SurfNonAssfaulT

I have seen the infomercial on t.v. for the "Land-rider Bicycle"! It's a comfy looking all-around bike, good for commuting to work, or riding down dirth paths, etc. But this bike has auto-matic shifting!!! Meaning you don't have to hit any levers or anything, it auto-matically shifts for you! Using a series of pulleys & weights in it's "auto-shift transmission" (basicly a rear-derailer that shifts for you). Anyways, I would like to know if anyone owns a Landrider or has ridden one so they can comment on the quality of the bike! I would love to get one, but I would like to get more info. from ppl who have ridden it. Thank you!

KleinMp99

Auto shift is bad for one reason.

Say you are riding up a hill pushing really hard cranking on the gears. As you go faster it will shift while your mashing the gears.....and it will totally **** up everything. Plus all the other components on those bikes are crap, and the people that are in the commericials dont know anything about bikes.

roadfix

Absolutely not! We Bike Forum members with our good conscience absolutely cannot allow another fellow member like yourself to spend money on a piece of junk like this. Spend you money on a very nice single speed cruiser, instead....

George!

Cyclepath

I've also heard that they shift when you don't want them to. And notice they don't tell you how much the bike weighs.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you buy anything on TV you will be getting ripped off. Bikes, coins, you name it. The advertisers prey on people who don't know any better.

Kev

This bike has been heavily discussed before, check out this thread.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ight=landrider

Basicaly bike is POS!

mrfix

Ditto:

late

Hi,
go to a bike shop. They have to to actually fix what they sell. And they have to do it for a reasonable amount of money in a reasonable amount of time.
There are several reasons you should not get that thing. But let's get to the point. Go to a bike shop or two (or three); try a few bikes. Find one you really like. You will need to learn a few things along the way. The shop will help there, we can too.

OregonBound

I speak from first hand experience--don't get one.

A few years back, I visited a friend in Portland, OR and needed a way to get around town for the week. A former roommate had left one of those autoshift bikes and my friend offered it for my use. Surprisingly, she is still my friend!

Pros:
1. It rolled, sort of.

Cons:
1. heavy. Heavy. HEAVY.
2. Shifting was generally inappropriate.
3. Shifting was generally unexpected. Made keeping a cadence of over 40RPM's almost impossible.
4. Overall quality of the bike was something cold war/Eastern European.
5. Seriously ugly. Ugly enough to make other cyclists stop and look.
6. Did I mention that it was heavy?

Paul

Dahon.Steve

Did anyone notice how the infomercial NEVER had the sound on when these bikes were in action. You want to know why?

That auto-shifting is NOISY to the point that people think the bike is broken. When the rider starts to put power, GRINDING noise from the autoshifting can be heard almost 50 feet away!

ComPH

Just by looking at the infomercial, it looks like there is a governor, shifting the rear derailleur based on the rotational speed of the rear hub. I don't think that any autoshift would feel "natural", but if anything, I'd like it to operate based on torque, not on rpm's. BTW, I am from the East Europe, and lived there for a portion of the "Cold War" era. We didn't have bad bikes nor did we have bad bicyclists. Where in the world did you get the idea Paul? BTW, the only spacecraft today, capable to get people to the space station and back is from that part of the world and from that era. Not bad accomplishment for backward people, is it?

OregonBound

Eastern European, cold war quality:

https://www.team.net/www/ktud/eastern.html

Not once did I call you or your kin "backward people," so don't put words in my mouth.

Paul --note lack of smiley--

roadfix

Sorry, but frankly, the spacecraft may function well, but it still has that 'look'.

George!

supcom

Repeat after me, "Never, never, never buy anything from a Tee-Vee infomercial."

Now, turn off the boob tube, get on a bike and give me three hard laps around the block!

VegasCyclist

although we have already had this discussion (how many times now?) I was thinking about the land rider bike, as the infomertial was on before the vuelta the other week, when it occured to me, that is they sold only their derailleurs for say $30 - $50 (though bike shops) they would probably sell way better than their bikes... as some rec riders might want the auto shift.

fubar5

dead horse.

Bokkie

Ever wondered why they are always smiling in that infomercial. Two reasons, (a) they are paid to smile, or (b) the have shares in the company that sells them and they are laugh at another successful rip-off.

Landrider bikes should be painted brown - to resemble the pos they really are.

mrfix

I don't understand why we waste space in the forum talking about this nonbike. It is virtually unridable as a bicycle, nothing more than a walmart quality bike at 4 times the price. It's obvious that the manufacturers/marketers of this thing are of the financial type and don't ride themselves. If they were cyclist they would be selling bikes. I ordered one a year ago to give it a look, I got it in a damaged box, unboxed it, assembled it and rode it, the overall quality was poor, it did shift based on cadence which was too high for an unfit person to achieve and it made more noise then the garbage truck picking up the trash. I re-boxed it and sent it back, it took about 6 month to get a refund. I also took a look at the autobike which was even worst.

hambug

I just saw an infomercial on this bike today (8/8/05) with heavey discounts, gee, I wonder why? Buy the way. it weighs 33 pounds!

slvoid

If you wanted an auto shift bike, wait for campagnolo to release their fully electronic derailleur.
I'll bet you in about 2 years, they're gonna make a version with not only manual electronic shift but also programmable full auto shift.

So say you're taking it easy, you put your colnago on automatic and let it shift for you.
Say you're climbing and you want to stay in a certain cadance you like or even torque, bam, programmable on the fly.
Wanna work on your spin? Program it to maintain 90rpm. Want to mash? set it to 60.

I wouldn't bother with landrider, if I ever found that piece of debris at my door, I'm gonna burn it.

BTW: when they get to the part about, "you sit upright, so you get better visibility", watch the young lady riding a foot away from parked cars almost get doored and she has to swerve out into traffic to avoid it. How the hell is that better visibility? "Oh, she saw the door and avoided it in time!"

2manybikes

Have you seen the Shimano 4 and 3 speed electronic automatic transmissions? Auto -D inter 4 and 3.

toomyus

heavy, gimmicky, crappy parts, did i say heavy?, cheesey. ehh, a real piece of tripe. no good sir no good.

sbeatonNJ

I put one together for a local church auction; someone had donated it to them in the box. The thing was garbage to put it mildly. The shifting does not activate until you reach a certain rpm and as we all know when you go uphill your cadence begins to slow that is why you downshift.

wasabiboys

ALL I got to say is that the Landrider is an absolute Pile of crap!!!Its basically a Walmart bike with Auto Shift. If someone is so stupid they cannot shift a bike...I recommend riding a coaster break bike with training wheels!

zonatandem

Have ridden one. $ave your money!
Don't want to or don't know how to shift? Get a single speed.

dobber

You still manage to tangle your subs up in fishing nets though.