bhaubold

Being an old school rider, I'm always interested in lugged steel bikes. They seem to be hard to find without going to a custom built frame. Custom is great but, the price is a bit much for my budget.

Today I came accross a Gran Premio Pro at Bikes Direct. I'm not a big fan of buying something without seeing it first so, it may not be the bike for me. But, I find this bike most interesting.

I'm looking for any comments on this bike. I'm not for it, nor against it. Just wondering what you have to say about this bike.

Thanks for your replys,

Bob

patentcad

I wouldn't buy it until they change the name to Bikes Direct Grand Premio Deluxe Fondo Extra Supremo.

bhaubold

Sorry, if I offended you by posting this thread.

kabex

^^ hahahahaha

seriously though, there's some people that bought it over at roadbikereview.com forums, they have a sub-forum specifically for Motobecane.

lazerzxr

I reckon very good for the money if you can set things up yourself. They have obviously cut cost with bar and stem seat and post and probably chain - and the terrible paint but its probably a perfectly nice bike.

lazerzxr

Oh and I almost couldnt be bothered to look it up, you should post a link

bhaubold

I'm sorry to say that I don't know how to post a link. I went to public school forty years ago in California. I hope that's an acceptable excuse.

jds108

just checked the geo chart. The ht and st angles are pretty steep. This is going to be a "quick reacting" bike.

GP

https://bikesdirect.com/products/moto...premio_pro.htm

Tough color choices. I like both.

Inertianinja

if you add up the cost of the parts, it's about what they would cost if you bought everything via ebay.

so for me that meant buying what i really liked through ebay and doing a custom build.

bhaubold

GP, Thanks for the link.

Bob

TLCFORBIKES

I sell steel frame bikes and although I feel that this Motobecane will not ride like the Italian steel bikes I sell -- it is a good value and for a beginner a nice bike. The bigger frames may feel a little wimpy. Thank goodness steel is still being produced. My girlfriends steel bike (she no longer rides carbon frames) is 4 pounds lighter than my 1983 Gureciotti (fully pimped out racing bike). The new steel available is very nice.

LesterOfPuppets

Thanks for the reminder to check BD's steel offerings. I've been bummed since they pulled the Corvus Steel off the site. I might have to look into the Schwinn Le Tour. (no lugs on that puppy, though.)

Bit of a long wheelbase, but hopefully not as long as the Galaxy steel. I'll have to look at charts later when I'm in a numbers mood.

captnfantastic

I like the orange of the pro but I would be more inclined to go with the inferno with full SRAM red

https://bikesdirect.com/products/moto...io_inferno.htm

it's $2000 and a red group on ebay alone is $1600-1700

Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels are what? $500? Not a bad deal.

Ideally for me would be that bike with rival for around $1300... although the cockpit and seat post are hideous.

jgc123

I am a newby in the sense that I didn't cycle much for about 40 years This is my first road bike, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I bought the orange gran premio pro. I wanted a good quality lugged steel bike and nobody had them on the showroom floors. Local bike shops had Raleigh record aces and Jamis quests advertised, but not on the showroom floors. Jamis caught my fancy, but the best deal I could find was $1500, mixed ultegra/105 and Reynolds 631. So I took a chance on the gran premio pro.

It's the 58 cm full ultegra bike and it weighed 20.1 pounds fully assembled before I got pedals. The more seasoned lifelong riders liked the lines of the bike and the paint job and full ultegra components so much that they said were thinking about buying either that bike or the dura ace version which they said was an even better deal with full SRAM red than the bike I bought.

It is racier than I expected, especially as I dreamt of easygoing centuries rather than racing. The Jamis Quest may have had geometry closer to that ideal. That being said, I am getting some training in the form of having one of the more experienced riders show me how to ride in lower gears at a smoother cadence rather than mashing down on the pedals in high gear. I think I am getting steadier and more comfortable. I took the side reflectors off of the wheels on a windy day because they felt like wind sails. The seat feels better than the seat on my previous Raleigh M40, but I get a little sore after about 40 miles (I am 55 and my rides are slow rides in the countryside, not races).

There was a minor glitch. I can't see up close so helmet mirrors won't work for me. The Mirrycle mirror designed for ultegra STI shifters did not fit even though it was designed to. I wound up duct taping it to the handlebar which looks really cheesy and annoys me every time I look at my new bike. But I can't hear very well and have to have a mirror.

