elohttub

Hello everyone. This is my first post in this forum but wanted to place a review of a bike I have been testing for some time this year. I currently work for Mountain Biking Magazine and we had a sister publication Roadie International which had to be shelved this year due to a few different reasons. As this bike was received, we went out of publication (RI) and therefore had a bike for review with no place to print it. Hence the post here in the forum boards. I am just posting this to provide some education on a great bike. This bike was reviewed over the course of 8 months and I used it to train for downhill mountain bike racing.

Price:
Retail price is right around $3,000

Bike Setup:
FSA K-Force Carbon Crankset, Cane Creek 200SL Brakeset, Shimano Dura-Ace Front and Rear Derailleurs High Modulus Carbon Fiber Monocoque frameset, AeroCarbon SL fork with Carbon Steerer (345g) American Classic Sprint 350 wheelset (1350g), FSA K-Force Carbon bar, FSA OS140 stem and K-Force Light carbon seatpost. Total Weight: 15.7 pounds.
Summary:
They don’t have a winning rider from a foreign country, but Motobecane can put out a really Tour-worthy bike. The Immortal Team is one seriously high-end bike for a paltry cost compared to any other bike with a similar build. As far as spec goes, the list is premium, utilizing Shimano’s Dura-Ace and FSA’s K-Force super light carbon components. The Cane Creek brakes are competition proven stoppers and the Sprint 350 wheelset by American Classic is the top of the line clincher set they make. Michelin provides the traction with their Pro Race tires, which grip the road like glue.
At first glance, the high modulus carbon fiber frameset is sexy. The smooth curves in the bottom bracket, headset and seatmast joints are not only good looking but also incredibly strong. The molded carbon fiber frame provides more stiffness than a traditional aluminum frame and offers superior lateral rigidity to help you hold your lines on even the steepest descents. The majority of the beef in the frame is right down at the bottom bracket. This continues out through the chainstays and seat stays providing the muscle to stand up and mash on the pedals up the hills you couldn’t make before. This frame is solid! Weigh it on a scale and you wouldn’t believe that something so light would be able to hold up under pressure but after just over 3,000 miles in the saddle, this bike is still as strong and stiff as the day it was pulled out of the box. The carbon fork and steertube have no stress cracks from potholes I encountered and dampen even the roughest roads. Hand fatigue is greatly reduced with the carbon barset and stem. I actually thought I would see some stress marks down in the bottom bracket area after that many miles but I was proven wrong. Even at the most ass-puckering speeds going down some of the steepest roads which bikes should not be allowed on, this bike handled the corners and descents with aplomb. On full tilt, the bike holds its line so well that you felt as if it were on rails. The American Classic wheels are just so stiff that you get no rotational twist at any angle. One particular screaming descent in the Los Angeles area is Decker Canyon Road which I tested the bike on. On that road, the bike took every sharp turn like a full suspension mountain bike squatting into a corner and popping out to maintain momentum. Not to say it rides like a moutnain bike but that is the feeling you get coming from a dirt background. The responsiveness of this bike is phenomenal and the fact that it weighs just above the UCI minimum (14.99 lbs. vs. 15.70 lbs) makes it that much better.
This is the perfect bike for the rider who wants to race crits or stage races and have a chance of winning. The Immortal Team is up for any challenge and won’t cost your first-born child to do so.
Strengths:
The component spec reaches far beyond the total price of the bike if you were to purchase each part separately. At a bike shop, I would be ready to plop down around $6,000 for this bike. Great value.
The carbon fiber frame is extremely light and durable and the complete carbon fiber spec makes for an ultra light race machine.
Weaknesses:
If you can call it a weakness, I would only like to see a full spec of Dura-Ace rather than the Cane/Creek/FSA/Shimano mix. The mix works very well together but if that is the only thing then I’m fully satisfied with the bike. If you do want a full Dura-Ace spec, get the Immortal Spirit, which comes equipped with that set. The Team edition was mixed to fine tune weight specifications.

johnny99

Shill?

elohttub

But no, I have actually been riding and reviewing this bike for quite some time. First post on here though.

elohttub

What does shill mean?

Bike Lover

Upload your photos to photobucket and then copy the URL into the thread.

BTW, when'd you get the bike?

badkarma

I wonder what Dirk Diggler will have to say about this.......

elohttub

I got the back back around February and have been testing it since. February was right around the time we had to shelve our sister publication due to an editor leaving. We are currently in talks to have someone new come in and take it over.

