I appreciate the apology for miss- reading my post, but I did ask for people's opinions. The bike is a bit heavier than others, but I have been riding an old steel schwinn and a full suspension mountain bike.... so it is nowhere near as heavy as those! I wanted something that was affordable to get into and then upgrade a bit at a time. I used to have a chromoly framed bike (that got stolen) and it wasn't that much lighter. I think that upgrades will take care of the "problems" that will arise. I baught it fully aware that the components weren't the best and planned on upgrades as I go. I am not too worried about the frame. It takes quite a bit to break/dammage a frame. Thanks for all the honest and informative opinions!