RubeRad

Hey all, just your average unboxing report, didn't know where else to stick it, but since I'm a clyde I guess anything goes in here, right?

About a month ago we (pre)ordered a Motobecane FantomDS 29 Comp from BD for the wife. She's 5'11" and got the 17.5", it should fit me close enough as well to help me decide on sizing for when I buy myself a hardtail.

After waiting for the pre-orders to get fulfilled to BD (earlier than they initially predicted), the bike was shipped from TX, it arrived when UPS tracking said it would, but unfortunately I was out of town for 4 days so I wasn't around to set it up. Assembly was beyond what the wife was up for. I thought it would be just front wheel, seat, pedals, handlebars (which she did), but this needed more. Rotors and brakes needed to be bolted on (done). Chain was twisted in that way that it can sometimes get, instead of trying to figure out the miraculous contortion to undo it in-place I found the quick-link, opened it up and just took it off. (So clean and shiny!)

Trying to put the rear wheel in, I unfortunately discovered that the derailleur hanger is mangled, apparently some incompetent factory worker screwed it down without seating it properly. Bent so badly it interferes in the dropout, the axle doesn't fit (see 2nd pic, the opening in the hanger is pinched). Email to BD with pics last night was answered promptly this morning, replacement hanger is on the way. Meanwhile I will get this one in a vise and try to get it straight enough at least I can get the wheel in, everything else set up, so we can at least ride around the culdesac, even if shifting is bad/impossible.

I spun the wheels, they go, but they are not at all smooth, I can feel significant crunchiness in the hand. That's a symptom of overtight cones, right? I'm hoping that if I open them up I'll find regular cup&cone, get a little grease in there, close 'em up right, they'll be good.

I'll come back later with some whole-bike pics, more info about how the setup goes.

jsigone

from the frist picture, I'd send it back. The hanger is now longer parralel w/ the drop out and shifting will be skewed to a total F up. Read D can go into the wheel causing full lock up and you on the deck.

Hope the new hanger works for you and fix the problem .

RubeRad

You'd send the whole bike back? I'm optimistic that the hanger is soft enough that it took all the damage and the frame is fine (isn't that the point of replaceable hangers?). So far I'm chalking this up to 'you get what you pay for' -- you save money with BD and you take some risks, so far acceptable.

squirtdad

I would at least check the frame for alignment and being parallel....the force to bend the replaceable hanger was also applied to the frame, so a check is in order, and will make you not wonder moving forward

RubeRad

Good idea. Googling, I see Sheldon has some good ideas for this, which is good because I don't want to buy a FFG-2

RubeRad

Progress: I banged on the hangar in the vise a bit, I was able to straighten it out somewhat by putting a screwdriver through the hole and bending it, but I wasn't able to get enough leverage in the appropriate direction to spread the dropout. SO, instead I just put the hanger onto the dropout without bolting it, got the wheel in, clamped it all in place with the QR, and it actually seems to work pretty good for now. I put the chain in (twice, because the first time I routed it through the RD wrong), and shifting seems OK. Of course the whole RD would fall off if I took the rear wheel off, but it's just temporary until the replacement hanger arrives.

Put on the pedals, front brake, front wheel, and now able to spin around the culdesac. It seems ok at this point, although it's noisy because there's rubbing going on, and I think a lot of air needs to get into the shocks. (I'll need to buy a shock pump)

First pic of the whole bike: that's not the seat/post that came with it, we had to switch temporarily because the provided post was too long, we might have to cut it down a few inches. 2nd pic shows the awkward routing for the RD cable, coming off the drive side of the downtube, and diverting to the non-drive side by the under-BB channel. Since the FD is top-swing, I might move that cable into the other slot, but it seems to work fine, so probably I'll just wait a year or two until I change the cables. 3rd pic shows the odd (to me) lack of welding at the end of the gusset under the down tube, also the asymmetry of the opening. Can moisture get in there? Is moisture supposed to be able to escape from there?

