indyfabz

The OP is a troll who deserves no such thing.

Go read his Why I didn't use my LBS thread and the responses thereto, particularly the ones on page 2. He's full of it. And, BTW, I don't believe he claims to have gone into a BD brick and mortar store.

Stucky

They should change the name of this forum to Under The Bridge- 'cause I've never seen so many people being accused of being trolls, as I have here. Sheesh! It's like the cycling version of the DT's (Delirium tremors - not downtube shifters)- "Trolls! Trolls, everywhere!".

dr_lha

In the case of Dawes, the original Dawes Cycles in the UK still exists and is very much operational. Dawes make very nice bikes. My first "racing bike" - what we now refer to as a road bikes, was a 10 speed Dawes Galaxy with a lovely lugged steel frame and Reynolds 531 tubing. Dawes have a great reputation, which as an Englishman, I find to be tainted by the generic stuff that carries their name on the BD site.

Dawes Cycles,Touring, Road, Heritage,Lightweight kids bikes

For this reason, I don't recommend the Dawes.

indyfabz

As long as so many people are willing to snap at the bait the trolls will keep their lines in the water.

And they exist elsewhere. There was a notorious one in the Touring forum. I think he had at least one sock puppet who started a thread posing as a teenager who wanted to tour. When I pointed out that his grammar, vocabulary and writing style seemed way beyond that of your average teen he stated writing things like "and stuff" in his posts, trying to make himself sound more like someone of his alleged age.

indyfabz

Motobecane was definitely French.

sced

There are a lot of high quality generic designs/products out there in the marketplace. I don't think that for most people proprietary designs provide benefits commensurate with the price differential.

himespau 

When they first started out, their advertising department was literally some dudes who made a whole bunch of sock puppet accounts at various bicycle websites talking about how great of a deal that they got. They eventually appologized for it and Mike (the guy in charge) had an account on here where he answered questions for a while, but a lot of people don't trust them because of their earlier behavior. And this is documented, not just some kooky conspiracy theory. It happened.

kc0bbq

You weren't here for their actual shilling, it was incessant, so can the attitude.

sced

It really ain't the same olde Dawes, but a revived brand selling Asian bikes.

Road Archives - Dawes Cycles Touring Tandem and Sportif bikes

dr_lha

"Revived brand" would suggest that they went away at come point and came back. Although they changed ownership a few times, they have continued to been a going concern during that time, and their company is still headquartered in the UK. They're more than just some conglomerate slapping a sticker on bikes.

As for selling "Asian bikes", yes, they moved manufacturing to Asia. So did Specialized, Cannondale, Trek .... need I list more?

Inpd

A troll is"One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup". I just don't see how my threads are provocative. This one is just asking which bikedirect bike to buy. How is this provocative? I also posted a thread on why I didn't choose my LBS which was my experience and I understand I don't live in the best LBS area now, but still its my experience.

On the other hand, I think those of you who work in the LBS industry and aren't clearly saying so in your signature aren't being completely ethical. Many forums (i.e. realtor forums) require people in the industry to clearly state they work in the industry but don't need to state their place of business.

cellery

A monkey could put together the bikes that come from BD... I don't know where the argument for paying $100-150 to an LBS for assembly comes from. A five year old playing with tinker toys has more of a challenge awaiting them.

Stucky

Wow! How sleazy is that?!

I've always liked their bikes, and am a former satisdfied customer.....but even being ignorant of the shilling, the one thing that made me very hesitant to deal with BD, was how they say "SALE" on every page- as if the prices you see are a temporary sale price- as opposed to the reality, that they are just the every-day price. That, and the "compare to Specialized bikes for $9 Million".....it really seems disingenuous- like they are trying to hoodwink you- and when I see stuff like that, I ask myself "If that is the nature of their character, and they are trying to fool me before I even do business with them, how are they going to be after they have my money?!". -And the funny thing is, they don't even do a good job of concealing the shenanigans! Might as well just put up a banner on every page, saying "We think you're stupid and we're trying to fool you".

I mean, they have decent products for good prices..they should just let that speak for itself.....

cellery

Then buy the CAAD instead of the Synapse... See what I did there?

Stucky

Exactly! It's not the same as the way bikes arrive at the LBS, where they [from what I understand] have to literally be put together from scratch. The BD bikes are 95% assembled- cables are already hooked up, and everything. I hadn't messed with bikes in decades (and when I used to, I didn't have a clue!), and when I got my former BD bike, it literally took me 20 minutes to get it rideable. And that was being slow, and obsessing over everything and double-checking everything.

I couldn't see any shop charging more than $25 or $30 for that level of assembly...but personally, I'd be embarrassed to walk into a shop and say "Could you do this for me? I can't tighten a few allen bolts, 'cause my mommy won't let me play with allen wrenches!".

cellery

When I did at one time own one of their fixies, I believe they charged me $30 for truing both of those awful Alex rims -- after I spent the 20 mins or so "assembling" the bike at home by screwing the handlebars to the stem, inserting wheels and tightening the seatpot. It is seriously that easy and no bike shop is going to charge someone a weird premium fee to do that unless they are particularly inbred about their policies - at which point I say find a different bike shop.

I still think there are a million better ways to get a good bike than BD though. I would only personally buy a fixed gear from them because there's not a whole lot that can go wrong.

indyfabz

Whatever, sport. You should start a thread calling for the licensing of, and state disclosure regulations for, bike shop owners and employees. That would surely goad people into posting serious responses.

dr_lha

I'm fairly certain that when a Bike Shop get a bike-in-a-box it has pretty much the same level of assembly as a BD bike does. The difference is that a good LBS (rightly) does't trust the factory assembly to be any good, and do a proper build on the bike.


Bike shops typically charge $80-120 for a bike-in-a-box assembly, in my experience.

mirfi

I am a satisfied BD customer, own a Nano and Moto Fantom CX. As far as I'm concerned I bought a collection of parts that were roughly put together just to make sure all the parts were there.

Now, I am very functional human who has tools, experience and an innate ability to fix mechanical things. So, of course, I put both bikes together and rode. But have little experience,(Youtube?!) with bikes.

But with both, an experienced bike mechanic happened to point out things that were out of adjustment. EeeeK.

So, IMHO, if you a 'bike guy' put it together yourself. Otherwise have a mechanic check it over. BTW, get to know the mechanics, if you find a good one, get his number.

Astrozombie

Only ones I like are the Motobecane, they have a nice entry level Roadie for $350 but it's never in stock, so you move up to their Carbon fork bikes for $500, thing is you're still getting Claris so you might be better off just looking for Sora or better at a bike shop.

bbattle

Write BikesDirect a letter and ask them these questions.

roadwarrior

Wrong.

But we do tear down certain portions of the bike to ensure it has been done properly before shipping. Saves the customer a potential pissed off extra trip.

roadwarrior

I did.

Very good.

roadwarrior

Good God. Are you serious?

velociraptor

Ha hahaha... So true!