Deal of the decade? Motobecane full XTR, Sid Team, 19lbs for $1595 shipped?
 

I'm having a lot of difficulty holding myself back from hitting the 'buy' button on this: http://bikesdirect.com/products/moto...e_fly_team.htm

http://bikesdirect.com/products/moto...ly_teambig.jpg

It seems too good to be true. Full XTR, Rock Shox Sid Team, decent parts, light as heck frame, and all ofr under $1600, no tax, free shipping. It looks sweet too, from the photo.

I'm guessing that since it's sold mail order, it won't be set up so well, but i'm fairly comfortable adjusting brake and drivetrain stuff, and i guess i can take it to an LBS to check the wheel build etc.


Still.. damn... is there some hidden catch here? It just seems too good to be true. It's a lot of money for me right now, but i'm almost thinking i'll regret it if i don't buy it!!

Not many people seem to have this bike. Mtbr.com's reviews seemed pretty positive overall, but mentioned a chintzy saddle and some rear skewer problems... I assume that the problems is with the skewer, which i would replace anyway...

Talk me down here! :)

Re-reading the page carefully, it appears that it's a 2003 model, in other words, 2003 components. Is that a drawback? I'm guessing that the Shimano XTR stuff is faultless.. how was the 2003 Sid Race fork? Any problems?

Being 2 years old explains the price somewhat, but it still seems incredibly sweet for the money.

i dotn see whats so cool about it? for 800 i got a mountan bike with disk brakes and pedals and all around great components. its not 19 pounds , but for a mtb 28 isnt that heavy???

Something just looks "off" about that thing. Other than the fact that it's butt ugly, there just seems to be something...old...about it. There has to be some reason why they're still sitting on this particular piece of...errr..."inventory," for two years.

looks too shiny and cheap.

It's a low quality photo...

I think its a dang nice bike. The frame might not have a super warranty or etc, but you could swap it out for like a specialized M5 or something, and then have a completely great bike.

Exactly what I was thinking, looks too old or something like that. :D If I was you I would....... wait to see what other people have to say!

I'm not into jumping or anything and i weigh 145lbs, so i'd rather have a light bike than an indestructable tank. I also think it looks really nice. It's an XC bike, not a freeride machine.

I know a guy who bought a 10 sp D-A road Motobecane from the same place. For about the same price. He totally loves it, rides it all the time, and he has a few bikes. I drool on it.

He brought it to the lbs to get it set up, I can ask how much that was if you like.

You buy a new seat and a new skewer and it's still a deal.

Well i think you should buy it. THats a very good deal your looking at. I would change the pedals and a few small things but thats a price i can understand why your hesitant. Ask them if you can pay via paypalor whatnot so you have some sort of insurance

I just don't know. Is it the weight or the price that appeals to you? I'm confident I could build a nicer bike for the price, since we're talking 2003 components. As for the frame, I have a custom frame made with the Kinesis tubing, and it's pretty nice, so I wouldn't fault anything other than the overall looks, which I don't find appealing (But I'm not the one that will be riding it). What can you buy from your LBS for $1600 these days?

Looks like a good one to me. I'm not sure what you mean by "full XTR" though since the cranks are obviously not XTR. That would make me want to look a bit deeper.

I'd check some of the parts that look to be no-names in the photo. The seatpost, stem, headset, bottom bracket, and handlebar all could be extremely low quality parts. Check the wheels, too, as they could easily skimp there. Are the V-brakes and levers XTR also? I can't tell from the photo but I've never ridden v-brakes so I'm not sure what they look like.

If you're happy with the components that aren't XTR, then I'd say it's a killer deal. Personally, I'd build up a custom XT bike with disks for that money but if you want something complete, this looks like a good one and it's wicked light.

EDITED: Several people mentioned it looks too shiney and cheap. I think I figured out why. The seatpost, stem, handlebars, and rims are all silver. Most of today's bikes (at least the ones I looked at before I built my bike) are coming with black parts there.

It is a decent set up and should work for what you want. If you do a lot of climbing though I would ditch the road 12-27 cassette for at least an 11-32 cassette.

:beer:

That's a pretty screaming deal. I bet you could make money buying those, then stripping them down and selling the parts on Ebay.

I'd buy it, then if you really feel the need you can grab a new frame in a year or so (or just keep it). The parts are pretty nice.

Yeah, it's not 'full' XTR, as the brakes are Avid 7s and the cranks are FSA ISIS Carbon Fiber units (not exactly a downgrade, i think!)

It's both the weight and the price that appeals. I guess i'm old skool or something, but i'm not into hucking or anything. I want a fast, light bike for riding moderately technical trails. I enjoy bike handling, not bike dropping. I'm also used to the nice feel of my XT parts, even if they are 9 years old now. The new LX shifters, for example, found on most bikes in this price range feel really cheap. So having top end drivetrain parts is appealing. I'm interested in discs, but never had a problem with V-brakes (heck, cantis with a brake booster and good pads stop well).

Unfortunately, after showing this excitedly to my S.O... let's just stay that dropping $1500 on a new bike right now would cause more pain than pleasure.. :p

(thinks to myself: maybe i could hide it somewhere? In our 1 bedroom apartment????!!! nope)

Let this be a lesson to you....Buy first, ask second!

this will be perfect for u, since you only weight 145. but xtr isn't much better than XT. have you consider this for 795? 05 version too.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...ly_pro2005.htm

It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Is she the one going to be paying for it?

It looks like a good deal. I don't think having 2003 shifters and derailleurs is a bad thing. That means levers instead of flippies, if I remember correctly. Light is generally a good thing, but I've never been one to trust a 19.8 pound ride. Then again, I like it a little rough.

I'd say it's a good deal, but I don't know if it's miraculous.

Heck, the components are worth more than $1500! If the frame is "too light" or whatever, you still have a good deal.

I don't see anything odd about it. Ugly.....I guess if you don't like blue. It's just your basic run-of-the-mill ultra-light XC race bike.

You'd have to work pretty darn hard to build up a bike like that for less using ebay parts. Yeah, if you optimized every price........but it could take months of scrounging to do that.

Yeah, I guess people do equate black with good, silver with cheap for some reason. I had a guy the other day at work look at my new silver Chris King headset and ask me why I didn't get a "better one" to go along with my new "good" SID Team forks (black), Ritchey WCS stem and bar ends (black) and carbon bar (black). He asked the same thing about my Avid SD7 SL brakes (silver). Some people have no manners.....

When we had the 203mm titanium discs on our tandem (all ti) people used to be compelled to touch them. Why the felt the need to put their oily fingers on my braking surface was beyond me, but it was rude and annoying.

If I could get my hands on 2003 xtr group, I would buy it, they were sweet even 2 years ago... Heck, that bike looks like a killer deal to me.

Yea i dont know why people think of cheap when they see silver. Not all do, but a lot. Personally i love the look of the polished aluminum, especially with hubs.

I bought two roadies from them and felt each was a solid deal.