I was surprised how tough this has been. Finding bikes for my tall ass has always been tough but considering she’s avg boy height I thought itd be a breeze. Now if she were to want a used 2000 dollar mtn bike, boise craigslist is the jam.
That’s a pretty unsexy bike right there. I’d buy the higher priced, lower specced Specialized over that. Shallow, I know.
That’s a pretty unsexy bike right there. I’d buy the higher priced, lower specced Specialized over that. Shallow, I know.[/quote]
If that bike is in good shape, it’s a good buy at $550, let alone $450. Not super sexy, but it is a bike that won’t need to be upgraded any time soon even if she is super serious about riding. And it is really only a paint job away from this:
As for the BD frames, my experience has shown me that a BD bike with, for example, Sora, has a lower quality, heavier frame and small bits than a Sora bike from a shop. Do not succumb to the idea that you are getting a $1000 bike for $600 just because it doesn’t say specialized on the side. I can’t say the same for their higher end stuff, but I’d be willing to bet that a $2000 dura-ace bike is pretty much the same as a $1200 bike from a shop but with some DA parts instead of 105. A good frame, but not a frame that Giant would put DA on. A lot of people use these places to get cheap DA kits because they’ll give you $300 back if you to return the frame without parts. At least you used to be able to do that.
do you have a cannondale/specialized dealer there?
and i thought the trek/specialized dealer i’m at was a little weird.[/quote]
lol, they sell Treks too. They picked up Cannondale right around the time Dorel bought it.
Looks like it’s going to be the Allez. Stopped by today, but they didn’t have one in stock.
i vote that giant.
I love mine. Better action than my DA 9-speed barcons. Best bike part I have purchased in 3 years.
Most brands skimp on the clamps, bolts, cassettes, brakes and a host of other stuff. The rear derailleur is bumped a level and the rest is corner cutting. SOP. Oddly BD often does better on stems and posts than a lot of brands. The greased thread issue is for real, though.
Very very true. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but a girl came in once with a bikes direct motorbacon fixiemacallit and I spent hours putting it together with her. I made sure that we went over the whole bike and greased every thread that wasn’t greased. Then I realized that no threads were greased. Then I realized that the headset didn’t have grease in it…
So that ended up being an ordeal. It was supposed to be a 45-minute job showing her how to put her bike together, but ended up being a 2+ hour overhaul, where we took everything apart, greased it, and reassembled it. I even helped her face the headtube and bottom bracket shell and chase the BB threads. Then she left a $2 tool use “donation” in exchange for bike assembly and a lesson on how to use almost every tool in the fucking shop. That was a frustrating afternoon, to say the least.
This douchy teacher at my school just got a Motobecane 'cross bike and started showing it to me/rambling about it. It’s interesting. There are brand name parts on there, but not all of them seem quite the same as the brand name parts that you would buy new in a bike shop. The Avid Shorty 4 brakes, for example, seemed to be the same shape as the ones my buddy just bought, but the finish quality was…rough, with a very large seam around the middle, not characteristic of Avid at all. Likewise, a kid brought in some XT-equipped Motobecane mtb one day, and the shifters just didn’t feel like the ones on the bike right next to it, though they were nominally and visually almost identical (motorbacon had a different colored plastic piece on the bottom). They didn’t work as well, either. I don’t think that the brand name components that BD puts onto their bikes are all the same as what we would buy in a store here. I could be wrong, but that’s the impression I get every time I work on them. They’re just…off. Not all of them, but some of them. I, of course, have nothing more than a few unscientific anecdotes and a hunch, so I could be wrong. Just how it seems to me.
That said, if they made a single speed 26" frame that could take a 120mm fork, I’d be seriously tempted…
That’s interesting. On VO’s page for the Sugino Alpina crankset, they indicate how there are multiple versions of the Alpina crankset out there, all finished to different specs. It’s not too hard for me to believe that Avid/Shimano/etc might be persuaded to do the same.
