Originally Posted by
mcrow
The other difference is you have to assemble the BD bikes yourself or pay someone to due it and you may have to tru the wheels as well. You are dealing with a non-local company so returning a damaged or poorly fitted bike will be a pain in the arse. Most people will see little difference in durability or performance of the two componenent sets.
1) the OP stated explicitly that he's comfortable wrenching on bikes and isn't worried about buying from BD on that basis
2) if there were no difference in durability or performance of components, everybody would save money and buy Shimano Alivio, Tektro, etc
3) I would be
extremely surprised if a
Clyde couldn't feel the difference between a fixed-travel Suntour fork and an adjustable-travel Rock Shox Tora U-turn fork
with lockout
While I certainly wouldn't recommend a BD bike to everyone, I do think it's a reasonable consideration for the OP.