General Cycling Discussion - Saw the Land Rider infomercial

What a load that was. It seems like it's a hybrid/comfort bike type of deal. Probably just as offroad worthy as the bikes from Wal-Mart or something. What they had people saying made me laugh out loud too. They had one person say they had to stop in order to shift ha ha ha. So many people were saying they no longer have to look down to shift anymore. I rarely if at all look down to shift. May look to see what gear I'm in but that's all. The worse part was they had editors from some bike magazines complimenting the bike. What made it even worse was it is a $500 bike! My bike didn't cost that much and is much more offroad worthy than that thing is. They need to cut the price but $200 or more to put it in the price range it needs to be in. I believe there was post about this thing before, but I had to bring it up after seeing it. Oh it also can be upgraded to a Shimano front deraileur. Which of course really means nothing, since my $150 Mongoose which came from a sporting goods store had SHimano too. Of course I don't use that bike anymore. Thought I'd share, have a good day all.

Originally posted by sebring
The worse part was they had editors from some bike magazines complimenting the bike.

Just shows you what can happen when you throw your advertising dollars around. I laughed when I first saw the infomercial especially when they made shifting gears sound so hard, I remember when I first got a 5 spd bike that it did take some time to figure out how it work but it seemed to all come together after the first block or so :p

yeah....I'd like to make a little scene where they compare the land rider against a road cyclist, then show my own version where I sprint past doing 50kmh :p

Brendon
:beer:

Originally posted by sebring
What they had people saying made me laugh out loud too. They had one person say they had to stop in order to shift ha ha ha.

This is an endorsement?


Originally posted by sebring
So many people were saying they no longer have to look down to shift anymore. I rarely if at all look down to shift. May look to see what gear I'm in but that's all.

Nor do I. I trust my legs more than I trust my eyes.


Originally posted by sebring
The worse part was they had editors from some bike magazines complimenting the bike.

This should surprise nobody. We all know that the majority of the "reviews" in bike magazines are nothing but re-hashed press releases. This is why I don't bother reading them anymore.


Originally posted by sebring
What made it even worse was it is a $500 bike! My bike didn't cost that much and is much more offroad worthy than that thing is. They need to cut the price but $200 or more to put it in the price range it needs to be in.

It will do eventually. Pretty much every product is over-priced on it's initial release. For some reason a lot of people seem to put great value in being "the first" to own something, and are prepared to be ripped off in order to do it.

I liked when they say, "I found cycling to be such a drag because I had to worry about shifting."

And these are probably people who blab on the cell phone in the car!

I rode next to a kid with the LandRider in Central Park, New York City. All I can say is, what a piece of junk! The bike's looks were OK but the automatic shifter was driving the kid who was riding it crazy. The Autoshift transmission was killing the bike. Seriously. Everytime this kid started, the transmission shifted badly as the chain was 'forced' to move down the cassette. It was brutal hearing the grinding noise everytime he stopped and restarted peddaling. The autoshift transmission seemed to be always "in between" gears, as a result, the grinding/clunking noise was terrible and constant.

You could hear the grinding and clunking almost fifty feet away as the bike shifted with difficulity. If this were a regular bike, the noise from the cassette would force you to head to a local bike shop ASAP but this was perfectly normal for the LandRider.

What gets me is the Autoshift mechanism starts to move the chain down the cassette TOO soon. The moment you begin peddaling, it starts shifting and making that scary clunking, grinding noise like it's badly missaligned.

The Kid who was riding figured out a system to cut down the grinding by taking off with his foot and pushing off like a scooter until he go a certain speed, thereby decreasing the grinding noise from startup. (somewhat).

A lot of energy was wasted the moment he put power into the cranks as the chain got stuck between gears EVERYTIME. It's a sad joke. I'm really surprised this product is still on the market. This was a poorly made bicycle.

FOLKS. The only reason why this informercial continues to show up is because the product is STILL selling. I don't understand why the other REAL bike manufacturers can't put their bikes on an infomercial? If this company can remain on the air for TWO years selling junk, can you imagine if somone sold a good quality bicycle on an informercial.

Where is Bianchi with their Milano?
Where's Trek? Cannondale?

Is anyone listening?

QUICK, let's contact the pro peloton!! According to their website, this bike could handle all the climbs, descents, and cobbles of the European races.:)

http://www.healthandbeautydirect.com/landrider/products.html

Was there not a product called the "Autobike" a few years back? This sounds very similar ...

I am amazed by the amount of effort being expended to solve a non-problem. Anyone who is intimidated by derailleur gears should buy a bike with internal hub gears from a shop willing to spend a few minutes giving them lessons. When I built, repaired, and sold derailleur bikes at Bikecology/Supergo, "Mr. Supergo" himself included a patient gear lesson on the shop stand with every purchase. Thirty years ago, any random customer could easily learn how to shift even a temperamental friction downtube Simplex Prestige system; I can't believe today's typical cyclist is significantly less mechanically inclined.

A truly lightweight, resilient, efficient, reliable puncture proof tyre would be a far more valuable invention than any new transmission I can think of.

Originally posted by Resident
QUICK, let's contact the pro peloton!! According to their website, this bike could handle all the climbs, descents, and cobbles of the European races.:)

http://www.healthandbeautydirect.com/landrider/products.html

Bah! I doubt it could handle my ride today! I'm just wondering at what cadence it "auto-shifts"?

Landrider FAQ from website
"The general perception is that 21 gears are better than 10 or 15 - and now you can even find bikes with 24 or 28 speeds! The fact is that many of these gears are duplicates. A typical 21 speed bike has 7 gears in the back and 3 in the front to give you 21 in all."

How exactly is a 28 speed bike made???? 3 X 7=21, 3 X 8=24, 3 X 9=27, Where does that extra gear come from???? My suggestion buy a single speed and your always in the right gear.

The LandRider people don't seem too concerned about proper bike fit!
From Landrider FAQ:

Does the LandRider come in different sizes?
The LandRider frame is designed to fit most people. If you are between 4'10" to 6'5" you will have no problem. If you are not in that height range, you should call Customer Service for assistance at 1-888-868-9546

Originally posted by diamondback
How exactly is a 28 speed bike made???? 3 X 7=21, 3 X 8=24, 3 X 9=27, Where does that extra gear come from???? My suggestion buy a single speed and your always in the right gear.

28 speed = 27 gears + walking the bike up really steep hills.

Originally posted by diamondback
Landrider FAQ from website
"The general perception is that 21 gears are better than 10 or 15 - and now you can even find bikes with 24 or 28 speeds! The fact is that many of these gears are duplicates. A typical 21 speed bike has 7 gears in the back and 3 in the front to give you 21 in all."

How exactly is a 28 speed bike made???? 3 X 7=21, 3 X 8=24, 3 X 9=27, Where does that extra gear come from???? My suggestion buy a single speed and your always in the right gear.

Campy is all set to release their 14 speed cassette...

Can we just ignore this piece of sheot excuse for a bike. Every LBS in this area refuses to work on the drivetrain of them. They're junk. There used to be a CVT rear gearing system out back in the '80s that seemed to be a bit better, but not marketed well.

Campy is all set to release their 14 speed cassette...
:roflmao:
Actually, I think someone on this site once mentioned running a 4x7. I could be having false memories planted by an infomercial though.