Thanks for the info on photobucket. I will go register and upload from there.

johnny99

How about posting some photos of you riding the bike? Where have you ridden it? What kind of rides do you do? Are you a racer? Tourist? Weekend warrior? A real product review needs to be much more specific, detailed, and personal. Your post sounds more like a press release. There have been so many BD shill posts in this forum that no one believes them any more.

elohttub

I understand. I am trying to upload photos of the bike right now and just registered on photobucket so I can post them. I am a DH racer in MTB and cross train on a road bike. I don't race road bikes but I have participated in a crit race and got smoked. Not exactly my cup right there. I use it for training and climbing and all around fitness. I ride MTB 3 times a week and road twice a week to mix things up when I train. I am used to reviewing a bike from a perspective where multiple users have riddent he bike and given their opinion. Then we publish them in the magazine. AS far as a personal standpoint, I was very impressed with this bike and the review is as thorough as I would like to make it. I could probably go into details from a race or many specific rides but feel that is not necessary to get the point across about the bike.

Any specifics, I am more than happy to answer. I live in the Los Angeles area and do most of my riding in and around the Ventura, Santa barbara, and Los Angeles areas.

CyLowe97

"elohttub"

Wow.

Hope there aren't any folks who can read your user name backwards. Nobody would be claiming you're a shill if they could!

badkarma

haha, nice catch, I never noticed

daytonian

3.......2.........Alanbikehouston will be here shortly.

elohttub

Nice catch CyLowe! It's actually my cat's name from when I was in college and have used it as a password and screen name for years. Usually takes most people longer to see that.

slowandsteady

Yeah, I expect a bike to fall apart after 3000 miles too. That is why they are made from styrofoam, fit neatly in your back pocket, and can be disposed of after a few months.

Psimet2001 

Why did you decide to make this your first post to the forum?

What brought you to this forum?

What have you learned from this forum since joining?

elohttub

I guess with the way you race really hard and ride harder than most Tour climbers you've never gotten stress cracks in a frame before. I see it constantly in MTB and have broken enough bottom brackets to understnad that is one of the parts that tends to break when I ride it.

Look, I'm not here to battle you guys and if this was spam or"shill" I wouldn't be trying to defend myself and the bike I have been riding. I guess you guys did not want to see any bikes reviewed in "your" forums and I apologize for that. We could not print this review in our sister publication which was shelved for a while this year. I am doing this to give value to Motobecane who has allowed us to review some of their bikes. This one not being an MTB therefore I was hoping to get it out there for others to see about. I'll post my pictures in a bit and let you have your forum back. Hopefully the mods have a chance to talk to me and explain the animosity going on by a community of people who should always be stoked about bikes and anything related.

elohttub

I decided to post this since I don't normally spend much time on the forum boards. I was asked by the company to post my review since it was never published, on the internet to get some visibility out about the bike.

What brought me to it is that I am on the MTB boards if I ever go there.

What have I learned? That the road community has WAY more aniomsity and aggression than the MTB community and seem to hate on new forum posters. I understand my credibility here is nothing and you can take my review with a grain of salt. I have read that Motobecane is not a very popular brand in here and will probably relay that to the brand manager over there and see if he is aware of that. Aside from that, I will finish up my day here in the office and head off do some shuttle runs today and gear up for my ride on Saturday where we are heading out from Simi Valley to Orange County via Topanga Canyon on the road. You guys enjoy your day as well.

Grasschopper

No the problem is that there are a number of people that think Bikesdirect is signing up with different user names and posting fake reviews here to generate sales. If you search 'bikesdirect' or 'motobecane' you will find a good number of posts by people with only a single post...honestly the fact that you have responded to the acusations tells me you are more than just a shill for bikesdirect.

voltman

That price you paid is amazing!

johnny99

So now you're telling us that you have some business relationship with Motobecane? Why didn't you say that in the first place? At least that way people would know where you were coming from. Don't pretend to be a paying customer if you aren't.

daytonian

If it looks and sounds like a duck...it must be a ...........
Weightweenies would love to hear about this review.

badkarma

I'm surprised you found the AC350s stiff, I've found the wheels to be incredibly flexy, but granted I'm a heavier rider (185 lbs).

elohttub

By someone here to identify myself so as not to seem like a "shill". I currently work for Mountain Biking Magazine in its 20th year of publication. We had a sister publication called Roadie International that we had to shelve due to wanting to replace the editor. It is currently being re-worked so that we can come again into publication in 2007. The bike was given to us to test for that magazine right before it went out.

Is there anything else anyone wants to know about me? I seem to be getting flamed hard here and am standing up to it so fire away if you have anything else. I still stand behind the review of the bike and think it is a great race bike for anyone interested.

elohttub

The price paid aspect of it is to only show what its retail price is. No, you are correct, we do work closely with Motobecane. I apologize to everyone on the board if I came off that way. It was not my intention to start a war here.

elohttub

Those wheels took my riding like a champ. I race DH MTB bikes and understand the need for a super stiff and strong wheelset. Some riders find parts work a bit differently for them. To me, the 350's were not flexy at all.