inexpensive fixed gear...
Thread started by
james fish at 04.20.08 - 11:29 pm
I have a general question to anyone with an opinion or experience on the track bikes like Mericer or Motobecane.
I would like to upgrade from a conversion which i love and is a little too small for me. I was eyeballing some of those inexpensive track bikes on BikesDirect.com , like the Mericer and the MOtobecane. Does anyone know anything about these bikes? or the components?
Essentially you get a new bike for $335 or something . ...
Id love a surly , just dont hae $650 to drop on a bike anytime in the near future....
Or , am i better off saving my pennies?
Id love to hear from the label whores and bike junkies and "know it alls".
thanks, J
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J
Myself and another guy have both bought from them. Though I bought a MTB, I love it. For the price I could have parted all the compenents, sold just them and might have even made money. The frames are made at Chinese plants that most all the big names use (there is only like three plants that make bikes in China). Like my bike is a rebadged Giant AC1 frame, which if I bought similarly equipted would have cost upwards of 2 grand. All the names of those bikes, Windsor, Moto ect are made by the same guy who owns a chain of bikes stores in the south, I think it's called Bike Island or something. Sorry I don't have much expirience on their road bikes, but if you want to know anything more let me know!
dolamyte04.21.08 - 12:57 am
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Dolamyte is pretty much right on the money with what I have heard about bikesdirect from others. Oh, and the name for the retail chain associated with bikesdirect is Spectrum Cycle or something like that, they have stores in CO I guess.
bananaphone04.21.08 - 1:53 am
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Well, I'm selling my Surly Steamroller for $400 when I get home. What size frame do you need? I think mine is a 53cm or 54cm.
ideasculptor04.21.08 - 2:09 am
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That price was for a built bike, not just the frame. Everything except seat and pedals, and those are negotiable. You just can't have the seat and pedals I have on there now (Brooks and shimano SPD)
ideasculptor04.21.08 - 2:11 am
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i need to upgrade to a 60cm frame. I'm 6'2".
currently riding a 57cm. it works with the bars rocked forward and the seat slid all the way back. The steamroller looks like a good bike to me, thanks for the offer. but i need size. bikagra? j/k
james fish04.21.08 - 8:26 am
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I wouldn't do "inexpensive" no matter how tempting it may be.
Inexpensive complete bikes almost always means that the components you get are low quality and will have to be replaced either immediately or sometime in the very near future. Just start with a cheaper (but still quality) frame and build it up yourself. You'll save a lot of headache in swapping out every part that breaks over time.
kyber04.21.08 - 8:46 am
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^^^^^ I agree with kyber. If you buy cheap, you'll buy twice. Used might be a better option.
sc_nomad04.21.08 - 11:19 am
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I've had my cheap redline 9.2.5 for over two years, and I have ridden it on several metric centuries, off road, off curbs, in the pouring rain and mud, single speed, fixed, loaded rack, etc.
I've only twice changed its chain with cheap seven dollar, 7-speed nashbar ones.
it has remained trouble free since I've started riding.
spiraldemon04.21.08 - 11:30 am
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so no one here has tried those bikes on bikesdirect? i too wonder how that frame compares to other "nicer" frames. my friend has ridden one of those merciers for a long time in SF but i haven't talked with her about it or anything. yoah!
neverclever04.21.08 - 11:32 am
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Redlines are not cheap. The Merciers are cheaper. Look in LAFixed and do a search on Mercier, you'll find a lot of opinions.
sc_nomad04.21.08 - 11:41 am
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I have the Mercier Kilo. It's a good frame with a track geometry but the pedals and wheels suck. I had to upgrade those. BTW: I'm selling it but it's a 50cm frame.
web77704.21.08 - 12:29 pm
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Well like I said earlier, I brought from Bikes Direct for the components. If I were to buy them all serperatly it would have cost as much as the bike itself, and the frame has been great. I put mine side by side with the GT AC1 frame and they were almost identical, except for some very small changes that wont affect the bike's performance. Admitidly it's a gamble, I took that gamble prepared to strip the bike and throw the parts on a "name" frame, but I have worked the bike pretty hard and it's working great! I thought about getting a road bike from them but I found a Bianchi Fremont (Fixie) for less with better parts and I love Bianchi so....
dolamyte04.21.08 - 12:50 pm
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ideasculptor, that's a great deal. I'm tempted but it's not my size.
Redline 925s aren't cheap cheap but a good value at $500, ready to commute with fenders. It's made for comfort: You're not going to do 90-degree turns with it or anything.
I'm not knocking those Bikesdirect bikes, they seem like tremendous bargains often with good specs. I've heard of people having good experiences with them, but there those who don't like their business model. Bikesdirect is kind of like Dell: Sell direct and cut out the middle man. They buy the rights to older brands, sometimes only for the U.S. market, and put decals on mostly Chinese frames.
Before you think this is a dis, this is actually how most of the bike industry works these days. Even the prestige brands do this. When it says "Made in Spain" or whatever it often means "painted and finished in Spain, made in China." You could argue that this makes sense since much of the value of the brand (design, looks) was done in Spain. This is true for almost all carbon fiber frames, since the Chinese factories have a stranglehold on that market.
****
If you want to know more about where your bike was made, check out this site:
Where was my bike made?
Georgena Terry of Terry Bikes and Richard Schwinn of Waterford recently had this very informative interview that touches on a lot of these topics:
Steel Really is Real (MP3, 26.3MB, 57 minutes)
cabhauler04.21.08 - 12:57 pm
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