.:Jimbo:.

In trying to get an idea of how Felts and Motobecanes fall in comparison to the bigger bike names such as trek and speacilalized, ive decide it would be best to ask for all you other members to rank the bike brands to determine how many other bike brands are prefered over felts and motobecanes on average.
Heres a few other bike brands i know off hand aside from those already listed to add to the rankings
Lemond
Fuji
Giant
Bianchi
Schwinn
Klein
Orbea
Marin
Raleigh
Cannondale

BillyD

How Freudian is that? ".....suck as trek"

Serpico

from that list, I'd checkout Lemond, Bianchi, and Cannondale

good luck

.:Jimbo:.

sorry, meant to type such

mloywhite

Bianchi!

johnny99

In the lower price ranges, there is little difference between brands at the same price points. Buy whatever fits you best. For a beginner, good customer service from a good local bike shop is worth paying extra.

In the higher price ranges, you start seeing significant functional differences between bikes. If you're paying that kind of money, you should already know what features are best for you.

jyossarian

Is this related to that new job you got? How's that going?

alanbikehouston

The only folks with enough direct experience with each of the major bike makers and bike importers are the people who run bike shops. Of course, they tend to praise the brands that they sell.

Most owners are perfectly happy with whatever brand of bike they happen to be riding, until something goes wrong. The biggest difference among the bike brands, at any given price point, is their willingness to provide meaningful warranty service. Some companies think a "lifetime" frame warranty means that they are obligated to assist the owner for his lifetime. Other companies think of a warranty as something that is used to sell the bike, and provide little or no actual warranty assistance after the sale.

So, your bike may need to break before you will ever know how good that particular brand really is. And, if your bike never breaks, well...you ought to "rank" it highly.

.:Jimbo:.

no, i plan on getting a third bike, a road bike for my leisure rides, but for my work i just put down 300 bucks on a specialized langster, which i plan on paying off entirely by friday i just need to get rid of this oversized hybrid, its way too slow, and too damn heavy, and mostly because my hybrids handlebars are way to wide to squeeze through the lanes of traffic here in NY, so i wanted a bike with drops, so i looked into a track for work and the lack of shifting means lack of derailers, so therefor less maintence and less on road problems to deal with. Picked the langster becuase of the black paint job too so it doesn't stand out as much as those metallic yellow and bianchi blue bikes.

As for the messenger job....i kinda like it , im still trying to get into it, and trying to get familiar with NY, very confusing. Its alot of riding, and its beating the crap outta of me lately now that ive been working consistently for the past 2 weeks, and do about 80 miles a day, i work from 9 am til around 6 or 7pm so im out and about for quite sometime, but im making a ton of runs and average 30 packages which equates to $120 a day, and im still a beginner, so it'll only get better, i hope! Been to some cool companys too, ed sullivan theather( david letterman), blender magazine, time magazine and a few other i cant think of.

It was quite expensive to get started and had to borrow money, chrome messenger bag-140 bucks, fresh brake pads-20 bucks, new tires and tubes( all that supposedly puncture proof stuff)-100 smackaroos , and bike clothing related stuff, water proof stuff and warm stuff for the cold ny weather,around another 150 bucks. But ive already paid that all off, and now can buy some nice goodies, mostly for my bike, and future bikes.

baj32161

Well I ride a LeMond so naturally I like it. I also liked Specialized (which is not on your poll) when I test rode it. It boggles my mind to see the Trek hating that goes on in these forums from some of the members. Don't be put off...Trek makes a fine bike and offers a good value for the money, as well as a lifetime frame warranty. All of the bikes you have listed are from good, reputable manufacturers. Give them a test ride and make sure you get one that fits you. I have heard, and seen in here that Felts are very highly thought of as are the new Motobecanes by their riders in here. Have fun with your search. Next to the actual riding, the searching and shopping isd the most fun you can have.

Cheers,

Brian

jyossarian

Jimbo, if anyone asks, tell them you do 4 centuries a week and you get paid for it. BTW, it'll take a few months to get the lay of the city and the feel for where the traffic is and isn't. Enjoy yourself and I hope you're running a brake on the Langster. And make sure you eat a lot.

johnny99

Of course, LeMond is made by Trek. So are Klein and Fisher. Actually, a lot of bikes that say "Trek" on them are really made by Giant in Taiwan or China. Most of the other brands the OP listed also import some or all of their bikes from Asia. You should focus on the fit of the bike. The brand name doesn't mean too much (except for customer and warrantee service).

steppinthefunk 

This of course is all personal preference, but If I were to rate them as per my choice of brand it would go something like this: (with a few added)