RubeRad

Having some trouble adjusting the brakes. Got the front brake pretty good, the rotor is only lightly brushing a pad on one side. The back brake though, it's not just rubbing, it's like pinging or knocking as it goes through, at first I thought from the sound it was chain rub on the FD, but it's the back brake. I'm confused as to why the back brake doesn't have spherical washers like the front, so the adjustment procedure of loosen, squeeze, tighten, can't actually change anything, it'll always tighten down flat every time.

RubeRad

Got the back brake now. Even though there are not spherical washers, there are elongated holes, so the caliper can slide sideways. Even though squeezing the brake didn't really want to position the caliper right, nudging it with my hand while screwing down got it pretty good. Replacement hanger should show up tomorrow...

RubeRad

Got the hanger in the mail yesterday, the wife was able to get it on herself (gotta love a woman that wants to get her hands dirty!) After that, I showed her how to remove a couple links from the chain (it was very saggy in small-small), and we had to screw the B-screw ALL the way in, otherwise the pulley was riding the granny gear. Otherwise no changes were needed for tuning the RD, I did give a few turns to the FD cable tension though. (Oddly, the RD does not even have its own barrel adjuster, just the one up at the shifter -- never seen that before!)

Bought a shock pump, got both shocks dialed in for her weight (haven't baselined for my weight yet), so we're all done, still haven't had the chance for a decent shakedown ride yet though.

Only things left to install are extras like the cyclocomputer, bear bell, seatbag, and pump clip, maybe replace the seat clamp with a QR. (one drawback of the bike is FS leaves no room in the triangle, only bottle cage brazeons are beneath the downtube -- she'll keep a pump down there but will probably carry water in a camelbak)

RubeRad

During a shakedown ride while I was at work, rear shifting suddenly turned crappy. I suspect housing slid home into one of the ferrules or something. A few twists of the barrel and it was good again, except B-screw all the way in was not sufficient, RD was riding on the largest 2-3 cogs. A trip to Lowes determined the B-screw is an M4, .7mm pitch, 20mm length. I bought a 3-pack of 30mm, I could have gotten away with 25, but for some reason the 25s were slotted head, and the 30s were phillips, which I preferred. Now the granny gear is available again, but it seems pretty bush-league to pair a cassette with a hanger & RD & B-screw that can't clear the largest cogs.

CycleryNorth81

How is the bike riding now? Was the saving from BD worth your time and expertise?

quicktrigger

FWIW,
Have bought two bikes from BD, and have had ZERO issues. Honestly, I worry more about UPS handling than the bike. My local UPS office know me very well, and I'm sure they hate seeing me walk through the door. Not to say that there can't be issues with the bike from other sources pre-shipping (i.e. manufacturing, warehouse). I have seen threads where there definitely were issues.

IMHO, BD is worth it, if you don't mind getting a little dirty from time to time, aren't put of by basic adjustments and fitting, competent in running hex wrenches, and are willing/capable to maybe do a bit of problem solving if something goes wrong (or willing to hire someone that can). But not everyone will fit into the mould. First time bike buyer with no knowledge, or inclination, probable needs to go elsewhere. But people like myself, looking for value, and enjoy some of the basic tinkering, then BD is an excellent option especially for some of their mid-range and up. I saved ~$200 ($450 vs $650on my BD mountain bike that was slightly better, than nearly identical local bikes. And when it comes to Titanium bikes, nobody can touch them.

QT

RubeRad

Well, it's not "my" bike, I've only taken it around the culdesac. It seems ready for the next shakedown ride, we'll see how she likes it with some more miles under the belt. Also I'll get some rides with the suspension pumped up for my weight, which I haven't tried yet. So far, as far as I can tell, it's like riding a pogo stick.

As for my time and expertise, I enjoy tinkering with bikes, so that's no extra 'cost' in my mind. I went into it expecting these kinds of things (maybe not this many though), so it's OK. As for savings, if you believe their marketing hype, I got a $2K bike for $1K, and that's definitely worth it. In reality, maybe it's a $1.5K bike, who knows. I'm happy so far.

When I buy a bike for myself I'll be watching bikeisland.com for a scratch&dent returned bikesdirect.com bike, double discount! Budgeting like $500-800 for a hardtail 29er.

RubeRad

And here it is...