My girlfriend has been wanting a road bike, so I decided to help her buy one as a birthday present.
We had been considering either a Bikes Direct bike or a Trek 1.1. We decided to go with a Motobecane Grand Record from Bikes Direct for $599 shipped. The Trek would have been $750 after tax. The Motobecane also has significantly better components than the Trek, but you don't get the support you get from a bike shop bike. Also, the Motobecane was made in Taiwan, the Trek in China.
For those who don't know, Bikes Direct sells mostly private-label bikes made just for them. They are controversial on bike forums. Some people love them for their great prices, while others hate them.
The bike was shipped by UPS requiring a signature. UPS got one of our neighbors (a complete stranger we've never met) to sign for the bike because we weren't home.
I was super angry about this and let UPS know through calls/emails. They gave a $600 bike to a random person. I've never had UPS do this before, and consider it very bad service. But, we did get the bike.
The bike was well packaged with plastic covers protecting delicate components like the rear derailleur and front fork.
You have to be a DIY'er to get a Bikes Direct bike, unless you want to try and find a shop to assemble it. I've done lots of repairs on our bikes, so it wasn't too much trouble to assemble it.
The bike did take more tuning than I expected. The rear derailleur hadn't been set up at all. I haven't ever really adjusted one before, but I watched some videos on it and read the instructions and now it seems to be working properly.
The build quality on the bike seems good. The welds are all good and the components appear to be high-quality.
My GF hasn't had much chance to ride it yet, but the initial impressions are good.
We had been considering either a Bikes Direct bike or a Trek 1.1. We decided to go with a Motobecane Grand Record from Bikes Direct for $599 shipped. The Trek would have been $750 after tax. The Motobecane also has significantly better components than the Trek, but you don't get the support you get from a bike shop bike. Also, the Motobecane was made in Taiwan, the Trek in China.
For those who don't know, Bikes Direct sells mostly private-label bikes made just for them. They are controversial on bike forums. Some people love them for their great prices, while others hate them.
The bike was shipped by UPS requiring a signature. UPS got one of our neighbors (a complete stranger we've never met) to sign for the bike because we weren't home.
The bike was well packaged with plastic covers protecting delicate components like the rear derailleur and front fork.
You have to be a DIY'er to get a Bikes Direct bike, unless you want to try and find a shop to assemble it. I've done lots of repairs on our bikes, so it wasn't too much trouble to assemble it.
The bike did take more tuning than I expected. The rear derailleur hadn't been set up at all. I haven't ever really adjusted one before, but I watched some videos on it and read the instructions and now it seems to be working properly.
The build quality on the bike seems good. The welds are all good and the components appear to be high-quality.
My GF hasn't had much chance to ride it yet, but the initial impressions are good.
