Originally Posted by nightc1
Um, I don't mean to sound like a lemming here but I believe most of what cig has writen. Nothing seems too embellished. He has a garmin gps system that tracks his speed as well as a bike computer. The gps system lets him link it to his pc and get accurate data from my understanding.
So you believe that he hit a car at 25mph, slid across its hood, and continued riding? And that a manager of a video shop told him to put his bike in the window because it attracted more business?
My own cheapo shwinn computer will tell me my top speed, average speed, time and so on for my current trip. But it would be nice to get data like cig does. But it's not that valuable to me to actually go spend the $$$.
the only data that I've seen is him going something like 24mph for 6 minutes. I haven't read every page of this thread, so please point it out if I missed it.
As for this bike, you dont' own one, you obviously are a lbs biased bicyclist who thinks you can't get anything good unless it comes from a LBS or it has a big name brand associated with it. Really you are a lemming in the grand scheme of things. No one here is saying go buy this bike and avoid lbs's, craigs list, yard sales or whatever. This is just one option. If I rode flat surfaces all the time instead of all the hill climbing i have to do I'm sure i'd average 20... and I'm 17 pounds over weight.
I'm not a LBS biased bicyclist, whatever that means. Of the 3 bikes I own, only 1 came from an LBS. Of the other two, one I picked up used and the other is a frame I bought online. I buy all my parts online because it is much cheaper. I also do all my own repairs/maintenance and seldom set foot in a LBS.
This may blow your mind but some lbs out in cali actually have this very bike. It's about $50 more there. You can find em online. Real shops that have an online side that also sell these bikes. Amazing.
Then they should be ashamed of selling them to people.
I bought this bike before ever finding this thread. I researched it... it would do what i wanted without having to spend $500+ which is what they LBS here had for their lowest end bike (which wasn't even a road bike, it was some cruiser thing). The weight seemed comparable to the Shwinn Varsity that I was considering as well. The Denali seemed a bit more comfy.
Again, you don't have to spend 500 bucks for a road bike. You can get a used one for next to nothing if you spend some time looking.
Overall I've adjusted the seat height, stem height, brake pads, front derailur and back cassette/deraileur thing, and I adjusted the brakes so they had a little more clamping power. Sure I could have paid the lbs a $100 or whatever to do the work... but it seemed like pretty simple work to me. The shifting is pretty buttery smooth now
Anyone with a tiny amount of skill with a screwdriver, allan wrench and a crecent wrench could handle the adjustments I made. It doesn't take an lbs to adjust your seat height or anything else.
A LBS will fit you for the bike so the handlebars and seat are at the correct height for your body. A new cyclist is going to have no idea how to do this. 100% of the people I see riding Walmart bikes have their seatpost way too low and their tires underinflated
So the bike weighs 26 pounds. Big deal. It's better than my 40 pound 18 speed mtb.
It didnt' brake the bank & let me see if I'd enjoy riding a road bike. Infact it turned me on to road bikes in general.
This is a meaningless argument because as many people have pointed out, you can get a used bike for the same price
Oh and my roadie friend that I ride with on thursdays (who rides a super nice Cannondale road bike) said he was impressed by my bike. Even after 20 miles of riding if I hit a good slight downhill I'll push the pace up to 25... which makes for a good fun ride.
How fast you go has very little to do with the quality of your bike. I'm sure the denali is capable of going very fast (at least before it falls apart). But it is still a POS.
I see no reason to steer someone clear of this bike. The obvious things that need adjusted are there... and hey even LBS's sometimes set the brake pads too low or too high or put a seat too high or low.. or whatever. It's nice being able to adjust without needing to first go somewhere to get someone else to turn the little wrench for you.
If a bike shop can't adjust brakes correctly or screw up the seat height then it is a crappy bike shop and you should avoid it.
I'm biased against spoiled people that don't do anything for themselves.
I'm not even sure how to respond to this because it doesn't make sense