juel

What is the major difference between the following brands: gravity, windsot, and motobecane?

PepeM

None.

SkyDog75

Assuming you're talking about new (or recent) bikes, there's really no appreciable difference. All three names are owned by BikesDirect, who uses them for their own line of bikes. As far as I can tell, BikesDirect doesn't distinguish any of their brands from the others by certain characteristics.

If you're talking about bikes from decades past, some of the BikesDirect brand names like Motobecane and Windsor used to be completely separate companies. BikesDirect bought rights to those names long after the original companies stopped building bikes.

Myosmith

All are decent bikes when compared to LBS bikes of approximately the same price point. I have a Motobecane Gran Premio and saved about $200-250 from similarly equipped bikes in my regional LBSs. The trade off is that you have to complete the assembly and adjustment yourself and you don't get to test ride before the sale. There is also no LBS to make minor fitting changes like swapping stems or to provide maintenance. It really didn't matter for me as I live 45 miles from the nearest LBS and do all of my own mechanical work. BD has good bikes at a fair price, but it's not for everyone.

Juan Foote

I have purchased several bikes from BD including the Gravity and Motobecane. The Moto turned out to be the finest looking bike by way of paint, welds, etc. Whether that was by chance I cannot say. The frame being offered was across a wide scale with many different group options changing price parameters.

europa

I don't know about their geared bikes, but you'll find their fixed gear offerings get a lot of positive mentions in the fixed gear forum on this site. Might be worth visiting it, even if you're not after a fixed gear.

RidingMatthew

I have a motobecane fantom CX that I have used for commuting since 2012.. it has been a solid and reliable bike. I am ready to upgrade to one with disk brakes and maybe their titanium model but I have been pleased with it.

manapua_man

All three that I helped deal with were so poorly assembled that I ended up pulling everything off and redoing everything.

They were alright otherwise. If I saw one of their frames lying around I'd probably toss some of my spare parts on it and give it to someone.

Myosmith

Hmmm . . . that hasn't been my experience. Mine took about 60 minutes from box to road ready and that was at a leisurely pace with a cool drink and the tunes cranked in my garage. I did re-lube and adjust the wheel bearings and check true and tension within the first few days, but I would do that with just about any new bike or wheelset anyways, unless I knew the wheel builder quite well. There was really nothing wrong with them from the factory, I just fine tuned them a bit and made sure they were properly packed with my favorite grease. I did end up moving the saddle, stem, handlebars and wheelset from my previous bike to my new BD Gran Premio, but that was personal preference, not because there were any problems with what came with the bike. The factory wheelset is still in use on my Plan B bike and are holding up very well. If you find one of their frames lying around and want to give it to someone, please message me spare parts optional. Several thousand miles on the Gran Premio with zero complaints about quality or workmanship. Sorry you didn't have the same experience.

Juan Foote

Also has not been an issue for me on any of the bikes I have purchased from them. Only notable problem was that I had to massage open some steel forks to accept the wheel when it had been dropped in shipping. Otherwise, it's always a great idea to check in on grease and proper tightening as you go with ANY build.

Hiro11

Adding the the chorus, I've never had a problem with the bikes I bought from BD. Assembly takes about twenty minutes on average if you're somewhat familiar with working on bikes. I've ridden these bikes hard without issue.

Maelochs

Similar but more intense experience.

I was part of bike tour which used BD bikes, so I got to assemble two dozen and ride with them all day, every day, for a lot of days.

They all went together easily. Most needed a little adjustment---mostly because of personal taste for tight brakes.

The wheels did need checking after a week ... but the bikes did a lot of miles each day for a week. Also, these were bargain-basement models--cheapest possible.

I ride a BD bike regularly to this day. They are exactly what we all know they are----basically the same parts and similar frames as the budget bikes from the big names. They cost less because they need a little assembly, a buyer can't test-ride, and there is no marketing budget.

You could take entry-level bikes from any manufacturer, strip off the decals, stick them in with a couple BD bikes, and no one could tell them apart.

As for the three "brands" ... the difference is spelling.

manapua_man

It's not like they were bad bikes, the frames were basically just lower end stuff you'd see from everyone else. I'm guessing they had new people on the assembly line, or they were put together on a Monday or something.

Kapusta

My up close experience with a Bikes Direct bike was Windsor carbon fiber road bike (with "Ultegra" build) we got for my wife. It was pretty decent for the price, but some less obvious corners are cut. The QRs were really crappy. The seatpost was heavy and low end. The tires were wire beaded.

The one big thing that stuck out were the wheels. Essentially no-name hubs, straight guage spokes, and entry-level rims. tI had to re-adjust the hub bearings because they were way too tight.

Overall, I think it was still good for the price, but the take away here is don't be duped into thinking these are some crazy good deals just becuase something has a few upscale components highlighted.

Other than needing to adjust the hubs, the assembly was nothing unexpected. I needed to adjust the brakes and shifters, but I was expecting that.

From my experience with this bike as well as two mountain bikes that friends bought (one HT, one FS), it seems to me that the wheels are where they cut a lot of the cost.

You need to be careful lwhen you look at their comparisons to "similar" bikes from big companies. In many instances they will gloss over some important things, such as they might say that both come with a Fox Fork, but they are not the same model.