Hey everyone,
This is my first bike review, so I don't really know what people like to hear about... haha. Let me know if you have any questions about the bike and I'll do my best to answer them.
I made a thread a few weeks back where I was tossing around the idea of getting a cyclocross bike for commuting. It was down to a bikesdirect motobecane (for $900 shipped), and the Nashbar Steel CX Bike (listed at $799+shipping). A few days after I made the thread, Nashbar had a 21% off sale, making the deal even more enticing. I actually missed ordering the bike during that sale, but called up and they still honored the discount the day after (thanks Nashbar!). I ended up getting the bike shipped to me for about $650.
Let's do some pictures first:
The bike came only a few days after I ordered it (Ohio-->New York is not far), and was packaged well. No dents, dings, or scratches on any of the components - most of the bike and components had a protective film that was a joy to peel off, haha.
The bike was easy to assemble, especially with the guidance of a handful of youtube tutorials to perfect the derailleurs. The Tektro Oryx brakes were challenging to perfect, only because this was my first time adjusting cantilever brakes. But I'm fairly industrious and just played with all of the settings until the travel felt good, there was no rubbing, and they gave me sufficient braking power. The rear wheel was a bit out of true, making adjusting the rear brake more difficult, but Nashbar offered to reimburse me for a true at a LBS.
The bike is a bonafide tank, and weighed in at about 26 lbs with my old Brooks Saddle. I am 5'10" with a 33" inseam, and chose to go with the 56cm bike. In terms of fit, at first I was concerned it was too big -- The standover height is pretty high (~32"), leaving me with only about an inch of clearance between the top tube and my gems. To try to perfect the fit, I got a bit technical and tossed the bike on a trainer and filmed myself riding. I took screen shots of the video with my pedals at each of the major positions (12 oclock, 3 oclock, 6 oclock, and 9 oclock), then used photoshop to measure the angles of my torso, legs, wrists, feet, and to check the knee vs. pedal spindle position. I used a guy's video on youtube where he went into great detail about angles that he looked at, which has since been removed
. I think at this point it's about as good as it'll get, and I've been comfortable on the three 25 mile rides I've done so far.
The 105 shifting was probably the biggest selling point of this bike, and didn't disappoint - it is incredibly precise and shifts with ease. The gearing is a little redundant with a 36/46 in the front and 11-28T in the rear. I haven't quite regained my cycling legs yet, so I find myself wanting some lower gears on long, steep climbs. But I suspect after a few more rides I won't need to be out of the saddle as much as I am now going up hills. I tossed on some Candy TI pedals that I had from mountain biking, and they've been a solid addition.
The only complaints I have about the bike are it's weight and the brakes. But being that I'm going to use it as a city commuter with gear on it, the weight isn't concerning to me. And for $650, I expected these downsides. As for the brakes, I plan to swap out the stock pads for some kool stops, and hopefully that will increase my braking power a bit.
I'd like to add some fenders on the bike, but I'm not sure how I'd attach the rear fender without the hole in the crossbar between the two seat stays (see above picture). Any idea of how I might do this, without using zip ties?
Hope this helps someone else make a decision on whether or not to buy this bike - I think for the price, it's a solid deal.