I have only had it a few weeks and hope to be able to give a better review after about 5 years and 5000. So far I really like it.

I don't know how to post pictures but it is a very pretty bike and the lugged steel draws admiring glances from many of the cyclists - and some scoffing by the carbon aficionados. It feels great on railroad tracks as compared to the Raleigh, and the tires are unbelievable - can glide downhill almost as fast as others pedal.

Phil85207

Welcome to BF jgc123, and good luck with your new bike. Ride lots and be safe.

ultraman6970

Good luck with the bike.

Some stuff clear in there ok? don't want to offend anybody also but sometimes is better to say this stuff. For those companies to get so low prices is because they are practically selling you the components, the frames worth just almost nothing. Like the motobecane better than the steel one raleigh is selling tho. About the decals saying Reynolds 631, well we are talking about asian mass production bikes/frames and since at least 30 years ago many manufacturers are selling straight gauge steel frames mixed with 1 or 2 real tubes (IF). Since the bikes are focused in people that dont know the difference between one tube or another doesn't matter that much which tube is the real one. How to know? each brand and model has makes a different sound it you tap them, remember than are not straight gauge, so each shape and thickness will sound different.

Remember old bothechias made in the states, THe top tube was columbus and the other stuff was straight gauge seamed tubing, and so bad made that u were able to touch the seams from inside the bb shell. Maybe old guys remember those "mistakes" sold to the public for a lot of money.

Nachoman

Please post a photo of the alleged bike.

svtmike

This usually has a lot more to do with relative rider weights than tires.

jgc123

Thanks for your replies, Phil85207, ultraman and svtmike. Given my age, I am mostly riding with a Richmond (VA) Area bicycling Association because I want to sure I am steady on busy country roads and/or city streets. As for whether it is 'really' Reynolds 725, two of the more seasoned riders at RABA told me that they liked the looks of the bike enough to consider buying one after seeing mine. I am going to take it to REI tomorrow night because they offered to double check the assembly and to double check the cable adjustments while I watch, and I will ask them to examine the frame and components and tell me what they think.

I may be wrong about why it seems to glide well downhill, but I am glad it does because I am not that strong on uphills. I am hoping that spin classes at Golds will improve the weakest part of my bike which is the engine driving it.

bhaubold

When I started this thread, I asked myself, how bad could the frame be? Or, how good could others be? Seeing that they are most all made in Taiwan or China, maybe the frames are all about the same? Does BD ask for the cheapest frame they can get, or do they ask for a steel lugged frame and get the same quality as other bike company's. Being a complete novice on the subject, I really don't have a clue. I've been riding an 88 Bertoni built with low end Columbus Matrix tubing for over twenty years, and all has been well. I thought maybe this new bike from BD could be just a good.

jgc123

"I really don't have a clue "

That describes me also. I had one bike shop owner warn me that they would be not as good, and another at a larger chain told me that the frames and components were identical to those being sold by local bike shops and that he didn't know how they did it because the sale price was close to their cost. My bike appears to me to be exactly what they advertised, but what the heck do I know? I hope to learn more tomorrow night.

FogVilleLad

It's a contract job. Buyers get what they're willing to pay for and there will always be discounts based on quantity. That said, there's no substitute for reading the full specs and asking questions if the published specs don't supply full info.

Inertianinja

I would not assume that a bike is "low quality" just because it is made in Taiwan - almost all of them are. Not every bike can be made in italy, or handmade.

svtmike

It seems a decent bike for the price. I like that BD doesn't cheap out on the crankset -- it really is full Ultegra, so at least the gruppo on the bike is pretty top notch (I have and love Ultegra 6700 on my Roubaix SL2). The wheels are also decent for the price range.

I've built up a couple of Motobecane bikes for myself and a buddy (Fantom Cross Outlaws), so I'm not a BD snob but I'm also not of the opinion that they are comparable to the world's finest bikes. The frame quality of the Fantoms is fine, but I find they transmit a lot more vibration than, for instance, my TriCross -- so they are fatiguing to ride on trails and rougher roads. But as sloppy weather bikes they are a first rate choice. Since BD really sells the groupsets hard and cuts costs on the frame/fork/stem/saddle/bars, you can expect that the ride quality may be a bit harsher/less refined than a bike where the frame comes first in the design of the bike.

My experience is that the acceptability of a harsher ride is hard to assess on a short test ride. Barely noticable differences over short rides can become huge differences over longer rides when fatigue becomes a factor.