tilumisteel

Does anybody own one of these? I am looking for some feedback from owners regarding this bike. The price is incredible, just curious on the quality of the frame (compared to hanbuilt USA Ti). Thanks

Impulse666

pcad has one and revels about the quality all the time and he's not the easiest one to please. I'd get one if I was looking for a hardtail.

ed 

hehe

Cyclist30907654

Pcad also bikes in grassy meadows.

lanfarm

And sometimes off a curb

ed 

Open season

theextremist04

pcad thinks gravel roads are mountain biking

Cyclist30907654

and uses a condom for his water bottle.

born2bahick

Don't ride it when Ed's on the trail!

dminor 

Wouldn't be able to anyway; I hear Ed even breaks trails. He's been banned from the North Shore.

born2bahick

That doesn't surprise me. I've known him to clear cut 20 acres of pristine forest, just to get a good run up, to jump over rail cars on a siding!

tilumisteel

Any actual feedback on the bike would be great. Thanks

born2bahick

Patience, we have to get a couple pages of wise cracks, insults, inside jokes, claimjumping and backstabbing out of the way first. Jees, Newbs

dminor 

Don't forget the random Photoshopped pic:



There, got that out of the way.

indygreg

PCAD loves his. he used to post about it daily, but I have not been around for a while.

I have the 08 fly 9357, which is same in geometry and similar in many parts. Great great bike for the price. The shock is flexy, but the 09's use the new version SID race which is said to be much better. The tires on these are very light, but have little traction and will pop easily. Some say seatpost is junk, but I do not know.

With new tires the weight will go up some.

ed 

Wow, Greg...your tires pop? And I thought I was gnar.

OP:
I wasn't impressed with the tube thickness on the Fly Alu. I saw it from the inside out. I wondered how it compared to the tubing on my Komodo, so I cut the head tube off to see. Yup, the Jamis was thicker, the 'becane was paper-thin.

Well that's my $0.02 but here's a free tip. If you're riding it near an old Raleigh...don't be the tough guy...just surrender the right of way.

Just sayin.

ca7erham

^^^^^^^^
I like it

indygreg

The tubes are very thin on the fly alum. That said, I cannot say they are too thin or weak in any way - I do not know. I am quite sure that it is plenty strong enough for me as I stay on fairly tame area and am not the most fearless guy out there.

They sell a lot of the fly series and I have heard very few comments about frame breakage.

theextremist04

that's because the little money that 'becane makes they spend on a squad of ninjas to "silence" anyone who breaks a bike, and then they take all the parts, stick them on a new frame, and resell it.

joshburnett

How many Fly series bikes do they sell annually?

How many frames break annually? (based upon your post it seems like you think that the comments that you hear about Fly frame breakage are indicative of actual rates of frame failure so lets hear it).

ed 

I've had a few visits, but my Raleigh is also a "Ninja-whacker".

indygreg

Well, interesting topic . . . over the 2 years I now have owned a Bikesdirect product (I have two bikes, one is 2 years old and one is 1) and a few months leading up to my first purchase I have read a bunch on the forums here and over at roadbikereview on their bikes. There have been like 3 claims of failure that I remember, a road fork, a road frame and a MTB frame. I seem to recall one included the pictures of the person's face after the crash - but none of these accounts ever had pictures of the failed equipment. They were all very suspicious. The bottom line is that BD.com bikes stir up a lot of issues (more so on the roadie side, that is for sure) and there has flat out been misinformation on both sides.

Now I am not claiming my research to be complete in any way. Someone may reply in 10 minutes with a thread that has pics of a failed BD frame.

I have no idea of how many fly's they sell each year. Mike may weigh in at some point.

patentcad

patentcad

The Fly Ti ROCKS. With real tires (Conti Explorers, 530 grams) and a bigger cluster (I think it has a 32 in the back), bar ends, the bike tips the scales @ 22 lbs even for a medium frame (I think it's 22") which is 2 lbs lighter than my old Jamis Dragon (853 steel), and the Fly Ti has disc brakes, not V brakes like the Jamis. Best MTB I've ever had. Love it, the only fly in the ointment is a front Avid Ultimate disc brake that rubs too much, I plan on leaving that with the LBS to try and sort out with Avid in the Spring (need the bike too much now for winter road riding).