I know most people hate bikes direct but I decided to buy a Motobecane Grand Record. I work at a body shop and have experience piecing cars back together so I thought putting a bike together wouldn't be too hard for me.
I purchase the bike on a Sunday night and it arrived at my doorstep Wednesday. Assembly was pretty straight forward. I didn't notice any scratched paint. Everything bolted up nice and tight.
The problems I had were with the shifting. So I went to work on the derailleurs. About 2 hours later I had them shifting very smoothly.
The pros: Nice paint doesn't scratch too easily.
Not too heavy for me.
It moves forward and makes me sweat.
Carbon Fork
The cons: Hubs squeal now and then.
When I received the bike I pretty much had to redo the derailleurs front and back.
The clip less petals are a joke but do function (Paint Peeling.)
Saddle is very uncomfortable.
Tires are crap.
Heres one of me.
So I have put about one hundred miles on the bike. I plan on upgrading the wheelset and saddle and seat post in a couple days.
The reason why I chose bikes direct is because the price. I do not have a lot of money to spend on a nice bike but i'm happy with what I have. Its something that I can upgrade over time.
I had checked craigslist over and over again for 4 months looking for a used bike. I also went into a couple local bike shops and for their cheapest entry level bike with descent components (not 2200) the cheapest I could find was for 795 and it was a specialized. I asked each and every bike shop for any clearance deals or last years model. They all told me they didn't have such a thing.
I just started cycling and so far I love it. Im going to upgrade everything to ultegra or 105 and get a decent wheelset for a big rider (230 lbs).
I guess in conclusion if I was give the choice again to buy a entry level bike I would just shell out the extra money for one from the lbs. I'm happy with my bike but I wish I would have just gotten one from somewhere local.
With the issues that I had it would have been nice to just take it to the shop and have it fixed.
At least i'm out there riding and sweating.