If I’m not mistaken, Tzusing from H+Son has indicated more than once that often the only thing distinguishing one brand’s products from another (since they come off the same assembly lines) are the fact that some are built to tighter specs than the generally identical, but “out of spec” (i.e. looser spec) part that came off the line behind them.
was she at least good looking?
That’s interesting. On VO’s page for the Sugino Alpina crankset, they indicate how there are multiple versions of the Alpina crankset out there, all finished to different specs. It’s not too hard for me to believe that Avid/Shimano/etc might be persuaded to do the same.
If I’m not mistaken, Tzusing from H+Son has indicated more than once that often the only thing distinguishing one brand’s products from another (since they come off the same assembly lines) are the fact that some are built to tighter specs than the generally identical, but “out of spec” (i.e. looser spec) part that came off the line behind them.[/quote]
This is interesting, thanks surfimp/ tarck
I messaged Bikesdirect Mike about this thread over at bikeforums. Let’s see if he pops in to clarify anything. This is an interesting issue beyond just bikesdirect bikes… if there are actually multiple Ultegras or whatever that meet different tolerances, that’s quite something to find out.
i find that highly highly unlikely. shimano wouldn’t let second rate/ lower spec/ QC failed parts hit the open market, lest it besmirch the good name of shimano.
This. Avid is the only company that I know of that sells parts spec’d differently whether they’re OEM or Retail. I have a set of OEM SD-7 brakes around here somewhere. I got 'em off ebay and they were labeled “not for individual sale”. I’m sure there are others that do this, but I doubt Shimano does.
I would like to make sure the record shows that my post was entirely speculative and most likely included specious reasoning.
Backpedaling, I do it.
(See what I did there?)
Shimano makes OEM parts that have a different part # designation than the ones available at a retail level, like this crankset I was looking at on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370310809778&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
FC-R553 is not part any shop can order, you can only get these as take-offs.
I’d guess they came on a bike with black 105 10s and black tektro brakes, to cut cost/keep a 105 bike at a certain price point, while slipping in Tiagra level parts that don’t say Tiagra on them and have a 105 level finish.
[quote=Scheezler]Shimano makes OEM parts that have a different part # designation than the ones available at a retail level, like this crankset I was looking at on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370310809778&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
FC-R553 is not part any shop can order, you can only get these as take-offs.
I’d guess they came on a bike with black 105 10s and black tektro brakes, to cut cost/keep a 105 bike at a certain price point, while slipping in Tiagra level parts that don’t say Tiagra on them and have a 105 level finish.[/quote]
maybe it’s the color, but those look like poo compared to my silver 105 cranks.
does not believe in negative space
There is definitely a difference between stuff meant for the chinese market and stuff meant to be exported, without a doubt. Seems like probably BD uses domestic market stuff, to me.
I mean for like a hundred bux bulk you can get a flying pigeon with a ‘shimano’ 3spd hub
[quote=johnnypecans]There is definitely a difference between stuff meant for the chinese market and stuff meant to be exported, without a doubt. Seems like probably BD uses domestic market stuff, to me.
I mean for like a hundred bux bulk you can get a flying pigeon with a ‘shimano’ 3spd hub[/quote]
This is incorrect; our bikes are made in exact same factories that build bikes for Trek, Specialized, Fuji, etc
and to the same standard
[quote=dmotoguy][quote=Jim]
What typically IS junk are headsets, straddles, seat posts, clamps, stems, etc. [/quote]
This should be bold/underlined. The bolts are the worst possible steel/al, they strip if you look at them funny. all of these parts should be replaced if possible… or just be careful w/ assembly and run it till it fails.[/quote]
This is one of the more silly statements I have read on forums in the last 5 years.
I have been spec’ing bikes for 25 years; and do not even know how anyone would request lower grade bolts.
Bikes we sell use Shimano, Sram, Ritchey, Mavic, WTB, Vuelta, Kalloy, Tektro etc components.
They are made in factories that make bikes for almost all other brands.
Quality and QC is exactly what you see on most bikes in shops.
Distribution cost is the major reason bikes and other things can be purchased online for less money.
Most people understand this.