Condor Flight S5F
 

I am new to the road cycling world and would really appreciate your input. As a medical school student, I was looking for a fairly cheap way of staying in shape. I bought a cheap Schwinn road bike to see if I enjoyed the hobby and think I am ready to move onto a better bike.

My budget is approximately $1000 USD. I looked online and came across the Condor Flight S5F on bikesdirect.com. Link: http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...t_s5f_xiii.htm

The bike sells for $1100 and has a "Toray full carbon frame and fork" and "a TRUE 20SPD Shimano 105 component package, SHIMANO 105 50/34 HOLLOWTECH II Crankset, Ritchey Bar/Stem/Post, MAVIC AKSIUM RACE Wheelset, and Clipless Road Pedals."

My question is: is this a good deal? Is the seller skimping in any areas? Is my money better spent elsewhere?

I really appreciate your input!

So they brand the bike after the brand of another bike?

Wow, so Dawes wasn't enough. Now they're using the same name as another UK bike company.

Thank you for the input; I was unaware that they were using a UK company's name.

But what are your thoughts on the quality of this bike? Should I be staying away from this site? Thanks.

The parts are fine, the frame is ???

BikesDirect has been around a long time. My family has three of their bikes and think they have been great for the money - reliable and good riding. I have several other bikes to compare them to. Their business model is to sell generic, but solidly made frames with a very good parts spec for maybe 60% of what you'd pay for a comparable bike in a shop. All of their bikes are made in Asia, just like about every other non-boutique brand. They have a number of brands whose names they own outright, like Motobecane, DawesUSA, and Windsor, which are companies that went defunct decades ago - like BMW owning Mini Cooper. They also license the use of brand names from companies that don't sell directly in the USA. They carried Bottecchia, an Italian brand, for a while, which now appears to have been replaced by Condor, an English brand. No doubt that Condor makes money on every bike sold under their brand name. The carbon frameset on the Condor you've mentioned looks to be the same as those previously sold as Bottecchias. It looks like Condors are being sold in the USA with either an aluminum frame or a carbon frame, with different parts specs. There are other Condors for sale on Ebay. The two for sale on the BikesDirect website are less expensive than the same models on Ebay. I think they are exceptional deals and would jump on one of them if I were shopping for a new bike for about $1k. Good luck!