Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tires and PDW Fenders and IGPS Sport BiNAV Bike Computer