Cervelo ( A couple of guys engineering some awsome bikes - Unfiltered by corporate marketing)
Bianchi (Italian flare - history...the dude in Breaking Away rode a Bianchi)
Lemond ( Trek quality with Italian flare... Trek quality without being a part of the cookie cutter scene )
Orbea (Nice bikes, very OCP... unique to my area)
Cannondale ( Very common in my area... Nice bikes though - especially that Six13)
Fuji ( Nice bikes, but when I think "roadbike" I think "Italian" - The name "Fuji" does not bring up thoughts of Olive oil, spaghetti or road bikes)
Raleigh ( My cousin had a Raleigh when we were groing up... I remember it as being a cool bike... But I'm my own man, I dont want to copycat my cousin)
Giant ( Even though I am well into my thirties, I still have a spark of fire in my soul that was flamed by Rage Against the Machine from my relative youth... Giant is a corporate giant - Corporate giants are evil!)
Klein ( I used to lust after the Kleins of the 90's... That was when I really didn;t know much - Kleins are still nice, but I feel like I grew out of them - but I still don't know much )
Marin (Don't know much about them, so I stuck them towards the bottom of my list - but if you swap out the letters "ar" in Marin to "erl" to become Merlin, then it would shoot towards the top of this list!)
Schwinn (Schwinn's are cool... just not for roadbikes - If I were to get a cruiser then I would look no further than a classic Schwinn)


Once again, this list is all based on my preference "brand" wise - which in turn is based on absolutely nothing worth merit... That being said, I would pick a kick a$$ Schwinn over a mediocre Cervelo... That is, if there were any kick butt Schwinn's out there... and if there were any mediocre Cervelos...

fmw

So what about De Rosa, Pinarello, Basso, Colnago, Pegoretti? Aren't those Italian enough? Le Mond is a Trek with French model names, not Italian.

jeffpintler

Bianchi (Italian flare - history...the dude in Breaking Away rode a Bianchi)

Actually the dude in Breaking Away rode a Masi.

alanbikehouston

Trek does not purchase any bikes from Giant. Some of its mid-priced bikes come from its own supplier in Taiwan. A couple of entry level bikes are purchased from a supplier in China. All of Trek's top level bikes (those with a street price in the $1,000 to $5,000 range) are made in Wisconsin. Any bike sold by Trek is designed by its own engineers, and must meet Trek's standards for safety and reliability. Trek requires a bike that it sells for $600 to meet the same safety standards as a bike it sell for $600.

In contrast, many bike brands are really just decal outfits. They don't employ any engineers. Don't own a factory. Don't own a testing facility. They just import someone else's bike, and slap a decal on it.

gpelpel

Time, Look, Cyfac, Lapierre. Just to add some awsome French brands.

rufvelo

and for "a kick a$$ Schwinn over a mediocre Cervelo..." - are they even in the same league?

Cycle2100

From the Masi website:

"Quickly gaining notoriety among cyclists for such quality, Masi bikes nearly became a household name in the 1979 movie "Breaking Away" in which actor Dennis Christopher rode a 1978 Masi Gran Criterium."

I just watched that movie last night for the first time and enjoyed it. I had never heard of Masi before.

I think Italian names have the most panache, for what it's worth I test rode Schwinn, Specialized, Giant, and finally went with Trek because of how it fit (like a glove). That's the most important thing.

johnny99

I don't know about this year, but in the last few years, Trek's "supplier" was Giant. Trek is not keeping this a secret. The bikes are made in factories owned by Giant, side-by-side with bikes that are labeled "Giant".

johnny99

Masi was one of the top bicycle brands during the 1970s. Of course, today's Masi of Taiwan is not the same company as the 1970s Masi of Italy.

DJYeti

I may get **** for saying this....but I recently picked up a Kona Deluxe...haven't ever been this happy with a bike before (last bike was a bianchi). Check out Kona...

djtrackie

that's not the first time i heard this, where can i get more info?

Chipracer

I dont personally ride one, but a lot of people on my team ride cannondales and love them. I DO like the way the frames look. The welds are so smooth that it looks like one piece of metal. Im not saying that makes it a better frame, but it might suggest something as far as how much pride they take in building frames.

I love my Giant, havent had a problem with it since I've put about 4-5k miles on it. I used to have a Trek and wasnt a huge fan, but I think it was mostly because it was too big and had crappy components.

ettsn

Masi is now a sister brand to Haro (BMX, MTB) and Del Sol (Hyb, Cru).

-Paul